Bhutan Canada Foundation Picnic

Rats. They've made some changes to this blogger website, and they are causing me big problems. Now my photos show up as a bunch of crazy text until I publish, and then they seem to become photos. It makes writing something to go with the pictures even more challenging than before. Also I don't get a choice of font or colour any more.
Enough complaining.
Nancy and a few Canadians paid Mongar a visit at the end of April. There was Sam Blyth (founder of the Bhutan Canada Foundation), his friend David Graham, Mark LaPrairie from the World Bank, and Meghan and Hilary, a couple of young friends of Nancy's. The main purpose of the visit was for Sam to offer his thanks and his support to the six Canadian teachers scattered across the country. Keira came down from Lhuentse for the occasion. We had an enjoyable dinner out, complete with real wine and patio lanterns supplied by Mark.
The next day we all went for a picnic at Autsho, which is a lovely spot on the way to Lhuentse. You'll see a photo of Keira and I wrapped in a blanket, which we were pretending to steal from Meghan. She had received it the day before from the King, who they happened to meet on the road. Nancy, Sam and Mark know the king, so they stopped to chat. It was Meghan's birthday, and the king gave her his blanket and four birthday kisses!
We left the picnic in three vehicles. I was with Sam, David, and our driver, Tashi. We were behind four logging trucks on the worst section of road. The first truck got seriously stuck in the mud, and it looked like it would take quite awhile to dig out, so Sam, David and I decided to walk ahead for awhile. Tashi planned to pick us up when the road cleared. We walked and walked and walked. There is a photo of David at one end of a suspension bridge which Sam and I crossed to get a view up and down the river. David is afraid of heights so he didn't join us.
Eventually David flagged down a taxi and since he couldn't get through to Lhuentse anyhow, he turned around and drove us back to Mongar. Traffic was moving again a couple of hours later. This road is notoriously bad, especially during monsoon season. Keira has been warned that she might be trapped in Lhuentse for the July holiday.
Nancy, Sam, Mark and David came to my school for morning assembly the next day, and visited my class. Mark is hilarious, and a natural teacher. The kids wrote in their journals about how much they enjoyed the visit.