Ghos and Kiras

For those of who have been eagerly awaiting pictures of Chris in Bhutanese dress, your time has come! Yesterday, after a shopping expedition to complete my kira collection, we decided to play dress-up, primarily to see if we were able to correctly put on Bhutanese dress. As expected, the process was somewhat challenging! I tried to do my wifely duty and help Chris with the process, but he was determined to do it alone. As you can see, he did an exemplary job transforming himself into a Bhutanese scholar.  

Not being allowed to help him, I had to content myself with attempting to wrap the five yards or more of fabric included in the kira (the long skirt part of the outfits you see me in here) around my waist so that the folds hung appropriately and the length was reasonable. Apparently, it is possible to take the kira to a local tailor and he or she will sew it so that all I will need to do is fasten some hooks at my waist. When I spoke with our landlady about this, she laughed and told me that she too found wrapping the kira to be challenging. So much for me! The upper part of the women’s dress has two aspects, the inner silk blouse with VERY long sleeves called a wonju, and an outer silk jacket called a toego. There are so many varieties and colors its hard to decide which combinations to put together. All in all, as you can see, they are quite gorgeous and I am still somewhat amazed that Bhutanese women wear such lovely clothes everyday. 

I keep thinking that when I come back to the US perhaps I’ll be able to wear such clothes to a fancy party or dinner, but otherwise they’ll probably hang neglected in my closet. So, its fun to imagine we can wear these beautiful items here—that is—once the weather cools off. Chris and I both worked up a sweat just getting ourselves dressed, never mind going anywhere or doing anything! I am constantly stymied by the amount of clothing many people wear even in what I consider to be quite warm weather—it is not surprising to see men and women wearing heavy (and I mean the heaviest type) down jackets and hats on days when Chris and I are both sweating wearing t-shirts. This mystifies me. Anyone who can explain why us lowlanders, accustomed to east coast New England sweltering summers (or Midwest equally sweltering heat), should find ourselves so hot in a climate where the summer temp does not seem to get above about 80 degrees Farenheit, will receive an (as yet undetermined) award. 

The Happy Bhutanese Couple