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Bhutan's
Economy: Tourism |
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Bhutan Information |
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The
Shangrila in Lhuentse
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If
you do not have any relatives or friends in Lhuentse you might have to
stay in Shangrila, the only hotel in Lhuentse town with lodging.
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The
hotel's signboard announces its quiet and basic hospitality on the roadside
although the inn itself lies on the ground floor of a double-story mud-and-stone
structure. Down a fleet of stone steps and through a closed door is Shangrila.
An elderly woman stands behind the counter. At one corner a group of Indian
workers watch a Bollywood movie on TV.
Shangrila,
is a one-stop hotel. It has a bar, a telephone booth, a bakery, and a snooker
room.
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The
elderly woman behind the counter, Karma Choden, 40, prefers to answer strangers
in monosyllables, and wherever convenient just nod.
The
toilet is outdoors and stands on the edge of a sheer cliff. Three walls
are of matted bamboo with gaping holes.
On
the door hangs a wooden plaque. "WAIT" is written on one side and "OPEN"
on the other.
Second
helpings are restricted to rice only.
Karma
Choden hands you the room keys at 10:30 pm without a word. The key ring
is marked three but the lock does not open; the key and the lock are of
different brands. It opens room number four.
A
single bare bulb lights the room of cardboard walls with a permanent window
cut out on side. The breathing and shuffling of the next room neighbour
filters in through the window.
"My
five rooms always have guests," says Karma Choden the next morning. Her
husband works in the bakery, she minds the hotel, bar, and telephone booth,
and children take care of the snooker room after school.
"There
is no one to look after the general shop we have upstairs," Karma Choden
says. "And days are always busy for us."
What
is most striking about Hotel Shangrila is the range of drinks available
at the bar; 10 different brands of beer, three brands of whiskey, Indian
wine (including some with such bizarre names as Marquise de Pompadour),
Spy wine, four brands of Bacardi Breezer, and variety of wine Wild Sinn
coolers from chateau Indage.
"The
best seller is the 10,000 beer," says Karma Choden, adding that all varieties
had their faithful customers.
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| Contributed
by Gopilal Acharya, KUENSEL, Bhutan's National Newspaper 2006 |
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