Travel
spot where, according to local
belief, an 8th century guru
brought Buddhism from Tibet
to Bhutan, arriving on the back
of a flying tigress.
else to call it) in the floor and
I gazed directly down at three
thousand feet of mountain and air.
It was my only vertiginous moment
of the day.
We set out early for the daylong
trek in order to return before the
afternoon winds became oppressive.
Five-colored prayer flags are a
continual sight along the way. The
monastery is 3,000 feet above the
valley floor. One walks along a
well-trod path, but although the
landmark is visible much of the way,
the route is not. I was climbing the
mountain while seeing Tigers Nest
on an adjacent mountain but it
wasn’t clear until nearly the end
of the hike how we would navigate
the horizontal distance across the
ravine. It turns out there were short
bridges over a waterfall that joined
the gap. That cascade was also the
only spot where I saw a few patches
of snow.
It was upon beginning the descent
and seeing the haggard faces of
several tired hikers still on their
way up that I felt smug in a way
that perhaps only a physically fit
middle-aged man can feel. I felt it
again back in the comfort of the
lodge when chatting with a twentysomething fellow hiker who
confessed he was exhaustedly
looking forward to his hot stone
massage treatment at COMO’s
Shambala spa.
The word monastery might make
one assume Tigers Nest is home to
a community of monks, but in fact
just three caretakers live there at
present. The interiors are a series
of shrines and temples. Among
the paraphernalia in each is the
traditional offering of seven bowls
of water. At one point Sonam opened
up a trap door (I don’t know what
I headed instead to a table at Uma’s
Bukhari restaurant where Executive
Chef Dewa Wijaya nightly prepares
Indian, Bhutanese and Western
menus. After my day’s efforts,
charcoal-grilled Australian lamb
loin with crispy polenta, Italian
ratatouille, olive tapenade and
rosemary jus called to me, washed
down with a Jacob’s Creek Shiraz.
Kenpo Tashi has his ideas about
happiness and I have mine.
Uma by COMO Paro Bhutan
Tel: +975 8 271597
www.comohotels.com/umaparo/
Shambala Spa.
Courtesy of Uma
by COMO
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