TAKSANG - INTO THE TIGER'S NEST OF BHUTAN

 

Mountain lovers, who had trekked along the entire Himalayan region would definitely admit that Bhutan had called them many times to explore its robust nature and mesmerizing beauty. I personally felt that the call of Bhutan could not be ignored at any cost.

One such call was received by me when some of my office colleagues decided to trek to Taksang, a famous monastery of Bhutan which was also known as Tiger’s Nest. At that time my posting was in Gangtok and hence it was a leap from one range Himalayas to the other range. Incidentally, all the members who decided to trek were from different regions of Himalayas viz. Kalimpong, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh, barring me as I was from the plains of Kolkata. But as I said earlier, that danger and beauty of mountains have a special power of attraction.

First-Day

The day was 16 May 2014 when we started on a Bolero of one of my friends from Gangtok at around 05.00 hr in the morning so as to cross the Bengal border and enter Bhutan on that day itself. The day was remembered, as the results of the parliamentary election were announced on that day and the Narendra Modi Government came into power for the first time. The distance from Gangtok to Bhutan border of Bengal, Jaigaon was around 215 km covering the majority of NH-31A that led to Assam with a diversion at Hasimara Air Force base. On the way, we enjoyed the beauty of Dooars (in Bengal) with its lush green fields, thick forests, the network of rivers, and golden sun rays. Since our team consisted of middle-aged people of both genders and one child, we had to give interim stops for tea breaks and washrooms.

Despite our efforts, we could not avail of the entry permit in the first half i.e. 09.00 hrs to 12.00 hrs as per Bhutan Standard Time which was ahead by half an hour from Indian Standard Time. The Indian side of the border was Jaigaon and the Bhutan side of the border was Phuntsheiling which was bisected by a beautiful gate constructed by Royal Government of Bhutan. The working hours in the second half for the issue of the permit was between 14.00 hrs to 16.00 hrs as per Bhutan Standard Time. Since we were the first lot in the queue, our permit was issued within five minutes but there were so many formalities for the issuance of the permit for personal vehicles. The officials insisted to park our vehicle in Phuntsheiling and avail hired car services. We insisted on driving our own car as that was another part of the enjoyment of the journey. After a lot of deliberations, finally permit was issued for three days just before the closure of office hours. We were literally starving along with anxiety and tension as our entire programme would be a super flop if we did not get the entry pass for the vehicle.

Having taken lunch at around 16.30 hrs, we started our journey towards Paro which was around 150 km. It was actually after sunset that we left for Phuntsheiling having purchased some consumables keeping in consideration late reaching Paro. The road was extremely good and we were proud to learn that the entire stretch of road was constructed and maintained by the General Reserve Engineering Force of Government of India. The thought which came to our mind was that our engineers had constructed such beautiful roads in Bhutan, whereas our roads within India were in such pitiable condition with potholes, bumps, and lacking maintenance. Maybe it was some other reason known by God and our politicians.

With the best possible speed and just a tea break, we crossed the point where roads to Paro and Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan bifurcated, around 25 km before Paro. The name of the place was Chu Jam which was incidentally the confluence of Wang Chu River flowing down from Thimpu side and Paro Chu River flowing from Paro side.  Ultimately, we reached Paro at around 21.30 hr when the whole city had gone to slumber and only the sound of the Paro Chu River could be heard rippling on one side of the city.

Since we did not have a hotel booking, we had to knock every door of the hotels where lights could be seen. After searching for around a couple of hotels, the response was received from one hotel with the condition that dinner could not be served as the kitchen was already closed by that time. As a result, we had to depend upon the consumables purchased in Phuntsheiling and dived to bed with the motivation to rise early next day and participate in trekking to Taksang Monastery.

Second-Day

It was a bright sunny morning with the breathtaking view of snow-capped mountains with green uniform at 360-degree angle. The beauty of the Himalayas in Bhutan was that the mountains remained green round the year barring few months of winter when the snow-clad mountains in the white suit presented themselves before the tourists.

After breakfast, we started for the base point of Taksang by our vehicle through Ramthangka Road which was around 12 km away from the city center. The road was smooth and we parked our vehicle in the designated parking lot.

