Bringing out to you an ultimate travel experience which is a
must to be added item in your travel bucket list. Reach out to us if you need
any help to plan your travel once you finish reading this. J
Another objective is to note down this experience to revisit
memories in future, as we all know our brain has limited storage space and also
the brain memory can diminish with ageing. So here it goes,
On the day of 24th Feb 2017 (Friday), we were in
the happiest country of the world. Yes, your guess is correct, I am talking
about “Bhutan” and not to mention, our happiness index too increased beyond
limits while visiting this beautiful country. The more I talk about it, the
more I miss it. The beauty it possesses is beyond our imagination. Our travel
plan included the plan to visit Paro, Thimpu and Punakha. This note is about
the most memorable experience that we had in Bhutan.
We planned to visit the 8th century monastery
named as Takhtsang Palphug Monastery and also known as Tiger’s Nest. This is a
sacred site and is located in the Cliffside of the upper Paro valley. The name
is originated based on a story which says that Guru Padmasambhava came to this
location on the back of a tigress. And also the local people relate the front
of the mountain with tiger’s face.
It was a 4.5km of hiking upwards and same distance downwards
making it total distance of 9Km that was to be covered on a mountain. To share
with all of you, we are not that good when it comes to hiking. Anyways as we
were told it’s not something that we should miss out, we planned to go ahead
with the schedule.
Uncertainties: So we
arrived at the starting point which is around 12 km from Paro city center, and
the starting point gave us an initial indication of being the total distance
more on flat plane as we had not done any research before proceeding. We were
offered two options, 1st as riding on a horse or 2nd as walking
on our own. We chose the option no. 2 which looked much safer to me personally.
We were advised to take sticks to support us during walking but we opted not to
take them and simply overestimated our capabilities. Though our taxi driver was
a good man who gave us a few tips which included to be towards the cliff side
always to avoid any accident, I realized it to be really helpful.
We started walking very enthusiastically and being totally
unaware of how the final destination would look like. In a few meters only we
got a clearer picture of rest of the route. Our excitement was on the peak as
we never experienced any of this. Walking upwards on a narrow pathway of
mountain definitely gave us goose bumps. People riding on horses along the road
told us that we were really courageous just because we chose to walk.
1st
Milestone: Halfway to the destination comes a cafeteria and a
spectacular view of the monastery. Immediately we got a feeling of
accomplishment upon reaching there. We took a short break, spent some time for
clicking the photographs, sipped some tea and enjoyed the view. Upon leaving
the cafeteria, we were all geared up to touch the destination. But It was not
that easy though the thought of looking at unknown kept us motivated.
The second
thoughts: At one point, I proposed to go back as we already had a view
of the monastery and thought will not be able to walk anymore. Also the horses
go only upto halfway till cafeteria point, this option was also not available
to us anymore. But here comes the enthusiasm of my better half who encouraged me
to complete the whole trip together. Both of us knew, if we don’t complete this
one; we were not going to be satisfied. So we decided to go forward.
The
Enlightenment: We were accompanied by more nos. of fellow hikers now.One of
the monks who met us on the way shared with us a beautiful thought, he said
don’t take it as a tourist destination rather consider it as a pilgrimage. The
whole pathway is similar to our lives, it has a lot of ups and downs. Sometimes
we feel like losing our hopes and things might look like impossible to be done
But that’s the moment when you have to look forward and recognize your
destination. You never know what you will get there, so why not to try to get
the unknown.
The Last Lap: All the
encouragement from fellow travelers and sharing by the monk got added to our
own judgment and we finally arrived at certain point where we had a closer view
of the monastery. To our surprise, there was still something left to make our
whole trip more memorable. Additional 320 stairs to the monastery! Well when we
completed 90% of the pathway, remaining 10% was definitely worth giving a shot.
Nothing can beat an experience of accomplishment. This was
nothing short of accomplishment for us. We do cherish these memories together
after coming back to our home destination and encourage everyone to go for it.
If you are still planning to visit Bhutan, you may reach out to us if any help
is needed.
Quoting here one of the famous quotes which summarizes the
whole story,
“Fill your life with experiences, Not things. Have stories to
tell, not stuff to show”.
