29 May 2008 (Day 14) - Conquering Tiger's NestToday we were going to climb Tiger's Nest and three days ago there was an accident where one Indian tourist felt down from the mountain but fortunately he was in stable condition. That incident doesn't scare me coz I believe if we just follow the right path, we'll be safe plus accident can happen anywhere at any time.
We started climbing Tiger's Nest (3,200m) around 9am and the guide (Raj) told us that it'll take us 2 hours to reach the top of the cliff. To his surprise, we reached the top of the cliff within 1 hour and left him behind quite a distance. We were the first one to reach the top for the day (even though we were the last one going up) and it gave us ample time to wonder around the temple before it get crowded. Tiger's Nest was a very beautiful site just on the edge of the cliff. I wonder how they build the temple during those day (around 13th century, if I'm not mistaken la). I'll tell you about Tiger's Nest history later on.
Luckily I didn't wear the Gho today coz the weather was hot and the climbing was not easy either. We were quite tired towards the end coz the air was very thin at 3,000 m. After some photos we were climbing down and head for lunch. I requested to have yak meat for lunch unfortunately yak meat was not in the season and it was very difficult to get it. So, Raj brought us to Yak Herder's Camp for lunch ironically without yak meat for today's dishes. I'm quite disappointed at first coz this is the last time that we can eat yak meat coz there's no way we can find yak meat in Malaysia but the dishes that they served was really good and made me forgot about the yak meat hehehe. At least, they served us an authentic and delicious Bhutanese food.
After lunch we went to visit Drukgyel Dzong which already became a ruin. We can see a snow capped mountain from the dzong (which located at the end of the road). Interestingly, Raj told us that people can walk in the deep mountainous forest trek after the dzong to reach Tibet. But only sick Buddhist who need hot spring treatment can use that pass. It was forbidden even for local Bhutanese to use the checkpoint to enter Tibet. Then we went to Paro museum. The museum (see above) was interesting coz we have to walk circling the exhibits. It was quite interesting coz we kinda walk in an ancient tomb or something. Then we visited Paro Dzong which was not as interesting as Punakha Dzong.
After that, we went to see Bhutanese favourite past time i.e archery. Archery is a national sport in Bhutan and almost everyone play it like we play football/futsal in Malaysia. It was interesting to see coz they play a different kind of archery coz the target was very small compared to a modern archery. There I asked Raj whether he ever guide a Malaysian before. He said that in his 15 years of guiding, he never guide a single Malaysian in Bhutan. What a shame coz Malaysian never really exposed to these type of places. Since the archery site was near to the town, we decided to walk around in Paro town for the last time coz we'll be going back tomorrow. Then we proceed to the hotel for dinner. Before that we did took a family photo with Ramu (our driver), Raj, his wife and daughter (see below).
After dinner, Raj wanted to bring us to experience night life in Bhutan (since it'll be our last night in Bhutan). We eagerly wanted to see how Bhutanese spend their night out hehehe. It turn out quite interesting coz Bhutanese love public karaoke singing at a bar. There was live musicians to play the song and anyone can go up to the stage and sing any songs provided the musicians know how to play it. It was really interesting to listen to Bhutanese songs coz some of the songs they sing for their king. It was kinda funny as well coz I never see that type of karaoke singing before. They really 'selamba' sometime with emotion while performing even though they didn't hit the right keys but who cares coz it was really entertaining. They also can perform traditional dance if requested (of coz we have to pay for it). We did request one traditional dance and it was really interesting yet with simplistic movement. The karaoke bar was really for all types of peoples. We observed that the crowd range from teenagers to old couple in traditional dress. Raj told us that everyone like to come here for entertainment no matter how old they might be coz there's not much entertainment in Paro perhaps. We called it day around 11.30pm and felt quite sad coz early tomorrow morning we'll be flying out from Bhutan and back to Malaysia.
Tiger's Nest History : Why they called it Tiger's Nest?? It was because in the 8th century Guru Padma Sambawa a.k.a Guru Rinpoche flew on back of the tiger to the cliff and meditate in the cave which is now known as Tiger's Nest Temple. The flying tiger was his Tibetan wife that turn into flying tiger to bring him there. That's why Tiger's Nest is the holiest temple in Bhutan. I'll tell you the history of Padma Sambawa later on. While he meditate in the temple, he kept his tiger or wife on the other side of the mountain (it's the small white building in the picture above) and Raj told us that we can go there if we want but we have to use different and steeper route to climb up coz there was no route from the temple even it was just behind it. It'll be like climbing up and down twice within half a day to go to the almost same place. So, we decided to skip it but we saw the tiger's place on the way down the mountain. Tiger's Nest had nearly burned to ashes in 1990s coz of butter lamp that they use for praying caught fire and burned almost everything except the original cave where Padma Sambawa meditated. If I remember it correctly, one monk died in the fire. Now the Tiger's Nest that we seen was reconstructed by Bhutanese government similar to the one that was burned. It was really amazing that they can do the reconstruction on the edge of the cliff again. I'm proud to say that we conquered the mesmerizing beauty of Tiger's Nest.
Guru Rinpoche a.k.a Padma Sambawa : Guru Rinpoche means 'the learned one' and he was kind of the reincarnation of Buddha. He was believed to be born from the lotus that why he got his name Padma means 'lotus' and Sambawa means 'born'. He was born in Zahor where now modern time Afghanistan-Pakistan border. At that time King of Zahor found him on the lotus took him as an adopted son coz he has no children. Fast forward>>> Padma Sambawa was really a 'gifted' and wise man. He spread Buddha teaching albeit tantric through the Himalayan Region from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, India and a few others. According to legend, he was a miracle man coz he was burned a few times by the king of every country that he visited but he turn the fire into lotus and meditate on top of the lotus fire and made the king and the country follow his teaching. That's why Padma Sambawa was a very important figure in Mahayana Buddhism coz he was the second Buddha.
Note: All the facts and stories were gathered from talking to our guide (Raj) and locals including our driver Palden when we were in Sikkim. That's why I don't really remember the exact date and event.
After lunch, we did some window shopping at Tarakan Mall and again surprisingly I bought some t-shirts and shorts in Tarakan. Never in my life I imagined that I'll shop in a small town as Tarakan. Surprisingly, the t-shirts and shorts selection & quality there was quite good. Since I didn't change much Rupiah, I have to limit my spending, I might buy more if I had more Rupiah with me at that time hehe.
We slept early today coz we need to catch an early flight at 7am to Berau tomorrow. I'll continue on our second day journey later on.....
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