Hiking to Taktsang

On Saturday, a group of staff members and interns from ABS hiked to Paro Taktsang (Tiger’s Nest) in Paro. We had to set off early in the morning, and Passang, our driver, picked up the first part of the group at 5:30 a.m. Once everyone was on the bus, we headed towards Paro.

When we arrived at the start of the hike, Tiger’s Nest was still hidden in the clouds, only appearing occasionally between the mist. The path was quite muddy in some places because it had rained earlier that morning, but luckily the rain had stopped by the time we started hiking at around 9:30.

I really enjoyed the hike with my colleagues. It was fun, and we had many good conversations along the way. It was nice to spend a day together that had nothing to do with work and to get to know everyone from a different side. We took a break at the large prayer wheel, where there was a bench, and shared tea and snacks together. One thing I really appreciate about the Bhutanese is their generosity and willingness to share. Everyone simply placed the snacks they had brought in the middle of the table, and we all shared everything, including tea and coffee.

After our break, we continued with the second half of the climb. Some people carried quite heavy backpacks because they had brought butter and milk as offerings. However, they did not want to divide the weight among others, as carrying the offerings yourself is considered part of the ritual. Along the way, I shared some Swiss chocolate, which everyone enjoyed and which gave us fresh energy for the final stretch.

Eventually, we reached the viewpoint and stairs overlooking Tiger’s Nest. Of course, we stopped to take many photos there. Although the viewpoint is actually slightly higher than the monastery itself, reaching the temple on the opposite side of the cliff requires descending around 650 stairs and then climbing another 300 stairs before finally entering the temple complex.

Once we arrived, we first changed into kira and gho before handing in our phones at the entrance. We then visited the four main temples as well as several smaller shrines and caves, moving through them one after another. After about an hour, we had completed all the rituals.

Afterwards, we hiked a little further uphill to visit another temple. By the time we had finished visiting all the temples, we were quite exhausted, so we slowly made our way back down to the cafeteria. There we had a very late lunch before returning to the bus. Luckily, it only started raining during the last hundred metres of the descent, so we hardly got wet.

Back on the bus, we all felt happy and proud of having completed the hike to Tiger’s Nest and of spending such a great day together, although we were also very tired by the end of it.