Surrender yourself to the power of the mighty Guru.
Machu Picchu, Taj Mahal, Red Square and Dome of the Rock. These are the top icons that define Peru, India, Russia and Israel respectively. Taktsang Lhakhang or the Tiger’s Nest Monastery would be such icon of Bhutan. This monastery was among the last places I saw im my trip to Bhutan, and rightly so. By now I had (and you have) seen the Bhutan story build bit by bit and it was about time to climax.
Perched miraculously on the side of a sheer cliff 900m above the base of Paro valley, the only sounds you can hear at the Taktshang Lhakhang are the murmurs of the wind and water and the chanting of mantras. The name ‘Taktshang’ means ‘Tiger’s nest’ and it is believed that Guru Rinpoche, the Guru from India who preached Buddhism to Tibet and Bhutan, flew to this site on the back of a tigress to subdue the local demon and meditate in the cave. Takshang Lhakhang is a holy place and Buddhist pilgrims from all over Bhutan visit here.
The only way to reach up to the Tiger’s Nest is to walk, or fly on the back of a magic tiger. I picked the former since I don’t know how to ride a flying tiger and I might have missed taking pictures. Ask any taxi driver in Paro to drop you off at the junction from where the road to Taktsang Lakhang begins (8km, Rs. 15). The actual hike starts about 3 kilometers from the point you were dropped off (elevation: 2,600m).
The hike is 2 hour long and offers spectacular views. In the first part, the trail climbs through blue pines, then switchbacks steeply up the ridge and suddenly the valley opens up. After climbing further for an hour, the small white chhorten with prayer flags comes into view. There is a convenient tea house located near the chorten where we took our first pit stop (elevation: 2940m). The tea house is expensive (its the ‘tourist’ thing): a bottle of water is priced five times here (Rs. 50) so choose between carrying lots of water or spending money here. You can see Takshang Lhakhang right across the cafeteria and we enjoyed the impressive view while having brunch and chatting with other visitors.
Many visitors opt to hike only upto this point and have a darshan of the temple from here. Darshan is a Sanskrit word that cannot be translated, but it means something like ‘sight of the holy or the divine.’
Continuing to the next post…
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Lovely trail, you have traveled so much! Where next?
Oh I don’t know, but once I have money, probably somewhere closer. 🙂
Hi Priyank,
This Bhutan travellogue is excellent. We literally have a shangri-la at our north eastern door step.
I guess this even bests Switzerland the destination of many Indians as a holiday destination. I guess if access were to be improved many more would have travelled to Druk Yul. Probably they are not so comfortable getting so many noisy Indian tourists.
The entire series conveys the serenity and peace prevalent there. The snaps were just outstanding and your unplanned forays are always a pleasure to read.
Great…..Now onward we march to Russia.
Thanks Mavin! 🙂
Yeah, we have a beautiful place just next to us and most Indians don’t know about it…. sometimes I wonder if that’s a good thing or a bad! 🙂
I have 2 more posts in this series before we move to Russia!
That was a lovely coverage of your Bhutan trip. Looking forward to reading more of your travelogues!
Thanks Gopinath, soon Bhutan will be done and I’ll move to Russia!
“I picked the former”..why? If you had chosen the latter, I’d have published this limerick on your blog:
There was a young lad from Riga
Who sat, with a smile, on a tiger
They returned from that ride
With the young lad inside –
and the smile on the face of the tiger!!
Murmurs of the wind and water and the chanting of mantras…that sounds divine. I’ll wait to travel with you virtually to the top of Takshang Lhakhang.
Ahh.. limerick! 🙂 And Riga? oooooohhh!
And I’ll make sure you enjoy every moment of your travel with me!
I did Priyank. Shukran.:)
Neat! That’s really cool!
I think that’s also a suspended temple in China, can’t recall its name now…
Oh, if you find the name, do lemme know here!
The last photo is great. It looks like they cleared the area around the monastery. There are no trees around it. Looks like an aging bald mountain.
I know, isn’t it! Crazy indeed! It’s a naked rock surface, a bush here n there, but overall its bald.
Looks pretty diffrent from Toronto! 😆
The prayers are beautiful… looks so fragile hung like that on top of a mountain. I have to visit this part of the world, it’s so unique!
Yeah, its slightly different from Toronto… lol!
The temple does look fragile, but when you are close, it feels very strong and powerful! 🙂
Cool location! As an aside, somehow reminds me of a Simpson episode – you probably know about this. In that, Homer and Appu climb a very large mountain (not unlike the one above) to the offce/monastery to meet the head-honcho of Kwik-e-mart. The boss (who is like a sadhu too) allows then only 3 questions to ask for the meeting – and before Appu could convey the real questions, Homer asks “Are you really the boss of Kwik-e-mart? Are you? Really?” and their “meeting” is terminated 🙂 ! Needless to say Appu wasnt amused.
Arun
HAHAHAHA! Yeah yeah I do remember it! 🙂 I did meet a Buddhist sadhu, and he let me ask many questions 😀 Although when it was 5 pm, he terminated our ‘meeting’,… lol!
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