Baby, Baby, Baby

After showing us a few of Phuentsholing’s hotspots for nightlife, Sonam drove us out of town and up a hill to a lakhang. We brought a few cans of Fosters in the quiet property and sat on a ledge overlooking the city with the temple behind us. Above us were layers of prayer flags and in between the strands, the star-filled sky. Below us was Jaigon, India on New Year’s Eve. Music from separate bars and clubs competed to be heard in the night air. None of it was familiar except a verse of a Justin Beiber remix, “Baby, baby, baby,” a song we heard too much of in our year in Bhutan. If I had to decide right then, I might have chosen to remain in the quiet and peace of Bhutan, in the land of prayer flags and chortens and no worries, but the decision to end our teaching contracts with the Ministry of Education and the Royal University of Bhutan had already been made months ago, the decision to move on. I think it’s been a question in Scott’s mind for the past couple of weeks – did we make the right decision?

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My Bhutan visa ended on the 31^st of December, but for various reasons I didn’t try to get my exit stamp until the 1^st of January. In a country that costs visitors US $250 a day to be there, I was a bit worried my delayed exit might be a problem, but Scott was sure it wouldn’t be. What assured me more was the fact that we had Sonam Topgyal with us who has connections with every department in the government, including immigration. Well, there was a problem with me trying to exit a day past my visa ending, but luckily we didn’t have to employ Sonam’s connections. The nice man at the counter explained to his boss that I was a volunteer teacher and insisted they waive the Nu. 3,500 fine (the equivalent of US $70). With all that confusion still in my head, I didn’t realize that Sonam had driver the car through the border gate. Without knowing it, Scott and I had left Bhutan. Definitively. It was a weird feeling, to leave a country that had been our home for the past year not knowing when we’d ever return. As I mentioned already, getting into Bhutan isn’t a matter of paying a visa fee; it involves either a lot of money or a lot of paperwork. Hopefully one day, perhaps in several years, the latter will happen and we’ll once again be in Bhutan. Until then, it was by far the saddest and most shocking departure from a country I’ve ever had.