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"Playing bicycle"
Your bike is in good shape if it does not make any sound while playing, but it is not if it rattles. I suppose that the expression comes from the observation that all these foreigners on their fancy bikes are just playing. They go and return, apparently for no reason at all. Thus they are playing, and the local kids would like to play your bicycle also. My advice is to say hello and keep on playing your bicycle.
Other not uncommon questions include "give me pen", "gimme money", or give me your bicycle. In most cases the advice is not to give in to this new "gimme" rage. If you want to help, donate a thousand pens or a thousand dollars to the local school. Giving only creates more beggars, which will soon become a nuisance.
Bhutanese on bikes
In the early 1990's bicycles were a rare sight in Bhutan, apart from a few of the border towns. These days you come across Bhutanese on bikes more regularly. And now there is even a Bhutan Mountain Biking Club in the making. The best I did was meeting 10 Bhutanese cyclists within 2 hours in Bumthang, two of which I met several km up a forest road. In 1994 I came across less than 10 Bhutanese on bikes in the whole year. And quite a lot of them are not "playing", but kids going to school, or other local transport. In Thimphu you come across more kids playing the bicycle. They usually don't know left from right, let alone any rules of the road. They were probably the cause of BBS announcing in early 2001 that cycling between Simtokha and Dechhenchhoíling was banned.
Biking the roads
Roads are a good way to start biking. Once you can manage the roads all right you can promote yourself to the trails. Chances of getting lost on roads are slim. Passing vehicles can sometimes be convinced to give you a ride to the next town if you are totally exhausted or if your bike has died.
The tables that follow are a short version of what may some day appear in "Biking in Bhutan", a little project to keep me occupied when I get bored with my job, or with myself. Don't expect everything to be as described. Shops go out of business, others open, the government shortcut program may reduce distances, and my data may be somewhat subjective.
Distances are based on my bicycle computer. This may introduce a systematic error due to only being able to set the tyre diameter to the nearest centimetre, and random errors due to zigzagging, cutting corners, avoiding potholes, tyre pressure, tyre wear, air temperature and the road surface. However, I expect the actual distances to be within 0.02 km of what I indicate. Research has shown that there is no significant difference between my uphill and my downhill measured distances for the same stretch of road.
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