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Tiger’ s Nest Monastery, Bhutan
Clinging to a sheer granite cliff above the Paro Valley in western Bhutan, Tiger’ s Nest Monastery, officially called Paro Taktsang, is the country’ s most sacred pilgrimage site. It’ s clustered around a cave where Guru Rinpoche— the master credited with bringing Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan in the eighth century— is said to have meditated after flying in on the back of a tigress.
The present complex dates to 1692 and was painstakingly rebuilt after a fire in 1998. Guests must leave cameras at the door before following the creaking staircases to multiple chapels and smoke-darkened meditation caves, their walls aglow with butter lamps. Monks still live and study here, chanting as Himalayan herb incense floats through the corridors.
With no road access, visitors have to follow a mountain trail involving a 1,700- foot ascent through blue pine forests and fluttering prayer flags, to the highest elevation of around 10,200 feet. Most allow a full day for the four-mile round trip, pausing at a hillside teahouse on the way up to refuel on spiced Ema Datshi( chili cheese) stew and sweet chai. Ponies trot to this halfway point, but the final stretch must be done on foot. For this section, steps descend alongside a thundering waterfall before rising sharply to reveal the monastery’ s whitewashed walls and gilded square roofs suspended between stone and sky.
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