Bhutan trip day 9 - Fri, 13 Sep 2013 - Met up with Sonam and tasted Changkay to celebrate Gyeltshen's newborn's baby

I met up with someone I knew from Facebook. He graduated from the same school as mine, but at different year. His name was Sonam. His brother worked at Druk Asia in Singapore. I met his brother before when visiting the office to collect my K5 from another friend, who also worked there. So, quite coincidence though.

Met up with Sonam at The Zone

We finally met up in person that morning. I went there with Lachee as she had nothing and I'd been wanting to bring her for lunch or dinner outside since she had treated me very well at her house, cooked me dinner almost everyday, and so on. So we met up at The Zone, a popular spot for local and expat to have their meals and drinks, serving mixed of Western and Bhutanese food.

Menu list from The Zone in Thimphu

Above was the menu list for your view. Sorry for the blurred picture. 1 SGD is equivalent to around Ngu 50.

Beef Burger w/ Fries and Cheese plus Beef Ribs served with Ema Datshi and Rice

The Burger costs Ngu 180 (around S$3.60) and the Ribs with rice costs Ngu 220 (around S$4.40). Hohoho... Look at the portion and quality of the food. No wonder so many local recommended me to have breakfast, lunch or dinner here. Take a look at its beverage price. It's pretty reasonable too. But for local, it's still quite expensive place to eat though.

Sonam with his two Tibetan Mastiff puppies - just got them from Haa border (Photo courtesy from Sonam)

Anyway, Sonam came with his one-seat motorbike. He loved motorbike so much! We had chit chatted about many things. Felt like meeting him before, not as first-timer. He was talking about his missing Bhutanese Tibetan mastiff dog that he bought and took from Haa border. He went hiking and walked on foot over 50 km in order to get the two puppies. His dog had been missing three times as people tried to steal and sell it. Just got an update that he couldn't find it until now, so left with one dog only. Sorry to hear that Sonam!

Gyeltshen with his wife and  their newborn baby :)

After finishing lunch, Lachee and I had a walk. Then I decided to visit another friend, whose wife just gave birth about 5-6 days before. Lachee went home as she had to attend class in the evening. I went to my friend's house in Babesa alone by taxi. His name was Gyeltshen. I met him a year ago. He was working as a driver who drove us around Bhutan when I traveled with the group by travel agent. He re-married last year end and I received the news from Karma that his wife just gave birth to a baby girl. Congrats Gyeltshen! I am happy for you and your wife. The baby's name was Tandin Wangmo. Gyeltshen brought her to Changangkha Lhakhang to get her that name :)

Changkay - soup and dry type

Since I was in Bhutan, I didn't want to miss a chance to visit him, his wife, and the newborn baby, also to try 'changkay', home brew fermented rice. Normally changkay was served during such event. I had heard it before, but hadn't tried it yet.So, Gyeltshen had kindly showed me how he made the two different Changkay step by step, the dry and soup type. Both were cooked using butter and egg. And voila!!! See the photos above - inside the two red bowls.

I slowly ate and drink it. I preferred eating the dried one. It was sweet and I could feel the alcohol raised from it. Before having this, he served me with tea and puffed rice. Other than these, he also served me with Takin red wine as I told him I hadn't tried it before and he had the opened bottle. He let me tasting it, just a small glass. He took K5 from his drawer and let me tasting it too with the apple juice. Hahaha... He took out all of his alcohol for me to try. Thank you la! Luckily I could stand with all the mixed alcohol and handled it well. Didn't drink much though, just tasted a small glass of each :D Before going back, I passed a red packet to the newborn baby, wishing her having a good health and becoming a good and happy person in life. After that I took cab going back home. Thank you Gyeltshen for giving me this opportunity and wish you well for the whole family members!!! Tashi Delek!!!