Biswajyoti Bagchi describes how Bhutan floored him with its amazing vistas of hills, rivers and monasteries perched high above
During the end of last year, we, a group of 14 senior citizens with spouses, had a memorable trip to Bhutan, a land of hills and fountains. After obtaining the visitors’ pass from Phuentsoling, our destination was the city of Paro, which is 175 km away. During the daylong drive we came across only a few localities on the route with a good number of roadside eateries for the tourists. As Bhutan’s population is only around 20 per square kilometre, the entire stretch was a silent hilly forest. We reached Paro in the evening for a three-day stay over there.
Next morning some of us decided to visit the Tiger’s Nest. It is the most famous ancient monastery of its kind and of great importance for the people of Bhutan. Located 10 km to the north of Paro, it almost hangs on a precipitous cliff at a height of 3,120 metres. The rock slopes are very steep and the monastery building is built into the rock face. The journey to the monastery is half on mule’s back and the rest on foot. Except a few, none of us succeeded in reaching the destination since it is really a tough ascent for senior citizens. It is believed that Guru Padmasambhava reached there on the back of a tigress from Tibet in the 8th century and meditated there in a cave for three years and three months. We felt too close but too far from the sacred place and paid our homage from the spot we could reach on foot.
This story is from the August 2017 edition of Dignity Dialogue.
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This story is from the August 2017 edition of Dignity Dialogue.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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