Ta Dhozng Tatsang & Paro

The Bhutanese national dress -Kira for ladies

A beautiful day to end the wonderful stay at Bhutan. On the agenda today was the national museum and Tatsang-tiger's nest monastery. I woke up the latest today to the sound of school kids rushing off in ghos and kiras. As I made my bed and started to get ready for the day kakku informed me that we will carry our lunch and have it on the way before the tatsang treck. An impromptu day picnic in the forest! What more can one ask for! I excitedly got ready. Bhakta dada's wonderful wifey had already left for work and packed our lunches n readied our breakfast.
Soon we were on our way to ta dhzong, the national museum.  The old museum has now been shifted to a new building which is open to tourists.

National museum image credits :
http://www.wellknownplaces.com/national-museum-of-bhutan-discovering-bhutans-rich-history.html

The museum has a permanent mask exhibition displaying all masks for dances during festivities called Tsechu. The mask dances are elaborate dances performed on themes to instill values such as compassion and conservation of natural environment or relating a religious story to the lay man. It is said that watching a cham or mask dance alone is a spiritual experience. I had bought two masks earlier from thimpu, one of them a manifestation of guru rinpoche and the other of achara or a joker(shown below). It was now that I could read and find out about different masks and their meanings.

Achara Mask

A section of the museum was devoted to thanka paintings. The thanka paintings are intricate and delicate work of art painted on fabric which depict a religious theme, spiritual leaders etc. Three buddhas are noteworthy, Dipankara buddha-the buddha of the past, Shakyamuni Buddha- the buddha of the present and Maitreya buddha-the buddha of the future.

Also on display were objects relevant to bhutan's history. Weapons and artillery, costumes of the ancient warriors and traditional constumes of highlands , other rare artifacts were horse's egg - said to bestow immense wealth on the owner and horse's horn, a water dial to give measurement of time, serpent stone, ara or local wine containers made of water buffalo horns and valuable jewellery.

The national museuam also houses the rich biodiversity of bhutan in terms of specimen and slide shows of its rarest birds and animals. Among the birds the white beaked hornbill and Himalayan monal caught my attention.  Among the animals the snow leopards, blue mountain goat and yak are creatures of magnificence.

image credits : http://spectrumtour.com/wildlife-himalaya/

Also rare is a catterpillar which is a host to a special fungus that infests the catterpillar and forces it to bury itself in the ground.  Then the fungus sprouts from the ground and is used to make special medicines for immunity, aphrodisiac effect and anti ageing effect. The fungus sells for as high as 12 lakhs a kg!

image credits : http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/wine_msg.php?titleid=1143.html

After wandering the museum to our heart's content we rushed to the base of the tatsang monastery.
The tatsang monastery or the tiger's nest got its name from the famous legend of a female tigress who came to the land and made the cave its adobe.

The stunningly beautiful monastery is situated at dangerous heights and is appproached only through a mule track trail which has only recently been reinforced with railings for visitor's protection.  Many incidents of tourists falling to their death have been reported and I have to admit that it is a treck to be done respectfully and slowly. The mountains are mightier and the fall steep, it is not a languid trail and once close to the monastery the magnificent heights are enough to arouse acrophobia in any human.

image credits : http://www.tigersnestbhutan.com

We first had our lunch of ema datschi and rice washed down with sweet milk tea at the base of the treck. Then we proceeded on to the way to THE tat sang!

My city accustomed body took some while to warm up to the mountain path. I was huffing and puffing with effort, moreover handling the kira with the climb made it doubly difficult. A good half and hour later when I saw a mountain spring gurgling, the scene made me forget all the effort and after a bit of rest I was good to go again.  We didnt have to make a second stop till the top. It takes almost two hours at the top, where the mule track ends and begin the stone steps to the monastery.

image credits :http://windhorsetours.com/sights/sights_view.php?country=bhutan&placeid=95

One has to walk way down to a waterfall making a steep drop of 200 ft  from bare mountain, then right up to the monastery which is on the adjoining mountain. Everywhere the drop is so steep that you wouldn't save a single bone if you  were to fall, but the risk is worth taking for the amazing view.
Tatsang beats my best trecks till date, the others being Sarkanda devi in melting snow and Treck to narayan Swami ashram which I was too young to remember, at the time of the treck.

Once in the monastery, the walls silence the roar of the waterfall and beautiful paintings adorn the insides of the sacred place. Its so quiet and peaceful that ecen a troubled mind will be put at rest. I offered a small prayer for the well being of my family and joined kakku n bhakta dada. There are no lamas to be seen anywhere. They probably put up at separate residence.

A word here for the chirpy kakku and careful bhakta dada who didnt let me feel the exhaustion of the treck at all. They helped me match pace with them and we made it back before dark. I did some quick shopping from the makeshift souvenir shops and we drove back to the town.
After enjoying some quick coffee and pork momos, we made a stop at bhakta dada's office where i got an access to internet.We then headed back home to an eagerly waiting Rufus.

After dinner and exchanging photographs we retired with our tired bodies to  bed. Bhakta dada had to get a massage for his back and kakku took a long bath. Me? I will catch all the sleep in travel tomm. Long day! Gnnite from bhutan.