The trek was for around two and a half hours at the height of 800 meters from the ground level. As per legend, Taksang or Tiger’s Nest was constructed in 747 AD when Guru Padmasambhava decided to meditate in the cave to attain salvation. Guru Dorji Drolo, in the form of a tiger, was his savior from all evil spirits. In other words, Yeshi Tshogyal, a consort of Guru Rinpoche acted as a guard having converted himself into a fearful tiger to combat evil spirits. The monastery clung to the rock and from a distance; it seemed that the entire construction hung from the cliff like a photo frame hanging from the wall. The monastery was one of the most religious places of the Buddhists and King Ngawang Namgyal of Bhutan supported the renovation in 1645.

It was a climb with interim ups and downs all through the trekking route. At stretches, there were staircases, otherwise, the stone steps were constructed for easy ascend and descend. In between the resting chairs were available but no chance of availability of snacks or beverages. The way monks were moving up and down the steps, it seemed it was a cakewalk for them. I noticed that all my fellow members had overtaken me keeping me as the tail-ender of the team. Having known my limitation, I did not want to compete with their pace and trekked at my own speed. After almost two hours of trekking, I found a cafeteria located in a diversion that could not be seen directly from the trekking route. Though I was longing for a cup of coffee, since all my fellow members moved earlier than me, I did not want to waste time.

Though the monastery was visible throughout our journey, after two and a half hours, I could finally reach the final steps of the monastery and found one of our members was waiting for me. As I inquired about the status of other members, I learnt all other members had gone inside the cafeteria taking tea and rest simultaneously to reduce their fatigue. This reminded me of the famous story of the tortoise and rabbit in the Aesop's Fables.

Keeping the shoes on one side of the platform, we entered the main arena of the monastery and went round to inspect each nook and corner. There was a huge deity of Guru Padmasambhava clad with colorful items of clothing. The room was lightened by a few hundred oil lamps. The fragrance of oil lamps, essence sticks, and other herbs had converted the entire environment into a spiritual world. The prayer was in progress and senior monks were chanting hymns along with the tune of drums and trumpets played by the younger generation of monks.

Having enjoyed the spiritual world for a while, as I came out of the room, the other members arrived to pay homage to the deity. We took a round of the entire monastery including the residential rooms of the monks, their study, their kitchen, and other places. We tried to explore the entire monastery within a limited time and finally came out for our return journey. The outside platform was full of visitors and tourists enjoying the panoramic view of Paro from the top of the mountain. The cool breeze helped us regain our energy and we started climbing down at comfortable speed.

Though it was a smooth descend, my adventurous nature created an unforeseen problem when I wanted to avail of a shortcut at a particular location. I slipped on the rock resulting in cuts and bruises in my arms and legs and breakage of my sunglass that were in the pocket of my shirt. The rest of the trek was without any hazard and I had to wash the bruises from spring water on the way. The downward journey took around two hours and ultimately we reached the parking lot. On the return journey, we went for a few sightseeings including the banks of Paro Chu River and had a view of Paro Airport which was considered as one of the dangerous airports to land and take off because of mountains on all sides.

Since we did not get time to have lunch we had nice evening snacks with dumplings and tea followed by dinner at night.

Third-Day

Our return journey started on the next morning with a gloomy and cloudy sky, erratic torrential rains followed by hail. We apprehended probable landslide and boulder falls but we did not have to face such problems on the way. We reached Phuntsheiling at around 13.00 hrs and had lunch and a little bit of personal shopping by our lady members.

The plains of Dooars remained sunny and finally, we could return to Gangtok by evening.

Memories

Despite a very short trip with just one objective of the trek to Taksang, it was a memorable drive with initial hiccups at the border and reaching an unknown place at odd hours. But as it was said, “The fortune favours the brave”. We realized despite so much restriction in the valley, the people of Bhutan were so tourist-friendly, especially our host in Paro, that it reminded of the great saying “Atithi Devo Bhabo”. 

Nearest Airport-Paro in Bhutan or Bagdogra in West Bengal (India)-180 km

Nearest Rail Head - Hasimara (15 km) and Alipurduar (55 km)   

Plenty of Hotels available in Paro within a reasonable range