Hiking the Tiger's Nest

This is a highly important Himalayan Buddhist site. It is believed that Padmasambhava Guru Rinpoche flew to this location from Tibet on the back of a tigress from Khenpajong. Padmasambhava is credited with introducing Buddism to Bhutan and it is said that he spent 3 months meditating here in the 8th century. Tenzin Rabgye built the temple here in 1692 and a popular legend of the Taktsang monastery incorperates his heroic act, authors have mentioned that he was a reincarnation of the 8th century guru Padmasmabhava.

With this wonderful legend as background and seeing the forceful passion that the Bhutanese feel for this site, I had enough drive behind me to commit to tackling this challenge.

The start of the trail is gentle, as we wound through the cool wooded area with the smell of the pines as a calming and relaxing antidote, I started to wonder whether our guide had overplayed the difficulty of this climb. We made a pit stop at a charming wooden teahouse perched along a ridge and got our first hazy views of the monastery. Stimulated by this brief vision and rejuvinated after a cuppa and a rest I was propelled onwards and upwards, ready to conquer the next, and as I had been warned, steeper leg of the hike.

The red and gold details of the monastery buildings became sharper with each step up. The peace and calm was overwhelming and I could detect a spirit in the air. As we reached our destination of the gates to the Taktsang Dzong monastery I felt utterly exhilerated by the astonishing beauty of this extraordinary complex clinging to the edge of the cliff. The hike was immediately worth this reward, this holy site offers the rare moment where time stands still.