The climb to the Tiger's Nest Monastery

We are back at the Kichu Resort that I blame for my bout of nausea at the start of my trip so I am being careful with the food. Tiffany and I are back sharing but we have a more luxurious room with a little sitting room attached to the bedroom complete with a TV and tea making facilities. This time the hotel is nowhere near full so we were served dinner on our tables instead of a buffet. It didn’t alter the food as it was still 4 vegetable dishes with rice and an inedible meat dish. This time the latter was chilli chicken. It is such a shame that they just dice the chicken up with all the bones as the dish was quite tasty.

I slept fitfully as I was worried about the climb up to the Tiger’s Nest monastery perched high up in the mountains and only accessible by a 2 hour trek up a steep path. When morning dawned it was raining, which would make the walk quite hazardous. I was very worried as we set out in the van and seriously considered chickening out altogether but I had my hiking boots, poles and rucksack so it seemed a waste not to utilise them. When we arrived at the base of the mountain I put a brave face on it and dutifully set out with the rest. After 2 minutes I was at the back of the pack and that’s where I stayed. Mindful of my Senior Citizen status (or was I using that as an excuse to mask my lack of fitness?) I knew my only hope of getting up the hill was to take things slowly. Even still it was a fearful climb up a winding, rock-strewn, muddy and very steep path. I struggled valiantly ever up and after an hour I caught up to the others enjoying a cup of tea at the cafe with a good view of the monastery.  

As we sat and drank our tea the clouds moved in and obscured the monastery from view, the temperature dropped and the rain intensified. I was only half way and there was a stiff climb up to the second observation point followed by a steep descent down a gully and the final climb up steps to the monastery. My desire to see inside the monastery was not very strong. I’d done my bit getting this far, I thought. How much nicer it would be to sit in the warm cafe and read my book for a bit and then have a leisurely descent to the valley and persuade the driver to take me back to the hotel for a hot shower and a rest. What did I want to do? Slog uphill in the rain to view a miserable monastery or head down to a shower and peaceful afternoon? The decision wasn’t very difficult and I didn’t feel as if I had missed out so my group and I parted company.

About 4 hours later Tiffany arrived back at the hotel and headed for the bathroom. She had succumbed to the dreaded Bhutanese lurgy, which made 75% of our group laid low by some bug in this country.

I am now packing my bags and getting ready to leave Bhutan. I have my second Druk Air flight tomorrow back to Kathmandu. The plane leaves at 7.20am so it is going to be an early morning with no breakfast. Hopefully the weather will be good and we’ll be able to leave on time. So that is my Bhutanese adventure over. What an interesting country!