CAMPING ABOVE BHUTAN'S MOST FAMOUS MONASTERY (alone at Tiger's Nest)

Ah, we're about to reach our highest point in the country. We're finishing strong from here. It's.

We're Karen Nate. We've been traveling full time for the last four years and we are currently exploring our 98th country of Bhutan. Bhutan is not a very touristy country and being here in December, we've seen very few other travelers. However, the Tiger's Nest Monastery is a must visit visit for anyone coming to Bhutan. And we've heard it can get a little crowded. So we're taking the less traveled and more adventurous route to get there.

So our plan is to hike up to a campsite that sits above Tiger's Nest Monastery, stay there tonight, get up really early tomorrow morning to hike down to the monastery so we can be one of the first ones there.

So in front of us lies about 1,300 meters of vertical elevation to climb. The trail started around 2300 meters and tonight we'll be sleeping somewhere around 3600.

Let's do this.

That is where we're having lunch today.

800 meters of elevation later, we've made it to the temple.

You want to come eat lunch with me? Come on, let's go eat lunch. Wow. They set us up for lunch on top of this mountain with 360 views of the Himalayas. Absolutely beautiful.

We're eating our lunch as fast as possible because the moment it leaves the bowl, it's cold. We started with some lovely hot tea and we have spinach, eggplant, beef, and of course, rice. It's all delicious. Then again, everything tastes delicious when you're hik.

So from up here, I'm going to try to give you a little bit of perspective of the journey that we're going on today and tomorrow. So if you look right there, that's the monastery that we started at. We followed this ridge, we've made it to this monastery. And somewhere, somewhere up behind this hill is where we're going to be camping tonight. And then tomorrow morning we're going to work our way down. If you look very closely down in this valley, you can actually see, see the Tiger's Nest Monastery. And this is giving me a lot better perspective for what we're actually going to be seeing tomorrow. It is literally just perched right on the edge of a cliff. The good news is, looks like we're already well above it, so the hike should be mostly downhill. Tomorrow.

We've made it to our home for the night. This green tent behind me is where we're going to be sleeping. We are greeted with a Hot cup of tea and some popcorn. But before we get too comfortable, we're not at the top of the mountain yet.

Maybe I should just stay.

We still have 300 vertical meters to go, but this path is absolutely incredible. Blind with prayer flags, great views of the camp.

We have it all to ourselves.

Totally worth it. The view gets better with every step.

That's where we're going.

We're about to reach our highest point in the country. We're finishing strong from here.

It's all down here. Don't fall now.

We did it.

Oh, we still haven't made it. I stopped too early.

Yep, here we are.

We did it.

Finally.

It's all downhill from here.

This is it.

Thank you for carrying the backpack. My pleasure.

I'm so proud of us.

If I'm being completely honest, we've been dying.

Totally worth it, though. This really feels kind of like the culmination of the trip. Yeah. Second to last day. Highest point we're gonna reach.

It's beautiful. Yay.

Y.

Sam.

Will always be a good time.

Made it back. It's a little dark now, but we're going to show you around the camp, starting with our tent. Outside, we have a nice little chair and some shelves to put our stuff. Now let's see what our bedroom looks like. I haven't looked inside yet. Can't see anything.

This is our bed.

It's so soft. It is seriously so comfy. There are so many blankets. We have this huge blanket, this really soft, fuzzy blanket and a sheet. This is amazing. Oh, there's a feather mattress. I cannot wait to snuggle up in this bed tonight. We have two towels. I will not be showering on this mountain. Sorry. Two pillows, some water, a nightstand, pretty rug, and it smells really fresh in here. I think that's about it. Let's go check out the bathroom situation. They're just right down the hill.

This is the bath house. It looks like we have two outdoor sinks that.

Don'T function. This is the ladies room.

There's a lot of toilet paper in there right now, so I'm assuming it doesn't flush. But there is toilet paper, which is good news.

Or maybe. Nope. Okay, moving on.

And the dense room is the same.

Nope. Still this flush.

This is the shower room, which, like I said, I will not be using. We'll show you anyways. Hope nobody's in here.

Oh, wow. That's pretty neat.

That's pretty neat.

Oh, my gosh. It's solar. I think you could take a hot shower if you wanted to. I Think there's the solar panel on the shower room that heats up the water in this bag. And then you can rinse yourself with warm water. Tempting. But still not showering tonight. And that's about it. Time for dinner.

It's so warm in here. Where's the heater?

Yay. We should have been here the whole time. Beautiful.

It's just sleep here. Yeah.

