Climbing to the Tiger's Nest

My favorite day in Bhutan was the day I hiked up to the Tiger’s Nest Monastery, which the locals call the Taktsang Monastery.  This actual, working monastery is precariously perched on the side of a sheer mountain cliff!

According to legend, in the 8th century, the Guru Rinpoche flew to this location from Tibet on the back of a Tigress and meditated in a cave on the cliff for 3 years, 3 months, 3 days and 3 hours.  After this meditation, he emerged in eight incarnated forms and the site has been a holy place ever since.

I first saw a photo of this place in a travel magazine a couple of years ago.  It seemed so exotic and so far off, that I definitely considered it a bucket list item. 

After arriving in Bhutan, I waited a full day to acclimate to the altitude.  The Paro valley is at ~ 7300 FT MSL, which is almost half a mile higher than Denver!  The actual monastery is built into a cliff @ ~ 10,200 FT.  From my hotel, which was the Tiger's Nest Resort, I could even see it in the distance!

On the morning of the trek, I was eager to get an early start.  However, the views form the hotel veranda did not look promising!

My guide was less concerned and promised that it was still there in the clouds;-)

The real adventure started when we reached the parking lot at the base.  Since the monastery was hiding in the clouds, I really couldn't see it.  But I saw vendors selling Bhutanese crafts and horses waiting to give tourists rides up to the monastery.  The horses are actually only able to take tourists 2/3 of the way up.  That was not an option for me.  Since I wanted the full experience, I was determined to hike the whole way on foot.  Besides, the only people I saw on horses where elderly and I felt guilty opting for a horse when everyone else that looked even reasonably fit was making the climb on foot!

The first part of the trek went through forests and got steeper as you went along. Along the way, I saw some incredible views of the Paro Valley.  Unfortunately, the Tiger's Nest remained hidden in the clouds ahead.

After almost an hour I came to the first stop.  There is a cafe where my guide told me we would get amazing views of the Tiger's Nest.  Unfortunately, the clouds still did not cooperate.  It was improving … But not enough to see the monastery yet.  Instead, it became a place to cool off and warm up.  Cool off because I was hot and sweaty.  Warm up because as soon as I stopped sweating, I noticed it was rather chilly at that altitude!

After getting recharged with some tea, the steep climb continued.  There were prayer flags in every direction and numerous prayer wheels.  Naturally, I had to stop and spin every one and pray for the clouds to clear.

Then came the official "viewpoint".  By this time, my good karma from the prayer wheels finally started working and I was able to view the monastery!

As you can see, I needed another break!

After the viewpoint, I had to climb down ~ 750 steps along one side of the cliff and then cross a wooden bridge to another cliff.  From the bridge there was a fantastic view of a waterfall, which you can see below:

At this point, I was feeling downright giddy (except for the fact that my legs were screaming and felt like rubber bands).
Tandin, who was my guide, then reminded me that I wasn't done yet!

There were still 850 steps left to climb up before the entrance!!

When I was finally at the entrance, I was disappointed to learn that no photos are allowed.  In fact, they confiscate all of your cameras/phones/recording devices.  You can't even sneak in an iPhone because after you check in your stuff, a security guard actually frisks you!!

So I can't really show you the view from the top.  But trust me when I say it was SPECTACULAR!

The spirituality of the monastery is really quite overwhelming.  It is not hard to see why this is such a special place for the Bhutanese people.

After I finished gawking at the various rooms in the monastery and of course the views, it was time to head back down.

Going down sounds simple… But it really wasn't.  While it was less strenuous, it was far trickier because of the loose dirt and slippery rocks along the way.

I stopped again at the same cafe on the way down and this time the clouds had totally cleared so I was able to see the complete cliff view, which you can see below:

By the time I reached the parking lot, I was so ready to sit down!

Overall, it was one of the best hikes I have ever had!  The spirituality of the whole place, plus the amazing architecture was truly worth the effort to see!!

Now I can check one more thing of the bucket list!!!