Bhutan – Day 9: Tiger’s Nest and Paro

April 06, 2023

Our tour guide persuaded the hotel to serve us breakfast earlier than they usually do so that we could leave for Paro Taktsang at seven o’clock. We did not go directly. Instead, we made a small detour to catch a glimpse of the sacred mountain Jomolhari, as well as Drugyel Dzong. An interesting fact about the latter is that it languished on UNESCO’s tentative list for many years until Bhutan completely dashed its chances by completely reconstructing the ruins.

Also known as the Tiger’s Nest, Paro Taktsang is one of thirteen so-called “Tiger’s Nest caves” associated with Guru Padmasambhava. It is said his main consort and disciple Yeshe Tsogyal could take on the form of a tigress and carried the guru to the cave on her back. In the cave, Padmasambhava carried out rituals to subdue local spirits inimical to Buddhism, opening Paro Valley to this religion. The Bhutanese tend to trace their history precisely to this moment, and the temple belongs to the most sacred in the country.

Our ascent to the temple was not all that horrible. True, we overcame some 600 metres of difference in altitude, but since we began early in the morning, we did not get too hot. We also benefitted from the help of a local dog, who led us through various shortcuts until we emerged from the woods by the café. Being at the temple was less scary than I imagined it to be. One is never walking directly above a hair-raising drop since the temple is built onto the cave floor rather than being stuck onto the face of the rock.

After our visit to the Tiger’s Nest, we ate lunch and continued to the National Museum of Bhutan, which stands right above the Paro Dzong. The museum is a nice and cosey size, going into just the right amount of detail to keep visitors interested. Among its highlights are multiple masks used for ritual dances and Bhutan’s taxidermised wildlife. From the lookout near the museum, we also spotted a plane gracefully descending onto the airport.

Finally, we tried on some of Bhutan’s traditional costumes by the Paro Dzong. I picked out a beautiful red and golden combination that made me feel very elegant. The group then split. Some stayed to shop while others went back to the hotel by taxi. I had quite an interesting conversation with the driver spanning Bhutanese sympathies for Ukraine, the return to normal life in Bhutan after the pandemic, and the Bhutanese education system. However, it seems the shoppers had an even more interesting time: just hours after a day spent praying, and just minutes after buying a golden stupa to fix their daughter’s bad karma, a couple in our tour group found that their daughter had conceived after ten years of vain attempts.