Greetings again from the land of the thunder dragon!

We made the looooong drive west from Wangdue Phodrang into Paro where the airport is. This is where they take you last in Bhutan so they can get rid of you quick. Haha! My hotel is even right next to the runway of the tiny airport. Anyway, Paro is a cool little town. It’s basically just two or three streets and the airport. It is home to the Paro Dzong (fort) which is quite impressive and you have to cross the oldest bridge in Bhutan to get to it. That sounds bad, but actually it’s a beautiful wooden bridge covered in prayer flags. Now that I mention it, every bridge here is covered in prayer flags. This is also the home town of my guide, Thinley, so he’s happy because he gets to go home to his family at night.

See all the pics from Paro here

The highlight of Paro, and all of Bhutan for that matter, is the Tsakshang (tigers nest) monastery. It’s about a 2 hour hike up to this monastery that’s built into the side of a cliff. It’s said that the famous Buddhist saint Padmasambhava, known in Bhutan as Guru Rinpoche, first flew here from Tibet on the back of a tigress to meditate in the cave sometime during the 8th century. The monastery was later built in 1692.

Now, I have been to monasteries built on incredibly steep mountainsides on this trip, but this place is quite literally built into a 90 degree slope. The place only has 3 sides because the other one is rock. It defies gravity and all the laws of physics! It’s Bhutans Taj Mahal and I’m putting it in the top 3 places I have ever been, and I’ve been around. I just couldn’t stop taking pictures of this place! There’s also a huge waterfall at the top and numerous meditation houses built into the cliff as well all around it. In the main temple, there was a monk sitting in a window that looks over the cliff down into the valley below chanting. I later learned he’s the head of the monastery. What a life this guy has! Sitting in that beautiful temple looking over a cliff next to a waterfall in one of the most amazing places on earth. Incredible!

See all the pics from Tsakshang Monastery here

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The Drukgyel Dzong nearby is a burned out ruin of a fort/monastery and is pretty amazing too. It rivals any castle in Europe and I had the whole place to myself. Very interesting to see the contrast between the Dzongs that are still intact and operating and this old ruined one. Thinley tells me that the Tibet border is less than a days walk from here. I said, “Ok, let’s go then!” Thinley has already helped me plan my next trip to Bhutan. It involves alot more trekking and exploring eastern Bhutan. Who’s coming with me?

I saw many other temples and monasteries in Paro and throughout the rest of Bhutan. Too many to devote time to all of them and back in 2012, I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I should have or as many as I do now. One of these, however, was the Kyichu Lhakhang. It was originally built in the 7th century, is one of the oldest in Bhutan and is part of a network of twelve temples built around the massive Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet. Bhutan is a truly incredible place and I can’t wait to go back.