We started and ended our trip in Paro, home to the international airport and the famous Tiger’s Nest monastery.
May 7 + arrival
The Paro airport is beautiful, first due to its valley location with surrounding hills, and second with the ornate arrival hall.
Our bags came out last, but at least they arrived! We had read that the ATM could be tricky, and our first attempts failed until we realized that the machines limited cash to 15K at a time. Leandra completed two transactions for 10K each and we were good for the whole trip! By this point there was a line for a SIM card so we figured we would get one later in town. Instead, we went out to find our guide and driver.
The first order of business was lunch at Your Cafe, which had nice views of the valley fields. I ordered the ting momo with kewa datshi (medium spicy potato and green onion sauce – though Leandra got a really spicy bit), and Leandra had an order of Afghan momos (medium spicy peanut and slightly crispy dumplings). The flies were a bit bothersome but otherwise we enjoyed our experience here.
Unfortunately, the National Museum was closed due to a national holiday, so we missed out on the background there. Instead we went straight to the Zuri Dzong hike, one of Bhutan’s oldest fortresses. The first third of the trail is uphill, which was somewhat strenuous, especially at the higher altitude >7k feet. Thankfully it leveled out and the views were beautiful!
With some extra time our guide walked us around Paro, which has a number of ornately decorated buildings, and lots of souvenir shops. Here we picked up a data SIM card with our guides help, plus a passion fruit tartlet from Brioche cafe (rather bland) and a Druk 11000 strong beer for later.
May 15 + departure
A week later we returned to Paro after completing our cross-country adventure. There were lots of trucks and faster speeds too, 50+km/h. Along the road the landscape was rocky and dry, with scrubby brush instead of the trees we were used to seeing in the East. Enroute we stopped for roadside views of Tachog Lhakhang.
After about two hours we made it to the parking area for Tiger’s Nest (Paro Taktsang), where the skies were overcast but with the temple was visible from the parking lot.
The hike is long and almost entirely up – the temple is at 10,236 feet elevation – with a 1700 feet elevation gain over 2 miles. 🥵 Near the beginning of the trail we saw a small waterfall, and along the way we saw several birds.
The best viewpoint is from the hill before temple.
From there you go down several hundred stairs (!) to the base of a large waterfall, Taktsang Waterfall, before going up (!!) the final set of stairs.
To get in the temple complex you have to put all electronics and bags in a locker. One police officer said we had to have long sleeves (even though both our shoulders were covered), so we had to add a layer. Of course we saw lots of non-white folks inside with short sleeves… 🙄
The temples in the complex are quite small and there were a good number of people visiting, so there was a lot of shuffling in and out of each room. Getting to the sacred cave was interesting, climbing a horizontal ladder to a sideways vertical ladder, in a fairly dark gloom. Leandra did not like! To be honest, the temples were not the highlight of the hike.
On the way back we stopped at the temple cafe which is located one hill over. They didn’t have much on offer, mostly a steam-table buffet, but they did have small mushroom pastries. We also got an apple and mango juice and rested our feet for a few minutes.
The long walk downhill on our return was quicker, and altogether our visit was about 4.5hrs total.
Next we stopped in town at the Biryani House and Thali for a late lunch. I went for a mutter paneer thali with a sweet and salty lemonade (kinda like Gatorade). The potato and chickpea side was the best, the mutter was good but had more heat than spice. The gulab jamun, a sweet donut, was a nice finish after the heat too. Leandra got the thukpa with pork, which was spicier and less flavorful than the version we tried in Thimpu, but the pork belly was crispy.
A traditional Bhutanese hot stone bath was supposed to follow our hike, but the timing was off and we had to wait until after 5pm. Following a short break at our hotel we grabbed a change of clothes and headed to the Eco-Farm Estate, where they were still not ready for us. Got in around 5:40.
Our room had two wooden tubs with botanicals, a local leaf and a sliced root. To warm the water they heat stones in a wood fire, then put those hot stones in a sectioned off part of the tub. If you want warmer water you shout for extra stones, and they did check on us every 15-20 minutes.
Each room was enclosed except for the ceiling, so you could hear each of the other rooms. In our case we could hear a 4 year old’s running commentary with her parents. 😂
Finally, our guide surprised us by taking us to Namgay Artisanal Brewery for a light dinner. The pineapple “goose”, a gose, was my first sour in country! And it was pretty good too. Leandra got the Bhutan dark ale. We split the peanut masala (far too much, and quite spicy) and potato wedges (good size, crispy). We coaxed our guide and driver to sit with us and share the app, even he said it was spicy!
