Bringing Home Bhutan

Over the Ocean #2

Dragon Dance

Namgay, in some of his paintings, and me in my writing are both addressing the move from Bhutan to the U.S. and back again. For the past few years it has informed our work in a big way. For Namgay American rockets, specifically the image of Apollo 13, embody a lot of what he feels about being in the U.S. The amazing technology, the fast pace, the improbability of life, and I think even the lack of grounding. He has said living here in the U.S. feels like going somewhere really fast and he has no idea where he's going. That sounds like isolation to me. But it's certainly not all bad and so his rocket pictures have whimsy and they look light and happy and cartoon-y,  but also if you look deeper they have that sense of isolation. I'm writing my second book with the working title BRINGING HOME BHUTAN. It's 25 things I learned living in Bhutan that I use to good effect when I'm in the U.S. I've always said Bhutan has a lot to teach the rest of the world and especially now, when economics and weather seem to be determining a lot of how we live, this book is timely. For continuity's sake and for our own sanity we live pretty much the same in Bhutan as in the U.S. We eat, sleep, work, play and live in a pared down simple way. And we love it.