Evergreen Park

Saturday 15.September.2007

Setting out from Paro at 10:15AM on Friday morning, I left Bhutan. Before leaving, a round of thanks were definitely in order—and I thanked David for his wonderful hospitality, for sharing his knowledge, and for a beautiful stay in a beautiful country. We said quick good-byes, and I boarded the plane. After tying up a few loose ends in Flight Operations, David will do the same, so our next meeting is in Sri Lanka on the 24th.

Druk Air has two planes and one has a fly-by-wire system that is now fly-by-having-all-the-emergency-lights-on and is still missing an emergency slide that a flight attendant accidentally pulled back in Bangkok. Despite all this havoc, my plane was ready for take-off at quarter past ten. My props to David in Flight Operations!

The plane flew towards Bangkok, stopping shortly in Kolkuta along the way. We sat in Kolkuta airport with the doors wide open and the air conditioning in full swing—in a cloud of misty condensation. Luckily, the doors soon closed and we were on our way, zooming towards Bangkok in our chilly cabin.

Stepping out into the heat of Bangkok, I already missed the cold cabin air, not to mention the misty mountains of Bhutan.

The day before I left, David and I decided to drive up to Chelela Pass to catch one more wave of fresh Bhutan air. Chelela Pass lies on the road between Paro and the up-until-recently forbidden Haa Valley. At 3,900 meters, the air is cold and the wind pounds at your ears until they whine. But it’s magnificently fresh and you can’t help but stretch your arms out like a bird as you glide between hundreds of prayer flags enshrouded in layers of cloud. The ground was covered with the most precious Alpine flowers—tiny purple bulbs and bright pink petals. We walked higher and higher until our bodies were near-icicles and we turned back towards the car. The Thunder Dragon started to roar across the mountaintops and we decided it was time to go.

Sitting in the Bangkok airport for twelve hours, I was ready to climb two Chelelas. The wait was long, but I filled the time with reading, people watching, and people listening. Behind me, a woman was sitting on the ground and refusing to move. Airport security men were teasing her despite knowing full well she wasn’t mentally healthy. They came and went, and the woman continued to talk to herself and called a few people on her cell phone to say she was in Bangkok. Across from me, two girls were speaking German—one was writing in her journal. Periodically, she read sections to her friend for help with the names of hotels and parks. To my left, a man in his mid-twenties was sitting pretzel-style, playing video games. I was taking it all in.

Prawn chips, instant noodles, soy milk, and Mentos sustained me through the afternoon. My flight was at 3AM and around half past twelve I went to check in. I handed the woman my ticket and she looked quite puzzled. No onward ticket? No visa? Yes, you can get a visa upon arrival, but only if you have an onward ticket. Hmmm. I was getting pretty worried, so I called Alex to see if he could find out more. He said you can get a thirty-day tourist visa upon arrival but you have to have an onward ticket…Luckily, when I called Lalith he assured me not to worry, that I’d certainly get a visa on arrival so I signed a waiver to assure the airline that I assumed all responsibility for what happened next and stepped onto the plane.

The flight was already nearly full and came from Beijing. I was excited to overhear a bit of Chinese, but most of the flight was quiet, as people were trying to sleep. I arrived in Colombo at 4:45AM. When I passed through the passport check, I quickly told the security guard I am staying for a month, he stamped my book, and I was on my way. Getting my luggage was a bigger challenge. A few businessmen brought about forty huge duffle bags full of clothes on the flight. Everyone stood near the luggage belt as the businessmen pulled parcel after parcel of clothing off the carousel. My Chinese neighbors mused that they would take some of the merchants’ clothing if their own suitcases never arrived.

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Quick Introductions:
Lalith – entrepreneur, electrical engineer, and founder of Aspira, an organization that brings electricity to rural villages through biomass gasification.

Ayanthie – Lalith’s wife, dog-lover, and teacher of speech and drama

Maheeka – Lalith’s elder daughter, avid book-reader, senior in high school, pianist, flutist, and future vet extraordinaire

Hiranya – Lalith’s younger daughter, cricket-fan, wonderful pianist, and violinist.

All is well on Evergreen Park Road. When I arrived, Maheeka was in the back seat of the car, about to leave for class, with Ayanthie and her mother in the front seats. We said quick hellos before they drove off. But Ayanthie was back before long and we enjoyed a cup of tea in the living room and a lovely breakfast before starting the day.

After breakfast, we dropped Hiranya off at piano lessons and I scheduled my first piano lesson for Monday morning (very exciting!!!). The teacher is Ayanthie’s cousin (technically her mom’s cousin’s daughter) and a very lovely woman. We agreed that morning lessons would be best since I won’t always be in Colombo and mornings are most flexible so I could come on a different day of the week if need be.

Ayanthie took me to the apartment on Lauries Lane, which is where I’ll be living starting Friday. We made sure there are pots, pans, essential utensils, etc. Then, we walked around the neighborhood to get to know the area, visiting the fish market and grocery store.

In the afternoon, Aianthe, the girls, and I went into town to see the International Book Fair. It is a weeklong affair and the perfect place to find any book you can imagine at cheaper prices than usual—so long as you don’t mind pushing through crowded rooms that are lacking in oxygen. Maheeka found a good novel and an SAT prep book and I bought a Singhalese phrase book. We meant to be out by 2:45, but by the time found our way through the maze of people, it was 3, and by the time we made it out of the parking lot, it was 3:15 and we were all a bit late to our afternoon engagements.

When I arrived back at Evergreen Park, Lalith and I went straight to Ariasenna’s workshop. We planned to meet Ariasenna at 3, but we ended up arriving around 4PM. Luckily, Ariasenna was still there and the workshop was open. I took lots of pictures of the updated gasifier as a reference (for the SolidWorks models). Ariasenna, Lalith, and I talked about the latest design, manufacturing problems, and possible solutions. We also brainstormed ways of inserting the test probes into the blanking caps on all the t-joints.

On the way home, Lalith explained all the rules of cricket and when we arrived back at Evergreen Park, the TV was on upstairs and I joined Maheeka and Hiranya in watching the Sri Lanka – New Zealand match. Once it all clicks—and you understand all the overs, the wickets, and the runs—it’s really fun to watch and we were hard-pressed to go eat dinner.

After eating a delicious dinner, not even the cricket match could keep me awake and I headed promptly to bed.