Today’s Travel Shot is also a bit of a throwback: from our travels to Bhutan. We haven’t written much about Bhutan as we visited way before we had this site. In fact, it was the first trip we took with a digital camera.
This is the famous Tiger’s Nest Monastery near Paro. And yes, we hiked all the way up there!
Sacred Paro Taktsang is located high above the Paro Valley in Bhutan. Folklore has it that a Buddhist master known as Guru Rinpoche flew to the site where the monastery is now located on the back of a tigress from neighbouring Tibet in order to subdue a local demon – hence the name, Tiger’s Nest.
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Travel Shot is our version of Photo of the Day: A regular series that features photography from our travels – it may have been taken yesterday, or over the past few weeks or months. Possibly from a year or so ago or it could be a photo from deep in our travel archives.
A picture is worth a thousand words …
Did you know … The exact origin of the saying is unknown but it’s believed to have been coined over a hundred years ago when one of the first recorded usages was a phrase in a 1911 newspaper: “Use a picture. It’s worth a thousand words.”
In 1913, a similar expression, “One Look Is Worth A Thousand Words”, appeared in a newspaper advert. And finally in 1918, the phrase as it is most commonly quoted today, “One Picture is Worth a Thousand Words” was printed.
Source: Wikipedia
Great photo. How much of a hike is it? And where did you take the photo from?
It’s not too bad a hike up, about two hours at an average walking pace. You can ride a donkey up (but not down apparently), but I reckon it’s safer and more comfortable using your own two feet. The photo was taken from the cafeteria as you round the corner and get your first view of the monastery.
There’s a cafeteria? Serving what? Spaghetti bolognaise, pizza, soft drinks?
I think we just had a nice cup of tea!!
You have captured a great picture of the Tigress’ Lair.
Did you know the tigress was actually Guru Rinpoche’s consort, Yeshey Tshogyel who the Guru changed into a tigress to fly from Lhuentse Singye Dzong (not Tibet) to Paro?
Also, this is the reconstructed Taktsang dzong as in 1998, the Paro Taktsang was almost completely burned down – and was restored to its original form by 2005.
Just saying 😉
Keshav for http://www.bhutanrebirth.com