Adventure to Taktsang

The day we arrived, Saturday June 26th, was a much-anticipated day. I had originally planned on staying in Paro two nights. The practical side of me thought that staying in a hotel with accommodations including a restaurant would help the kids and I transition into our new home abroad. Bhutan is the first country that Emma and Henry have been to outside of the US. So, I expected some "bumps" in the transition from microwaves, wi-fi, and fast food to who knows what kind of cooking situation we would have in our new cottage. Plus, I didn't want to have to shop and cook after three days of little sleep and multiple airplane rides. The buddhist and not-really-superstitious-but-why-push-my-luck side of me researched the auspicious days and inauspicious day lunar calendar. Saturday, June 26th, was the full moon day and a very auspicious day of the month. The following two days were very inauspicious days-specifically "not good days for making a new home." So, it seemed that Saturday was the "best" day to hike to Taktsang-plus I am eternally optimistic. We told our driver to pick us up at 10 am (we arrived at 7:30 am by plane from Bangkok). We changed clothes and climbed into the vehicle to drive to the trailhead-a twenty minute drive from the town of Paro. We stopped in town to get a box of bottled water. We parked in the small lot past the large farm houses on the road leading to the trail. As we got out of the land cruiser, Gobin, our driver said that he would take a piece of paper that he had used before for entry. I wasn't really sure what he meant and he didn't understand much English. We started up the trail. The trail is "UP" and up and up for two and half hours. The actual temple is about 9,000 or 10,000 ft-I don't recall the actual height. But we travelled from Seattle which is about sea level. No altitude acclimation, three days of traveling and all the preparations in Seattle that prevented much sleep or reflection combined lead to the point of me asking, "what was I thinking climbing to Taktsang today!" I felt like a foolish planner but was thrilled to be doing something outdoors and full of blessings immediately upon our arrival. Taktsang is one of the holiest sites for Tibetan Buddhism. Padmasambhava, who brought Buddhism to Tibet, rode on the back of the tigress (Yeshe Tsogyal) who flew up to the retreat cave on the cliff. We were probably one of the last groups to begin our hike up. I remembered that when I went to Taktsang last September the temple doors closed at 1pm. I had a sense of urgency but my legs did not want to move. I had to rest many times and was reminded of trekking in Tibet at 16,000 ft-no air and little energy. Emma and Henry seemed unaffected-they practically ran up the trail. Must be all those lacrosse practices and games. We made it to the half-way point where the restaurant is. Gobin went inside to arrange for our lunch on the way back down. We still had not eaten anything since our 1 am room service breakfast in Bangkok and the slightly appetizing food on the plane to Paro. Finally the trail leveled off and we began descending the granite steps that lead to the waterfall bridge and the extremely steep steps that go back up to the temple entrance. Hundreds of prayer flags hung across the cliffs and the waterfalls. Emma, Henry and Gobin were waiting for me as I climbed the last flights of stairs, passing Yeshe Tsogyal's hermitage and the signs warning about the vicious dog. We were the only western looking pilgrims and we received many smiles from passers by. At the check-in point, we had to hand over our electronics, cameras and phones-no pictures are allowed inside. The guard asked for our permit. I didn't even know that we needed one and realized what Gobin was talking about back at the car. Gobin talked to the guard in Dzongka without much success. It was clear that we had to have a permit. Then the guard asked me where I would be working. I mentioned the school where I will be teaching and then added a name of a person who I would also be working with on the non-profit project-a name that I knew would carry some weight (some of you will know who). The guard asked me for my hat, he wrote down my name and we entered. I was told later that no one is ever allowed to enter without a permit. We went into the first temple where the actual cave of Padmasambhava and Yeshe Tsogyal is. The entrance is covered in an ornately carved brass doorway. We received holy water, ribu, and blessing cords from the monk attendant at the cave. From there, we were able to go to all the temple, caves and springs within the complex. I brought prayer flags to hang and they were blessed by a lama at one of the caves and springs. In each temple, we did full prostrations and made offerings. In the last temple-the highest one in the complex, we were welcomed inside. There was the Jowo Buddha and a Lama doing pujas. After our prostrations he motioned for us to come over. He tied blessing cords around each of our necks, gave us the saffron water to drink and then blessed our heads with an original page from the Kangyur text-the sutras from during the time of Shakyamuni Buddha. I was amazed and grateful at our good fortune. We retreated out of the temple to find two westerners trying to talk their guide into letting them into the temple that we had just been in. Their argument was that they had come all this way. But the guide refused to let them enter. We saw them later in the restaurant. Clouds began covering the sky and we collected our things from the guide after drinking water from the Yeshe Tsogyal spring. Up, up the granite stairs that have no railing and no protection from the serious drop down the mountain. Luckily, Emma and Henry did not seem concerned in any way. We hung the prayer flags across the trail and thunder sounded. A storm was definitely close by. We made it back up to the main trail and began our descent to the restaurant. We took the short cut through the tress and fabulous views of the Taktsang temple. Thunder and lightning surrounded us and we made it safely to the restaurant where the cooks brought out a buffet of traditional Bhutanese foods for our first meal in Bhutan. We were hungry. As we ate, a small cat approached us and sat under the bench where we were. The rains came and began to pour outside the restaurant. Pouring as in "monsoon" pouring. The couple that we saw up at the temples came in with their guide. The guide looked at over at us with a smile. He was impressed with our prostrations in each temple and encouraged his charges to do the same. I went over to a woman who was eating with her guide. I asked if she was traveling alone. She had been traveling for twenty days from Southern California. It was her last day before heading home. She was very nice to meet. Our guide disappeared and we wondered if he left without us but that just didn't seem very likely. He showed back up at the restaurant and we were ready for our hike back down-in the monsoon rain. I couldn't believe that I had not brought rain jackets or umbrellas. I thought about it-but the sky was blue when we left our hotel (unprepared hiker). Luckily, my legs were happy to go down the red clay trails. Red clay just like Georgia. From experience I know how slippery red clay gets in the rain. We went as fast and as cautiously as possible. We watched the rain turn into a small stream into a full wet weather creek heading down the mountain. By the time we got back to the land cruiser, we were all four completely-I mean completely!-soaked. Thank god for waterproof Asolo hiking boots and water wicking shirts. But the kira skirt was heavy with rainwater and red clay splashes. I felt bad that we would soak Gobin's land cruiser but he seemed fine with a smile. We drove back to the hotel and happily changed into warm dry clothes. We slept and woke at 7 pm for dinner in the restaurant-we were the only guests. It rained all day the following day. So glad we didn't hike on Sunday. We did go to Kichu Lhakang on Sunday to make offerings and pay our respects. The National Museum was closed so we stayed at the hotel, slept, ate and watched Indi TV-episodes of Castle, Glee and Friends (which I despise). It continued to rain all day and all night. Monday morning the skies cleared to blue skies and the temperature was warm again. We loaded up the land cruiser for our one hour drive to Thimphu. On the road was land slide after land slide with boulders in the road from the rains on the previous day. Women were sweeping rocks and dirt off the winding road and cars took turns in the only lanes without mud and boulders. We arrived to Thimphu in 45 minutes. I guess the lunar calendar was pretty accurate after all and Saturday was in fact the best day to climb to Taktsang-what a great way to start our adventure in Bhutan.