If you see any adverts or posters for Bhutan the chances are
it will feature The Tiger’s Nest monastery which sits in a dramatic
mountainside setting. We’ll visit it on
our descent from the trek into the hills.
At the hotel we stayed in before the trekking we went to dinner and
there on the TV was Crystal Palace v Arsenal, live. The Bhutanese hotel owners turned out to be
an Arsenal fan “London belongs to Arsenal” and “we’re gooners” were his
words. Gooners being Arsenal fans to
the uninitiated. The hotel has views
straight across to Tiger’s Nest from the dining room and they have net curtains
at every window between us and this iconic view. Not really what I’d call joined up
thinking. Incidentally, on the
breakfast menu it lists Porage Oath and you can make up your own joke for that.
Our trek is us two, a guide, cook, horseman and five pack
horses with everything we’ll need except
for two very important items as you’ll find out. The beginning was the toughest walking I’ve
ever done, three hours and forty minutes of unremitting steep up without even
the relief of a false summit as encouragement.
Then a quick lunch, then another hour and a half, finishing at about
3,800m (12,500ft). At this altitude the
lack of oxygen to the knees must come into play, so I guess a build-up of
lactic acid probably had something to do with it. I always hold my breath when taking a photo,
especially with a long lens and had to take an extra deep breath after every
shot. As you can imagine, the views were
stunning as we looked westwards to the setting sun on the mountains.
The pack horses carried the tents and other stuff, including
a large gas cylinder because open fires are banned here as a further
curtailment on unauthorised tree felling.
After a delicious dinner, ho ho, we discovered that what was missing
were our sleeping bags which we should have brought. We know that it’s going to get very cold and
I already have long johns plus trousers on the nether regions and six layers on
top including a padded jacket. We’re
still cold although we are going to get hot-water bottles. One hugely expensive hotel had a party
coming up but they turned back at some point leaving their local rep. in his
yak hair tent by himself. H pointed out
to our guide that there would be unused sleeping bags nearby and he dutifully
went off and returned with two very nice down bags. I stripped off two layers and was still cold
in the night. The dogs, there are always
dogs in Bhutan, started barking like
mad in the night and it appeared that we
had a leopard after the horses. Lots of
tracks, no sightings and while we were high enough for a snow leopard, exceptionally unlikely so just
the common or garden type. Oh, and we
had two inches of snow, I said it was cold.
Well actually it was bloody freezing, six layers back on straightaway,
especially for our al fresco (and very fresco it was) breakfast but at least we
had a tablecloth so standards were being maintained. As you can imagine, the views were tremendous
in the cold air. Today was downhill for
two hours or so to the Tiger’s Nest Monastery, clinging impossibly against a
sheer cliff and then down for another two hours after that. This monastery was founded by Guru Rimpoche,
revered throughout Bhutan who flew up here on the back of a tigress which is of
course a very safe form of transport until you disembark.
As you might imagine I have taken a few photos on this trip but
the one I missed was a Dzong as the sun was setting. It was to be called ‘Just a Dzong at
Twilight’ which is of course completely untrue and just an excuse for a really
terrible joke.
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