It’s my last day in Bhutan, and it was an awesome one. I spent the day mountain climbing! Okay, it wasn’t “mountain climbing” per se, but I don’t care what anyone says, I climbed a mountain.
Tiger’s Nest is an ancient Buddhist temple and monastery located at the top and on the side of a stone mountain! Legend has it that a Buddhist monk from Tibet flew on the back of a tigress and landed there where he meditated in a cave for three months. It’s a must-see in Bhutan.
I knew it would be the only major sort of ‘trekking’ I was going to be doing (Everest Base Camp plans thrashed lol), so I bought a pair of hiking boots before I left, which totally saved me on this climb! Don’t worry Christine, I didn’t wear my flip flops up, but I seriously didn’t think it would be so difficult. At breakfast, I asked my guide Duptho if it was going to be hard. He said, “No, not at all, there are old ladies who climb it all the time.” My next question was, “How long does it usually take?” One hour. All right then. Up we go.
Did I mention that when I first got to Bhutan my room at the first hotel I stayed at in Thimpu was on the third floor and it killed me just to go up those stairs? (No elevator!!) We started walking from the hotel up a paved road and five minutes later, I had to stop and catch my breath. All the while, I saw cars going up the road as well, and I was like, “We can drive up?!” Duptho said it was only a short walk to where the cars had to park in order to start the trek so I continued walking. Um, half an hour later we finally get to the top of the parking area, and I was thinking, you couldn’t have saved me these 25 minutes and driven up?? Haha, I’m glad we didn’t though, because now I can say I walked every part of my trip up to the Tiger’s Nest. When we got to the parking area, Duptho said he would arrange to have a horse bring me up. I told him I would freak out because I don’t like animals. LOL. “I’d rather take five hours to walk up than get on a horse,” I told him. No horse for me, but I saw so many people on them and all I thought was, “Wimps!!”
An hour into the “walk,” I didn’t even get half way up. Poor Duptho, he had to wait around for me so often. This is why no one wants to “hike” with me (ahem, Annie and HR!). I remember my first real hike in Nova Scotia, when I went to Cape Split. It was nine kilometres in and nine kilometres out. It was a balanced up and down and lots of flat areas though and it took about eight hours. When I was in Rwanda, I hiked in the rainforest, and it was about three kilometres. It was a steeper climb but for the most part very balanced as well. That was SUPPOSED to take about an hour and a half, but I kept everyone back for at least an extra two hours. LOL. When I was working out, I could do 3.5 kilometres at a brisk pace on a slight incline in about one hour, so I thought I would do slightly okay on this one. Nope.
Tiger’s Nest is literally all uphill, and very steep. I was walking extra slowly because, well, as Ian likes to say, I’m a klutz. I’m prone to slipping and tripping and sometimes spraining my ankle, and I DID NOT want to risk slipping on something and falling off the side of the mountain. The trail was literally on the side of the mountain, no rail, no deep in the forest covered with trees kind of trail, literally the side of the mountain.
We left at 9:45 a.m. and got to the café at about noon, which was supposed to be the halfway point. While walking, all I kept thinking was “Why did I decide to do this?” and “Maybe I should get on a horse!” and “Please don’t fall, please don’t fall, please don’t fall!” My thallasema totally kicked my ass! I had to stop every five minutes or so just to catch my breath and lower my heart rate. It was brutal. I was so happy to see the café and take an extended break. After lunch, we headed up again. It took about another two hours to get to the top. The sad part was that I saw people who were coming up behind me already leaving the temple when I got there haha. And, on my way up, I saw a Bhutanese lady doing the trek in flip flops, another in HEELS and a little old Bhutanese man not even breaking a sweat or breathing hard.
In any case, when I got to the temple, I did a victory dance in my mind. I DID IT!!! With no horse!! I took so many pictures of the temple on my way up as I got closer. It was hilarious because the first ones I took from my hotel room were so far, and then I would get to a certain place on the climb and think, I can see it! Every time I got a better, closer up picture, I was saying, “I’m almost there!” I could not see how I would make it there though and kept thinking I would never make it. I’m glad I did not give up. It was definitely something to experience. The only bad thing was the amount of horse poop along the path. LOL.
The temple and monastery are absolutely beautiful! It was built in the eighth century, and it looks and feels so old. I wasn’t allowed to take photos (boo to that!) so I can’t show you how amazing it was, but it was definitely worth the trek. The view from the top was amazing too, and I learned a lot about Buddhism in Bhutan. It is very different from the Theravada Buddhism my parents believe in, so it was interesting to see the differences and some similarities.
On the way down, I counted the stairs that I had to walk up, and it was 506!!! That was after walking for four hours up the mountain. Ahhh! The climb down was much easier though. I made it down in about an hour and a half. In that time, Duptho managed to meditate while waiting for me, and outran me twice after giving me a 10 minute headstart walk. LOL. He later had to wait for me at the parking area for about 20 minutes. LOL. Also, people who left the temple waaay after me caught up to me and beat me back to the parking area. Whatever, I DID IT!! My legs are going to hurt tomorrow, but I’m happy I’ll be lounging by the pool at the Crowne Plaza in Kathmandu before heading back home. I can’t believe nine weeks has gone by so fast!!
I am sad it’s over, but am looking forward to going home (after a short stop in Qatar of course. :))
–Bea
Bea Vongdouangchanh 