EDINBURGH

The sun has long set and the stars are aplenty but my eyes are still not closed. It is 0125 hrs at the BAIRD HOUSE - one of the so many homes in Pollock Halls (Photo I) at Edinburgh but I am sure it is 0625 hrs in my country. Travelling up to here have been not so easy because I had to change three air buses. A small one from Paro to Delhi, a bigger one from Delhi to Amsterdam and finally another smaller one from Amsterdam to Edinburgh. The journey that started from Haa, Bhutan on 30th June, 2017 ended on the morning of 2nd July, 2017 at Edinburgh with halt at Paro and Delhi. Paro treated me good and I know I will never be treated bad there because my host is my host but Delhi was bit tough but why would it be so good. It has every reason to treat me the way it treated. Why choose air buses that make you wait a long time in Delhi? It is your choice. You must toil for you have chosen so. A long wait! Reached Delhi by 1110 hrs as planned and waited up to 0340 hrs there until the morning of 2nd July, 2017. You know how many hours. Seventeen hours is a pretty long wait. But where is the choice. When I sought a seat inside the waiting lounge of the Indira Gandhi International Airport, a Police Inspector on the Flights Departure gate suggested that I should visit Gate Way of India and come back when it is time for me to fly out. But, a lone traveler would not like to go for sight seeing alone and aloof risking so many things including the loss of baggage and missing the flight in the fast and furious Delhi City where the traffic rules are based on drivers, crowd is enormous and people are not so trustworthy. Who knows you may just be lost in the sea of people in Delhi city? Who knows you just get stuck by a brake failing vehicle and who knows you may just come across a group of vagabonds on the street? So, why take a risk? There is no reason for you to come out of the safe zone and expose yourself. Therefore, waiting was the best choice. Perhaps.

Photo 1: Pollock Halls - Residence of the University Guests and Visitors

But the otherwise boring wait was boosted when I met a guy from Zhemgang who was going to Kuwait. I hope I meet such a guy on my way back on 9th July, 2017. We took turns in going to toilet and he was pretty helpful. I asked him several funny questions about his work in Kuwait and his colleagues working in several middle east countries because I saw him honest and a free thinker. I think he told me some facts about our people working in spas and hotels in the Middle East countries and you know what I mean. So, I don't want to elaborate the matter here. He left me at about 2200hrs all alone at the waiting lounge since his flight was at about 0130hrs and hour later I checked in myself and flew to Amsterdam at the right time set in my tickets 0340hrs, landed in Amsterdam at the right time and connected myself to Edinburgh at the right time. From Edinburgh I took a shuttle to the Forrest Road, the road to my University, the University of Edinburgh (Photo 2), where Charles Darwin, the father of theory of survival of the fittest studied and postulated his theory and hypothesis. This University gave me a Master of Science Degree (Biodiversity, Wildlife and Ecosystem Health) of my choice and interest without my government having to pay anything. If I have made any contribution to my government, it is this degree that I obtained myself with the blessings of this University (funding my studies), otherwise, I know I can study masters using government funds which I feel is too much an investment for an individual because I know I studied everything up to Bachelors with the government funding. Well, I am not trying to be patriot here. Today, I am here not on government funding. I have been invited to give a talk on community forestry in Bhutan which happened to be the topic of my M Sc thesis. Well, I did it today and I am okay with what I did. I will be here until 8th July, 2017 and explore what Edinburgh has to offer based on the programmes made by the Course Director.

Photo 2: The University of Edinburgh alumni community complex

The school was interesting. I did my part as an invited Guest Speaker (Photo 3). I talked on community forestry (CF) in Bhutan with specific examples on CF in Trashigang which was also part of my M Sc thesis. Students from US, Malawe, Holland, Italy and UK made their presentations and I found their talks really interesting. I learnt lot of interesting things like re-wilding of animals, invasive species, and how other forest and wildlife species play their ecological roles.

   Photo 3: Presenting community forestry in Trashigang

After three days of school seminar, the group visited Northern Scotland's Cairngorm National Park and saw collection of high altitude animals (Photos 4-8).

Photo 4: European Forest Reindeer

Photo 5: White-lipped deer

Photo 6: Snow Leopard

Photo 7: Markhor

Photo 8: Tragopan

We also visited very interesting places some which are put below (Photo 9-13)

Photo 9: View of Northern Ireland from Scotland's highest mountain

Photo 10: The group at Scotland's highest point

Photo 11: At the distillery of one of the students.

Photo 12: At the topmost of Scottish Mountain

Photo 13: My friend Mathew Desmond

Photo 14: Selfie at the highest restaurant in Scotland- people say I am lucky but I find it otherwise.

 

 

Disclaimer

This is my personal thought and anything written here is not intended to harm or promote people or things mentioned here. No one is authorized to use the content of this blog for either personal or private purpose. People mentioned here in are fictitious characters and any resemblance to anyone with some characters or more are purely coincidence.