Word: tempa
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...first impressions were a mixture of the picturesque and the pornographic. Driving through alpine valleys, we passed clusters of wooden houses decorated with paintings of flowers, the inevitable dragons and, on either side of the door, huge penises. The phalluses, Tempa, our guide, explained, are meant to startle: families paint them to distract any evil spirits thinking of entering. We reached Thimphu in the late afternoon. Home to just 40,000 people, the capital scarcely qualifies as a city. Brightly painted facades and narrow lanes stretching up to the wooded slopes of giant mountains reinforce the feeling of a medieval...
Matching his woven knee-length gown with Nike sneakers and wraparound shades, Tempa was the picture of Bhutanese cool. "I prefer a T shirt and jeans," he said as he met us at Paro airport. "But the King says we have to wear traditional dress until 8 o'clock." As we drove to the capital Thimphu, it became clearer from his conversation?the latest Hollywood releases, Prince Charles, Britney?that a quarter century after opening its borders to the outside world, Bhutan is losing some of its splendid isolation. But while satellite TV may be superseding story-telling, and Internet...
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