Building is a part of the life of the community. Building is not a commercial activity. In villages the community joins in. Trees are selected by a forester, in exchange for planting two to replace each one taken. They are adzed into shape and slid down the hill.
Walls are of mud tamped into shutters by teams of singing women.
The houses are then beautifully decorated with earth or powder colours. The cost, in terms of money, is minimal. The ruins of abandoned houses gradually meld back into the ground from which they were extracted. One of the greatest pleasures of our trip was meeting the painter Chhime Dorji. When we met him in Thimpu he was wearing a gho, the national costume.