Air, Landier, and Sea

Well we were right to conserve our energy for the Tigers Nest hike, because it was a beast!

We started out at 8,000 feet and climbed to 10,000. The hike was 10 km up and down, so about 7 miles and this first half was pretty much all uphill.

The only exception was when we hit the final stretch which is over 700 steps down into a valley and then back up to the Tiger’s Nest.

It was quite the challenge, but seeing the monastery perched on the top of the mountain was well worth it.

It’s called Tiger’s Nest because the legend has it that the guru who brought Buddhism to Bhutan wanted a private place to meditate, because if you come in contact with someone while meditating, you must start over.

So his wife transformed into a tigress and he flew on her back to the cave that is now surrounded by the monastic building.

Bryce went in to part of the cave, but decided it was a “death trap” so he decided to stick to the monetary building.

We both walked through the monastery and even participated in a bowing ritual.

The altitude change was the biggest struggle for me. I spent the first half of the hike fighting nausea, and luckily there’s a cafeteria about 65% of the way up. Once we had the opportunity to sit and drink some juice and water I felt much better and was able to make it to the top.

Overall, the whole hike took us about 5 hours. Although the hardest hike I’ve ever done, it was absolutely beautiful and rewarding.

Not only were we greeted by gorgeous scenery, but like all places in Bhutan, many dogs were with us on our way. In Bhutan they call them “solar dogs” because they sleep all day in the sun, charge up, and then bark all night.

We can attest that the barking all night is a real thing. The hotel gave our whole group ear plugs on our second night.

After lunch, we had the opportunity to either ride 2 hours back to the hotel on the bus, or river raft for an hour and then bus the remaining hour back.

Despite our fatigue, we chose river raft and we’re so glad we did!

The river was fairly calm, so our group took the opportunity to turn rafting into a splash fight from one boat to the next. We had a blast!

Our final full day in Bhutan we signed up for another hike. And after the Tiger’s Nest we decided to retire from hiking forever (kidding, but definitely for the rest of the trip). So we chose to hang out at the hotel and relax.

Prior to dinner, someone from the hotel staff came to our room and dressed us in traditional Bhutanese attire, and then we drove to the royal palace for dinner.

The palace was absolutely stunning and then we saw some of the coolest performances we’ve seen all trip.

This performance tells the story of the elephant, monkey, rabbit, and bird. They’re all friends who work together to get fruit out of a tree that’s grown too tall for them. It’s a dance about friendship, respect, and compassion.

We were told that our trip to Bhutan wouldn’t be complete without a downpour, and we got to experience it while at the royal palace.

It rained for the last half of dinner, so we assumed it would be kind of dangerous driving the hour and half back to the hotel up winding narrow roads, but the royal family kindly told us it’s late and time to go, so (as they would say in Nepal) what can you do?

We had an adventurous ride back to the hotel and packed up to head to Turkey!