Tiger’s Nest is a Buddhist monastery located on the edge of a cliff. As everyone says, it is a “must see” in Bhutan, and wow are they correct! It is located in Paro, so early in the morning Dr. Z and I took a taxi back from Thimphu to Paro (as this was the one free day) to hike the mountain. This time I sat in the front seat for the drive to take in the views. It is really pretty but I don’t think my fear of heights and cliffs would ever allow me to be the one driving around the tight corners!
We arrived at the bottom of the Tiger’s Nest hike, which was full of horses ready to carry people. You can hire a horse to take you about half way up the mountain, until the trail gets to tortuous for them. We chose to walk but did see some people on the horses on the way up.
Dr. Z told me to go ahead as he didn’t think he was going to finish the entire mountain. I walked a bit with him but realized in order to make it up and down before dark I’d have to zoom on ahead.
The views were continuously breathtaking around every corner. It was also a very friendly trail, though I was hiking alone I hardly noticed as everyone on the trail was friendly and chatty.
The first half of the trail had a lot of horses bringing supplies up the mountain (and occasionally bringing a person). There were a few times I was a little concerned I was going to get pushed off the cliff by a horse, but luckily they just follow a straight path and as long as you move out of the way of their path you will be fine.
About half way up is a cafeteria to stop for snacks and tea, and a view.
While here, a Tiger cat named Karma came to sit with us at the bench. He was adorable. And hungry, he took a cracker right off of my plate.
Through my life while traveling abroad, I think my extreme pale skin and light hair shock people, and I have had a quite a number of people take photos of and with me. Today was no exception. A lady who was also taking photos of the cat with me asked for a photo with me. Well asked in her own way, she didn’t speak any English, just got next to me and handed the phone to someone for a photo, so I decided I should have one with her too.
After resting and dehydrating myself with coffee (what was I thinking), I carried on. I have to admit I had to stop multiple times during the hike to catch my breath at altitude, and was shortly regretting having coffee instead of a bottle of water as I was apparently panting to the point someone offered me water nearby (not embarrassing at all).
There are many points with prayer flags, and soon you find a point with prayer flags and a view of the Tiger’s Nest. I was happily taking photos with my selfie stick, and then suddenly my selfie stick snapped. What timing as I hadn’t even made it to the top yet!
I soon made it up to 10,000 feet. And the view was magical.
Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that my selfie stick broke and the guy I asked to snap a photo of me was an apparently wonderful photographer and took this photo for me:
Shortly after this view, my fear of heights kicked in full force. I momentarily sat down, and thought “this view is so nice do I really need to go any further?” But I had a lot of support from everyone else on the trail. Strangers kept prompting me that “you can do it, just 5 more minutes.” Well it wasn’t 5 more minutes, it was much longer despite everyone’s promise of 5 more minutes. But I made it down the steep stairs around the edge of the cliff. And again, more views. To get to the monastery you have to go down the mountain quite a bit, cross a small bridge, and then back up the neighboring mountain.
It is a wonderful feeling to make it all the way to the monastery. It feels even better when all the people who saw me struggling with my fear of heights giving me a thumbs up and a “look you made it!” I apparently surprised a number of people.
You can’t take any photos inside, and have to put your things in a locker. I waited a while for a locker key and finally a security guard offered to hold my bag for me. Luckily the Bhutanese people are trustworthy and I did come back out to my bag with my phone and camera still inside.
Feeling extremely happy I started the trek back. I conquered the stairs this time without fear (I didn’t look away from the step). My thighs were starting to give up on me but after making it to the top of the of the stairs it was all back downhill from there!
I was feeling so good I was moving briskly down the hill. Until my knees reminded me how steep going down was. But in about ¼ the time it took me to get up, I made it back down. Amazing how quick you can go when you aren’t constantly stopping to take photos and talk with everyone around.
I made it down to see the friendly face of Dr. Z who was waiting at the bottom for me. We drove into the town and to a coffee shop for a snack and coffee. At the table next to us was a group I met on the mountain, I felt better knowing they also hardly could walk up the stairs to the coffee shop after that hike. Despite how sore I am, I highly recommend to everyone to make this beautiful and spiritual hike.
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