India-wards to Phuentsholing

As my time in the land of happiness was coming to an end, I headed towards Phuentsholing on the Indo - Bhutan border. I took an early morning bus from Thimpu and reached Phuentsholing 7 hours later. It was hot, dusty, dirty and a traffic jam ensued right outside the bus station. A stark contrast from the otherwise serene Bhutanese countryside I was used to. I hailed a cab and went looking for a budget hotel.

The cab driver took me to a few hotels, most of which were shady. I finally decided on one budget hotel called Everest, where some families were staying. The room was clean, airy and had a view of the high grill separating India and Bhutan on on side and mountains on the other. If I walked about 200 steps, I would be in India, half an hour ahead of Bhutan local time.

                   View from my room

Chicken Ema Datshi

Exhausted from all the travel, I slept through the afternoon. In the evening, I crossed over to India to turn on my Indian SIM card and call home. I felt like a time traveller when I crossed into India and back to the hotel, saving and losing time. My mother had asked for some Bhutanese tea cups and I went all over looking for them. Sadly, I could only find Chinese tea cups.

Entry to Bhutan from Jaigaon - India side

It suddenly dawned on me that I needed to get a stamp before exiting Bhutan. I went down to the immigration office where scores of fellow Indians had lined up to get a visa. It didn't take me much time to get the formalities done. I was told by a Bhutanese friend that I would not be able to enter Bhutan again in case my passport didn't have this stamp. I really didn't want to risk that as I am yet to explore Central and Eastern Bhutan on my next trip there.

I ordered Maroo chicken and rice for dinner, sipped on Takin wine while watching a documentary on Buddhism. I turned in for the night fairly early in order to catch my early morning bus to Darjeeling.