This entry is for Sunday, May 31.

Everything we have done in the last 7 days was leading to today. Namely, a series of hikes with increasing difficulty and increasing elevation, to help get us ready for “the one.”

Paro Taktsang, as it’s known locally, was built in 1692 to add a monastery to a site that had been considered holy since the 8th century. According to legend, the 8th-century Indian Buddhist master Guru Rinpoche was carried up the mountain on the back of a disciple who had transformed herself into a tigress. Once they arrived, Guru Rinpoche then spent 3 years, 3 months, 3 days and 3 hours meditating in the cave. After he had finished, it became a holy place and became known as Paro Taktsang. It is the crown jewel of Bhutanese Buddhist pilgrimage.

We left at 5:20am. They had a simple box breakfast for us to eat in the van during our 30 minute drive to the starting point.

This was 5:50am. A fair number of people already gathering.

Dorji had to register us, Ash rented a stick, and Melanie got settled on a horse. (Ash would later regret not taking that option for the initial ascent.)

Our first sighting. See that small circle high mid center? That’s where we are headed. 9000 feet or so.

The zoomed version from this stance. This is really the back side. The entrance and main sections hug the cliff going up the left side there.

And we are off at 6:03. Dorji said for a group our size it’s usually about 6 hours round trip. Larger groups take longer.

Some of the initial ascent, above and below.

We are exactly an hour in. The horses had already dropped the people at the cafeteria where we would be making a pit stop and were making their way back down.

The circle in the center is the cafeteria, and the one above that is Tiger’s Nest.

We were getting close enough to that left side where we were starting to see the whole thing.

It was a nice little place to stop for coffee and a restroom break.

Below is the view from this deck, 7:38am. Dorji had said it would take about 3 hours. We were right on schedule.

I looked at the time when I sat down in the van: 11:59am. We did it in just under 5 hours. Dorji was so impressed – she had said all week it would take 6 hours; we were the first group to prove her wrong.

Random selfie with Tiger’s Nest in the background.

Stunning view of the valley and we were blessed with incredible weather after a fair amount of cold and wet the last few days.

A bunch of small zen gardens on this large rock.

Sign says Bhutan Pilgrimage. This was probably the moment it hit me that’s what we’ve been on all week. A pilgrimage. Duh.

8:34am. We are getting closer. That’s it dead center behind the trees.

This might be my favorite photo from the hike.

But I love this one, too.

I was trying to capture the drop of that cliff.

We had climbed higher than the monastery and were now descending. There was a waterfall at the bridge. That’s Ash standing at the beginning of the bridge.

That’s me in the middle of the stairs.

Past the bridge there were all these steps – climb down and then back up. Both very difficult. Especially the down for me. Vertigo kicked in big time.

This was the landing to enter the monastery and Temple area. As the sign says, cameras, and phones were not allowed for this point.

It was 8:59am. 3 hours almost exactly and I was the first one up. Dorji was so excited – she said some groups take 4 or more hours.

We spent about an hour touring the different temples. There were four or five, I lost count. All very interesting and I couldn’t repeat any of it.

We started to make our way back down about 10am. Dorji said we should be able to be down in 2 hours given how fast we made it up.

Since we had another uphill climb from reversing that series of steps, I managed to get ahead of the group. I am much better uphill than downhill so figured I would get as far ahead as I could, knowing eventually they would catch up and probably pass me. (And that is Exactly what happened!)

But I did manage to get this cool selfie in that process.

Above and below were taken from the same spot. One of the few places where it was flat.

By the time we got to the cafeteria everybody had caught up. Ash and I split a chocolate eclair. I was feeling very accomplished and wanted to capture the moment with the celebratory eclair and Tiger’s Nest in the background. Dorji photobombed but then was invited to stay.

At some point I made a wrong turn and ended up taking a “shortcut” that we nicknamed “steepcut” because that’s what it was. Made it harder on myself and took even longer! Oh well. It was a workout and at that point Ash had joined me so we did it together.

But make it down we did. Dorji stayed with us towards the end. This was our last look at Tiger’s Nest.

Here was the final count: 6.3 miles and over 15k steps. And 93 floors. Pretty sure that’s a record.

We had ordered lunch from the restaurant last night so it would be ready when we got back and it pretty much was. We had Indian food. Shocking. (Probably 70% of Bhutan’s tourists are Indian.)

We had 90 minute massages scheduled for 2pm. They came to our room. Which means they were done on the bed which wasn’t ideal but it did kinda beat having to walk anymore!

After those, we ordered a taxi and went into town to buy some souvenirs, get some cash so we could tip Dorji and Phurpa, and while we were there…

…we went back to the ice cream place again.

It is now almost 5pm. We get to rest up a bit before we head out for our last meal at 6pm.

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Dinner was at the restaurant of the Le Meridien hotel, coincidentally where Ash and I will be staying 3 nights starting tomorrow in Delhi. The group decided to treat Dorji and Phurpa for our last night and wanted to do something nice.

And one final shot of the gang.

We all agreed to get the buffet which was wonderful.

They gave us a private area which was nice.

Mushroom tempura, baked pasta, chicken coleslaw, grilled pork belly, palak paneer (I had 2 bowls of this) spicy cheesy potatoes, broccoli.

Everyone enjoyed the meal and the final gathering. Ash asked all to share their favorite part of the trip so there was a lot of fun discussion.

And that officially ends the Bhutan portion of this trip. We have a 9:40 flight to Delhi tomorrow through Wednesday so more fun to come. Stay tuned!