1983. February, Cold, 7332'
My guide, driver and I departed the hotel around 0730 for the hour drive on the narrow two lane road into Paro town and out the other side toward Taktsang Monastery. There weren't many cars on the road in winter 1983 and we met only by a few pack horses and folks walking into town. After a half hour driving up the valley on the main road, we came to a small turn off which cars or trucks could use to allow larger vehicles coming in the opposite direction to get passed. The trailhead up to Taktsang Monastery began on the main road at this point. I stepped out of our vehicle and my guide walked around the back for our day packs. He grabbed mine, handed it to me, pointed to the trailhead and pointed to Taktsang Monastery clinging to the hillside at 10,678'.
"Have a good hike. We will see you at 3" the driver and guide remarked before they turned the car toward town.
"Taktsang, the 'tiger's lair,' gets its name from the story of its foundation. In the eighth century, Guru Rinpoche came to Taktsang in a miraculous manner, flying on the back of a tigress from Khenpajong in the region of Kurtoe. According to Bhutanese tradition, the tigress was a form taken by one of the Master's consorts for the occasion. Guru Rinpoche meditated for three months in a cave at Taktsang and converted the Paro valley to Buddhism. In his terrifying form of Dorje Droloe, Guru Rinpoche used the religious cycle of the Kagye to subjugate the Eight Categories of Evil Spirits during his stay at Taktsang." Bhutan - Francoise Pommaret
In Pommaret's book, she states "the fact that the access path to the complex of temples called Taktsang Pelphug is scarcely visible makes its location all the more impressive." Her next sentence states, "for people unaccustomed to the altitude it takes about three hours at an average walking speed to reach the temples." I am not sure if Ms Pommaret had hiked to the temples before writing that statement, but it took me more than three hours on a trail without guidance or signage.
After crossing a swinging bridge over a river, the ascent began past some villager's houses, through a forest of oak, pine and rhododendron, then reached level ground crowded by prayer flags, where the trail spit to the right or continued upward. The tea house on the right path had (and still has) a spectacular view of the Monastery. Returning to the main trail, a steep ascent to another level section ended at prayer flags along the cliff edge above Taktsang. A narrow path on the cliff face continued to the left, crossed a frozen stream in a ravine toward a ladder with steep steps straight up to the Taktsang Monastery entrance.
We met at 230. Our drive to Thimphu took three hours on a very narrow winding road, strewn with small boulders in several sections.
We met at 230. Our drive to Thimphu took three hours on a very narrow winding road, strewn with small boulders in several sections.
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| Taktsang Monastery (1982/1983) |
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In the monastery courtyard, a red-robed monk was dancing. His movements were studies, trance-like. He dipped and turned, balancing on one foot and then the other. His open arms moved in slow motion as his hands traced studied patterns in the air. He was barefoot; it was winter. he seemed oblivious to everything the senses might register except perhaps for the rhythmic skishhhh, skishhhh, skishhh of the small cymbals played by a fellow monk a few yards away under the cloistered porch.
So Close to Heaven, Barbara Crossette
In the monastery courtyard, a red-robed monk was dancing. His movements were studies, trance-like. He dipped and turned, balancing on one foot and then the other. His open arms moved in slow motion as his hands traced studied patterns in the air. He was barefoot; it was winter. he seemed oblivious to everything the senses might register except perhaps for the rhythmic skishhhh, skishhhh, skishhh of the small cymbals played by a fellow monk a few yards away under the cloistered porch.
So Close to Heaven, Barbara Crossette