We're starting dinner with hot vegetable soup. I just want to put my face in it.

I'm not good at being cold.

Let me done.

Yes sir. Thank you. It's delicious.

So we just learned that our meals got swapped out for the locals. So every single dish had tons of chilies.

It was delicious. Now they. They brought us all the bland food. For the foreigners.

This chicken is actually better.

Some rice.

Yeah. There you go sir.

Thank you. Is it? It's just a hot.

Thank you so much. They brought us a surprise hot water.

Bottle.

You can keep in your feet, in your stomach, in your arm, in your chest. Anywhere. But. There's a but. Okay. Not everywhere. Anywhere but not everywhere.

So we can sleep with them tonight. They're called mountain babies because the baby makes you warm. Put it right here when you go to sleep. Oh, I'm so happy. I was really worried about there not being a heater in our tent. But now we're gonna be nice and warm. Oh, it's so hot. This is so lovely.

Okay. I am snuggling up with my baby. We are going to sleep because we have a very early morning tomorrow.

Okay. We're all snuggled up.

They gave us these hot water bottle things and I have it zipped up in my coat right now. So that's our heater.

We'll see if we sleeping with the batteries because I think they would die overnight.

I never slept in gloves before. There's just luck.

This is how cold it is in here.

We survived. It was actually pretty warm.

Alright. It is 6:45 in the morning. The sun is just coming up over the mountains and we are about to start our two hour trek down to the monastery.

So beautiful right now.

This is one of those mornings when I've just woken up. So grateful just to be where I am. It's never fun to pull yourself out of bed super early. Especially when it's so cold that the water bottle beside your bed is frozen. But it's always so worth it. There's something about being up early when like everything else in the world is still, still, still, still. Yeah.

Never regret it.

Are you excited to have visitors? Wow. That's Crazy.

The Tiger's Nest Monastery. The most famous and precariously perched monastery in the entire country. And at 8:50 we have it.

All to ourselves.

It's just us. This monastery is the whole reason we did the trek to the campsite last night. So we could get up at sunrise and come down here before everyone else.

Totally worth it. I think the most special part for me isn't standing here staring at this famous temple, but it was last night. Being alone on top of the mountain, watching the sunset in the midst of all the prayer flags. That is like the one specific moment from Bhutan that I will never forget. If you have the time and you're able, I highly recommend doing the trek to the campsite. Not to belittle how incredible, Tiger's Nest Monastery is one of the coolest buildings we've ever seen.

It's been a good week.

I'm just gonna sit here and soak it in for a minute.

This is it.

This is crazy. We just hiked back down to Paro from the Tigers House Monastery and we passed more people in the last hour than we've seen in the whole trip combined.

We've probably passed 250 people on the way back down. Which gives me so much more appreciation for having the place all to ourselves. And up to this point we've been here for six days. We've probably seen 10 other tourists.

Yeah.

And they were all so confused like how are you hiking back? Cuz they were all just starting their hike to the monastery and we were totally alone.

Camp at the top.

Do it. I'm so glad we saw all this because it just made me appreciate our entire trim so much more. Look at this Joy.

And the gents room is the same. Oh, I was looking at that.

And if you follow me back up the hill. I keep looking at the light. I can't see the camera at all. I'm like blinded by this light and I just want to look at it like a bug. Am I looking at the camera right now? Okay.

I just know I'm going to turn around and look at the light again. And if.

I don't know, I don't know why.

I think the altitude might be getting to you.

I'm like losing my breath from laughing. Getting a little light headed.

Okay.

And if you follow me back up this hill.

There we go. Right here. We're gonna do it.

I finally did it without laughing. That's tempting.

Okay, let me find the camera.

Okay.

Ready? No hike is complete without a Snickers chops off.

Well, I don't eat crappy.

They're a little frozen. Still yummy.

Best way to celebrate the end of a hike. Totally agree. Need to get a Snicker sponsorship. Yeah, maybe you guys do.

So, in order to come to Bhutan, you have to have a tour guide. We booked with a company called Breathe Bhutan. They're staying very true to their name. We've done a lot of breathing on this trip.

More like trying to breathe. Bhutan doesn't quite have the ring to it, though. But it's like the cleanest, freshest, crispest air that I could be striving to fill my lungs with.

He's eating while he's walking. It's my kind of horse. Actually, I think that's a donkey. All the dogs in the Himalayas are so sweet and fluffy. And they love to be loved, don't you?

I'll share my rice with you. I don't need any more rice. I've had plenty this week. Come here, little puppy.

Are you a happy puppy? Yes, you are.