19 and 20 Aug – Paro (Bhutan)

Drukair plane from Kathmandu to Paro

Kathmandu airport is the only place I know where going through customs trouser belts, watches, shoes and any other metallic object has to be taken from the pockets before going through the scanner. There is a pat-down after this and it is better not to have anything in the pockets, even paper money, as this is also queried. I’m not complaining, just stating how it is there. (I later learnt that the searching was to look for drugs being taken out of the country, especially hidden inside belts). The flight to Paro was uneventful though a beautiful snow covered mountain range could be seen in the sun above the clouds. Paro is said to be a difficult airport to land and take-off from being in the bottom of a narrow valley prone to be covered in cloud. The Eastern end of the runway is near a road and when planes pass over this area all traffic is stopped. The national airline is called Druk Air, Druk being another name for Bhutan or Dragon and Bhutan being known as the land of the Thunder Dragon. A visa had to be obtained before getting on the plane to Bhutan as without the visa no flight would be possible.

There is a set charge for visitors to the country which is not negotiable. All tours must be booked through a travel agent authorised by the government here and the payment includes the cost of the visa, airfare to and from Kathmandu (I do not know what happens if the starting airport is in India, the only other direct access point as far as I know), hotel costs, three meals a day, a car, guide and driver. Travelling around the country by oneself is not allowed. I did suggest coming here as part of a group but was told it would make no difference to the cost and be less fractious with unknown fellow travellers. It is possible to enter the country by land from India and in those circumstances a guide would be waiting at the border.

Fuel costs here are 70p/litre for petrol and 61p/litre for diesel and driving is on the left. There are approximately 100 Noultrums to £1. Bhutan and Indian currencies are used here with the American dollar changed everywhere, banks or money changers.

The entrance

The cantilever bridge and fortress from the river

Views of the Rinpung Fortress













After stopping at the hotel to drop off my bag I was taken to the Rinpung Fortress. It houses the district Monastic Body and government administrative offices of Paro. In 1644 the fort was torn down then rebuilt in 1646. It’s a large beautiful building with a lot of carved wood to be seen. Forts and monasteries in Bhutan were built without plans or drawings with the construction overseen by a master carpenter. Apart from the lower parts of the buildings the majority of the structure was made of wood. This has been a problem over the years as a number of buildings have burnt down due to faulty electrics or a scroll or silk being blown in the wind and catching light from a candle flame. In all the forts and monasteries photographs inside the buildings was banned, a pity really, as the paintings and interiors of the buildings were quite different from Tibet and Nepal especially with the amount of carved wood to be seen.

Views of the Dungtse Temple

The permanent fruiting orange trees

Then it was on to Dungtse Lhakhang (Temple) which is three storied temple built in 1421 by Thangtong Gyelpo to subdue the ogress on the top of whose head it is said the temple was built. It was restored in 1841 by the 25th Head Abbot of Bhutan.Strong men known as the “Nya goe” were employed in the construction to lift the massive pillars used in the temple. It is said that on the day of construction, the founder himself appeared in the form of five vultures, and circled the temple showering his blessings before taking flight to Tibet. It is possible to see the central tower, the pinnacle of the temple, chained from four directions to the roof of the temple. It is believed that while the consecration was being performed the central tower moved, attempting to fly to Tibet. Thus to stop it from its flight the central tower was chained down. There are various versions of this story as there are for every temple or monastery in the country.

The Jowo Temple of Kyichu is one of the oldest temples in Bhutan, originally built in the 7th century (year 657) by the Tibetan Emperor of the time. It is considered to be one of the 108 border taming temples he built. It was built to pin down the left foot of a giant ogress who was thwarting the establishment of Buddhism into Tibet. This is being copied from the internet as I do not understand what it all means, demons and dragons, Buddha's and lamas all fly into one when I try to understand what people here believe. From 1836 to 1838 the temple was restored and re-consecrated. It is believed that the two orange trees in the courtyard of the temple bear fruit throughout the year.

Guru Padmasambhava, founder of the Monastery

Views of the Tiger's Nest

A cave house up the cliff

A special cave house

A strange place to find the word 'cafeteria'

Water driven prayer wheels

Horses on their way down the mountain

Paro Taktsang or Taktsang Palphug Monastery is known as the Tiger's Nest, a prominent Buddhist sacred site and temple complex, located in the cliff side of the upper Paro valley. The temple complex was first built in 1692, around the cave where Guru Padmasambhava is said to have meditated for three years, three months, three weeks, three days and three hours in the 8th century. Padmasambhava is credited with introducing Buddhism to Bhutan and is the tutelary deity of the country. Today, Paro Taktsang is the best known of the thirteen ‘tiger lair’ caves in which he meditated.

According to the legend related to this Taktsang which literally means "Tiger's lair", it is believed that Padmasambhava flew to this location from Tibet on the back of a tigress.  This place was consecrated to tame the Tiger demon. An alternative legend holds that a former wife of an emperor willingly became a disciple of Padmasambahva in Tibet. She transformed herself into a tigress and carried the Guru on her back from Tibet to the present location of the monastery.

In April 1998, a fire broke out in the main building of the monastery complex, which contained valuable paintings, artefacts and statues. The fire is believed to have been caused by electrical short-circuiting or flickering butter lamps lighting the hanging tapestries. The monastery was restored in 2005 and now I found it difficult to tell what is old and what was renewed.

There are horses and mules for hire to ride up to the monastery and they looked well kept. The guide said that they did not have any Government oversight as they had their own honour to maintain and the horses were kept in a good condition otherwise they would not be able to earn money for the owners. I decided to walk up with the guide telling me that it would take about two hours or more. In any event I took one and a half hours to get there. After about 15 minutes of walking the guide told me that I had completed the practise part and that the the rest would be all upwards, and he was right. It was a very rough track, rocky and slippery with the mud. The local people who owned the horses were clever in that the kept some about half way up the mountain and many of those who had decided to walk changed their minds when they saw the half way horses and rode the rest of the way to the top. One advantage of walking up is to be able to stop and see how the sight of the monastery changes the closer one gets to it (also to get ones breath back). It is a fantastic sight and well worth the climb, then to be able to walk through the buildings with nothing creaking or groaning, it really was solid. The wires across the valley are actually prayer flags. Originally they were coloured but weathering changed that though the words can still to be seen on the flags. The flags are quite small so are difficult to see against the whole vista of the mountain.

The climb down was worse, even after having lunch at the cafeteria about half way down. The track was rough as i mentioned but by then it had started to rain as well making it very slippery and miserable. No-one is allowed to ride the horses down the mountain as it is considered too dangerous. I did not see the local people who owned the horses ride any down either. It took four days before my legs were fit to do anything again, they did not half ache after that walk down, going up was no problem.

I actually felt sorry for the other tourists there who had ridden up and I guess had not been told that they had to walk down. Some of them were a bit wobbly on their feet walking round the monastery so goodness knows how they managed to get back down the mountain.