Taktsang Tribute

The Himalayas is a mystic adventure for many people especially from the west and the far-east. Grand white mass of mountains, dark forested hills, beautiful waterfalls…the list of rhetoric are endless. They all seem to attract the discerning travelers as the bees to flowers. The memories are sweet nectar.

My 3 hrs hike to Taktsang Monastery in Paro, Bhutan was one that transported me to an era that I thought existed only in a digital studio in some corner of Hollywood. Bhutan has always prided herself in the ‘Thunder Dragon Kingdom’ ruled by a benevolent King. So, it is a surprise not to experience that in Paro, a truly picturesque valley. There are many things to do in Paro…from admiring the Dzongs to lounging in discos. Since I am not a party animal I took the path that gradually takes one through the blue pine hills never dropping in altitude until one has the view of the unbelievable work of art resting heavily on the mystical Buddhist legend. It is so powerful…that you accept the translation ‘The Tiger Nest’ probably as immediately as Yeshey Tshogyal had transformed herself into a Tigress on whose back Guru Padmasambhava flew to the grand rocky edifice in Paro in the 8^th Century.