I am back in the United States, but I am not ready to stop writing about my time in Bhutan. I have noticed some real ways in which I have changed because of my six-week visit and I will reflect on that and the details of my experience over the next few posts.
I have traveled to other countries in various stages of development and political structure, and each time I have felt an immense weight when I returned to my comfy bubble that is the USA. This trip was so different, though.
I was very lucky to be in Bhutan on a student guest visa, which means no tourist fee (250 USD per day), no guide, little of the red tape that other tourists run into when trying to visit, and on top of all of that, I was there for a month and a half, which is longer than most tourists are allowed to stay.
I was able to do all of this because I was conducting research with a group of people from all over the US that directly contributed to the Bhutanese government’s understanding of their forests and watersheds, which they take very seriously.
During my time there I had many opportunities to visit cultural sights, religious temples, climb parts of the southeastern Himalayas, and eat some of the best food of my life.
This is all in saying, when I returned home, to the defending bustle of American life, to the overcrowded streets of New York and the less-than-Buddhist mentality of home, I didn’t feel that weight of sadness I had felt upon return from other places.
Instead, I felt wave after wave of joy and celebration that I had the honor and opportunity to visit Bhutan in the way I did and at the time I did. This fortuitous trip has granted me knowledge far beyond any textbook, perspective out of reach of any telescope, and self-reflection so deep that I feel the roots of my soul strengthening.
I have resumed my life at home with joy, not because I left, but because I had the privilege to have lived there for even just a second.
