Tigers Nest

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paro_Taktsang

800 steps

I can’t believe this isn’t on the 7 Wonders of the World list. Seriously, an imposing fortress/monastery impossibly placed high on the side of a mountain looking over the valley. Visible yet inaccessible without determination and physical fitness. The access trail has 3,000ft elevation gain but the base is 7,000ft so altitude issues start at the base. After three hours of hiking upward one reaches an access area several hundred feet across a chasm so close it feels like you could reach out and touch the monastery. But no, you then have to go down 400 steps and up 400 steeps to reach the monastery and inside one has to climb three flights of stairs between buildings. And reverse the process. Because we have been fighting colds and inconsistent sleep this is just too much. Susan presses on and explores the incredible place but my heart goes into a-fib and I decide to skip the 800 step part and stare at the promised land I cannot enter. 

Meditating 

I take some extra meds, sit and meditate and slowly head down the mountain. A couple hours later Susan catches up with me at the tea stop half way up the mountain. Itself a sacred place, no meat served. The local dogs must be vegetarians. Susan gets to share about the monastery. 

 Her story: The legend of Tiger’s Nest is incredible.  With the Golden Temple in Amiritsar and the Punakha Dzong this is the third time on this spiritual journey I am moved to tears. This ancient place, hundreds of years of an unbroken chain of rituals, a place where the mythical vibrates into life. We have a very spiritual guide who has lead us to several important sites in Bhutan and this is the culmination.  One can feel his belief uncluttered by modern skepticism. I enter this world by adding prayer flags asking divine blessings for our journey.

Prayer Flags for our journey

  The monastery is built over the cave that monks have meditated in for centuries.  The three temple rooms are lit with butter lamps and all the walls are painted with scenes from the story of the great events that have taken place there. The guide opened a door in the floor to show me the cave below.  He took me up the stairway to the tiger’s nest, a small door to another part of the cave.  You can see in his face the reverence that he holds for this site.  I could not wait to share what I saw with Frank, but there were 800 steps to go and I was exhausted already.  The sweetest sound was hearing his voice coming from somewhere down the trail.  We had a lunch at the Tea House and struggled down the trail exhausted but inspired.