B@Dshah Banter: Bhutan Budget Backpackers - Day 4 ( Paro

30 September 2014 – Day 4 (Tiger’s Nest Monastery)

Hike to Taktsang Monastery

What Taj Mahal is to India, Eiffel Tower to France, Great Wall to China, Tiger’s Nest aka Taktsang Monastery has been to Bhutan. Our driver turned up at 7:15 AM instead of the scheduled 7 AM but made up for it as he sped down the roads and multi tasked with whatsapp as a calling device. This is 2014 before Whatsapp calling had been introduced. He was literally conversing with some lady via voice messages in real time, it was almost a telephone conversation.

We reached the starting point at 7:45 AM and only six other cars were parked so we had reached before the crowds or so we hoped. Like a regular hike (I’d rate it as an easy hike, but remember it is a hike not a stroll. Wear appropriate shoes, carry water and dry snacks if need be) the trail was lush green, extremely foggy though early in the morning so we couldn’t see far into the distance.

We noticed a couple standing near a randomly placed bench on the trail. Then looking at where they were pointing to, we had our first glimpse of the famous Tiger’s Nest Monastery clinging to the edge of the cliff. How they built it there is still a marvel but at the place where Padmasambhava or Guru Rinpoche arrived on the back of a flying tigress, miracles are a way of life. Partially shrouded in the clouds added a mystical feel to the entire visual experience. The monastery hangs above at roughly 10,000 feet, almost 3000 feet over our reference of ground level being Paro valley.

Around 9 AM, we reached the café which is at approximately the midway point and we got our second glimpse of the Taktsang Monastery at a distance in a clearer setting. Another tour group was freshening up at the café whilst some of them called it quits saying they’d enjoy their spirituality with a cup of black coffee and their canon cameras. A cup of tea at this café is Nu 120, pricey but biscuits with it are free. They have a clean washroom too.

We decided to beat the group to the top to give ourselves some space and freedom of movement. Top is a misnomer because it becomes a roller coaster climb as after climbing quite a bit, you then end up with steep steps headed down and another set to get you back up to the monastery. You also cross a bridge over a waterfall that I am told drops 200 feet below into a sacred pool. The mist shrouded our view of those depths and I’ll take the expert word on it.

Awaking the tiger within

If the closest viewpoint to the monastery right before the descent is not crowded when you get there, make the most of it in terms of enjoying the view. Once you reach the monastery, you can’t carry cameras or bags into the monastery. Also there aren’t too many places where you can stop and enjoy without blocking others in the final stretches.

You will be asked to leave everything (bags, shoes, electronic equipment etc) at the security cabin at the entrance and need to show ID proof (we used our passport) and permit (the same one we had collected at the border) before we were allowed in. I felt the monastery felt larger on the outside than inside, though that may also be due to the fact certain areas are off limits for tourists.

After praying, getting holy water splashed on us and sitting in the meditation hall for a while under the watchful warmth of ethereal lights cast by the traditional butter lamps, we decided to head our way back with बुद्धं शरणं गच्छामि (Buddham saranam gachami) resonating in my head.

As we headed out at 11:30 AM, we could see a crowd building up as they came down the narrow steps towards the monastery. As we eased our way through and a niggling cramp decided to visit me, we slowly made our way to the café at 11:30 AM and after using the washrooms, continued heading down taking breaks to enjoy the view and the breeze that had picked up. At a certain spot where there are a lot of prayer flags and a big prayer wheel right after the café, our driver had asked us to give us a call from there as it would take us approx. an hour from there to get to the bottom according to him.

We reached the bottom around 1 PM and it had turned into a massive car parking lot interspersed with vendors selling souvenirs. We found these pretty expensive for our liking with a tiny face mask (size of a fridge magnet) costing Nu 500. Being a tourist centre, those prices should be expected. Our driver’s brother (or so he said) Tundin had come to pick us up.

The Oldest temple in Bhutan and seeing the Royal entourage

He took us on a detour to Kyichu Lhakhang. The temple is considered to be one of the oldest temples in Bhutan along with Jamey Lhakhang (near Bumthang) built in the 8^th century AD. 108 temples were built across present day Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan to subdue a demoness over this region that was preventing the spread of Buddhism. More details on that story when we get to Bumthang so hold your yaks. Kyichu was all decked up with golden yellow tapestry all over and a large congregation of monks stood in attention greeting us right outside the temple along with Bhutan Royal Guards. We soon figured from neighbouring conversations that the Queen Mother and the Queen were visiting and the temple was off limits till they were done with their prayers. We stood around to catch a sight of the royal entourage and decided to head out soon after having done a circumambulation around the prayer wheels.

All Indians are my brothers and sisters ...

