Today is the day the whole holiday was
planned around – the hike to the Tiger’s Nest Monastery.
We woke at 6am to frost in the valley
which looked really pretty.
And from our minibus saw just how far/high we had to climb
I was worrying back in England whether I was fit enough for the
climb and had pretty much decided I would take the horse option to the
cafeteria stage (approx. 1hr). The only thing concerning me was Ian's
unease of horses and also whether they could take our weight.
Ian had quite a strange conversation
with Tenzing who firstly said he’d never had clients use the horses as they
were dangerous and almost in the same breath suggested that Ian and I should
definitely go by horse!!??!! But with
the chest infection and thin air neither of us felt confident of making the
climb so we agreed and asked him to book.
I worried about it most of the night as
from the horses I’d seen around there was nothing more than about 12hh and I
knew Ian wouldn’t be happy (me neither regarding the weight aspect) and I also
felt a little more confident that I could make it, so I persuaded Ian (didn’t
take much) that we’d give it a go and take as many rest stops as we needed.
I'd read on the internet that it really wasn't worth taking pictures on the way up, as no matter what you think, the best view is from the viewing point. Not sure I'll be able to resist though!
When we got there I was so pleased we’d
made the decision, as you can see the ponies are very small indeed. Just as we were setting off on foot a group
of huge Germans rode by and they all looked absolutely terrified and sat rigidly. I think the ponies would really have
struggled up the mountain side as their centre of gravity would have been well
off.
Anyway we set off and I was going OK
but Ian was struggling a bit as his chest was very tight again, so we plodded
up and got to the prayer wheels just before the cafeteria in 1 ½ hours.
The
others were waiting for us and had only been there about 10 mins so we were
quite pleased. Another hour saw us to
the main viewpoint and we decided that was what we’d come to see and we were
content not to go on to the monastery itself which involved 800 steps (200 down
and 600 up and then the reverse obviously).
Also you’re not allowed to take anything in with you so no cameras,
bags, phones etc, so I wouldn’t have been able to photograph anything, even the
outside. In actual fact we did go down
about 150 steps so we had an upward view and I relied on my telephone lens to take a few closer shots.
I think Ian's beginning to get quite good at this photography lark.
The view back down the valley
We arranged to meet the others back at
the cafeteria where we were going to have lunch and funnily enough it was the
best lunch we’ve had the whole trip. It
was more Indian than Bhutanese and that suits my palette.
The walk down was as tough as expected,
the uneven ground and in places slippery, dusty underfoot means you can’t stop
concentrating for one second. Our £4.99
walking poles really came into their own and helped relieve the pressure on the
knees. We only needed one each so were
happy to lend Keith and Elma the other two.
I don’t know how long it took us to
walk down as we kept stopping for photos but we were both very tired at the end, although really exhilarated - this is where we'd been!!!!!!!!!
After our first hard climb our calves
really ached the day after so we’ll see how we are tomorrow. I think Tenzing’s subtle training really
worked – bless him!
We woke at 6am to frost in the valley
which looked really pretty.
And from our minibus saw just how far/high we had to climb
I was worrying back in England whether I was fit enough for the climb and had pretty much decided I would take the horse option to the cafeteria stage (approx. 1hr). The only thing concerning me was Ian's unease of horses and also whether they could take our weight.
Ian had quite a strange conversation
with Tenzing who firstly said he’d never had clients use the horses as they
were dangerous and almost in the same breath suggested that Ian and I should
definitely go by horse!!??!! But with
the chest infection and thin air neither of us felt confident of making the
climb so we agreed and asked him to book.
I worried about it most of the night as
from the horses I’d seen around there was nothing more than about 12hh and I
knew Ian wouldn’t be happy (me neither regarding the weight aspect) and I also
felt a little more confident that I could make it, so I persuaded Ian (didn’t
take much) that we’d give it a go and take as many rest stops as we needed.
I'd read on the internet that it really wasn't worth taking pictures on the way up, as no matter what you think, the best view is from the viewing point. Not sure I'll be able to resist though!
When we got there I was so pleased we’d
made the decision, as you can see the ponies are very small indeed. Just as we were setting off on foot a group
of huge Germans rode by and they all looked absolutely terrified and sat rigidly. I think the ponies would really have
struggled up the mountain side as their centre of gravity would have been well
off.
Anyway we set off and I was going OK but Ian was struggling a bit as his chest was very tight again, so we plodded up and got to the prayer wheels just before the cafeteria in 1 ½ hours.
We arranged to meet the others back at
the cafeteria where we were going to have lunch and funnily enough it was the
best lunch we’ve had the whole trip. It
was more Indian than Bhutanese and that suits my palette.
The walk down was as tough as expected,
the uneven ground and in places slippery, dusty underfoot means you can’t stop
concentrating for one second. Our £4.99
walking poles really came into their own and helped relieve the pressure on the
knees. We only needed one each so were
happy to lend Keith and Elma the other two.
