Mandi i'm off: Taktsang Monastery AKA Tigers Nest

WOW WOW WOW.this is what it is all about,all the sightseeing,the acclimatization,the training hikes of the last 12 days are all preparation this,for the strenuous climb up to the most famous landmark in Bhutan.It was so hard but so worthwhile,several times I didn't think I would make it and after all from less than half way up there are good photo view points,so I seriously thought of copping out.It was my failure to complete the Mt Kinabalu ascent in Sabah some years ago that kept me going.

I had a photo of the monastery as a desktop picture on the home computer for ages I would study it and try to define the route to it but I never could,today during the climb up the well worn but treacherous track I was still trying to pick it.In fact it wasn't until a third of the way across the traverse could I figure out the why and how ,and now I look at the photos,and have a vivid recollection of it and I still don't believe it.

The guru Rimpoche,known to many as the second Buddha and also to some as the living Buddha,flew to this spot on the back of a Tigress from Tibet in the 8th century,he slew some trouble making demons,and then meditated for 3 months in a cave.The cave is still there I saw it.There is actually a second cave too which was a Tigers Lair.Then during the 16th century this monastery was built, how I don't know.It appears to hang in space but is actually constructed on a narrow rock ledge,using just about all the available real estate,about 25 to 30 monks live there and the nearby small buildings are solitary meditation places for devotees.There is also a policeman,he frisks everyone and ensures no photos of the inside are taken.

The walk back down was knee buckling,but descending from the thin air at 3,000 meters to the valley floor at 2,300 almost had me feeling like I might survive.

Well that was the grand finale, I fly to Bangkok tomorrow en route to Mandalay.