We reached Paro in the midst of a power cut around 2 PM and decided to grab lunch at Hotel Peljorling. With the power cut on, quite a few items were off the menu and we finally ordered cheese momos (cheese and me, you should have realised) along with ema datsi (chili cheese stew), aloo dum (potato based gravy) and phulkas (puffed wheat based flat bread) . Whilst the food was good, the entire meal took us 2 hours from order to paying the bill of around 400 Nu.

In all that waiting, I noticed an Indian guy sitting alone on the next table. Asked him to come over (surprisingly we do all this only away from home) and surprise surprise, he turned out to be the same Sai Karthik Reddy Mekala I had interacted over twitter with regarding travel in Bhutan. (Surprisingly prior to 2014, there were 1-2 blogs that gave any useful info to Indians travelling to Bhutan since rest of the world anyways needed to go via travel agencies and Romancing the Planet was one of them. His trip was being hosted by one of the local hotels as a travel blogger. We also then caught up with a thirteen member biking crew from Chennai who landed up at the same restaurant. Clearly a favourite with the Indians (also the fact that they serve Indian food is written on their hoarding). We decided to get going, bargained our hotel room rent down to 1000 Nu per day with Hotel KK for the lack of hot water during our stay and hit the taxi stand.

Onwards to Thimphu

We met Chendo , a shared taxi driver who picked us up (Fixed price of 200 Nu per person to Thimphu) and also a fellow passenger Namgey. Namgey , being a tourist guide, was happy to share more details on what we should and shouldn’t do as we still debated the rest of our itinerary for our stay in Bhutan.

I may not have mentioned this earlier but we had no plan we had made except that we needed to reach Gangtok, Sikkim (India) by 8^th or 9^th October when rest of the gang from the trekking trip would have made it back for we planned to hang out together in Sikkim for a couple of days.

So being in the air leaves a lot of open ended questions which we resolved one day at a time. Namgey also shared his experience of how his only visit to India had him hijacked by the Assamese Bodo militants who asked him to cough up 10,000 INR at gunpoint but finally made do with 5,000 INR. Even after this horrific experience, he mentioned how he’d like to visit India especially Sikkim which he had heard was extremely beautiful, even more than Bhutan. Perfect example of grass is greener on the other side. He also asked of a favour to exchange his Nu to our INR which we readily did converting 4000 INR before he got off at the entrance of Thimphu. Our driver picked up his kids for a birthday party which was close to our end pojnt – the Taj Tashi.

Lost in Thimphu

You are probably wondering, the author said budget trip and here he is getting off at Taj! Ya, well, we did get off at Taj which was our landmark to where we’d be staying at a couchsurfer’s place. Not able to reach him, we tried asking the address to a few folks around and they had no clue. Being the isolated side of town, there were barely any folks around nor street signs or street lights were sparing.

We walked into Taj and the concierge was kind enough to run in and get 2 city maps for us. We figured the location was about 10 minutes away and uphill ! 10 minutes away from city centre turned out to be the suburbs of Thimphu, desolate and dark.

We then asked the odd person on the street about our next landmark being the old UN office and finally made it through a flooded street ( we didn't realise it still Sash stepped into a huge puddle in the darkness) and then down a fully residential lane with no street lights and random unfriendly dogs barking. This was the type of street your gut instinct and common sense would say not to venture into in any other city of the world but being Bhutan, we fearlessly marched on.

Our host Alma lived in a huge traditional wooden villa with an apple orchard attached. He was an introvert American, deputed by a Japanese company to make a Swiss cheese factory in Bhutan and a big fan of the British Neil Gaiman. Talk about globalisation! Passing on a spare key and explaining how he'd be heading out by 6 AM for work, he showed us to our rooms, explained the controls of the heater and we were glad to call it a night safe from the sub zero temperatures that his weather app mentioned.

Key Points

Taktsang Monastery : 20 minutes drive from Paro town centre to base parking area.

Roughly 4.5-5 hours round trip trek for non avid trekkers. They also have mules for one way (uphill) rides. I am not aware of the prices though.

Try getting to the base as early as the crack of dawn to beat the crowds and get some good views as the early morning mist clears away.

The final stretch has about 500 steep steps to negotiate so pace yourself accordingly and with the waterfall in the vicinity, it can get humid and sticky.

Please carry your permit and ID (Passport preferably) to gain access to inside the monastery.

The washroom facilities outside the monastery are primitive ( you need to carry water in a bucket and is the traditional eastern style) so you may be better off using the one at the cafe.

Hotel Peljorling - Avg meal for 2 - 400 Nu.

Hotel KK - Originally 1200 Nu per night, but due to hot water unavailability, finally settled for 1000 Nu per night.

Paro to Thimphu- Shared taxi - 200 Nu per person. Personal taxi - 800 Nu for the vehicle.