Big day today. We will climb up from a point in the Paro valley at 2700 m to the Tigers Nest Monastery at 3,510 m with 700 steps to negotiate at the end. We started the walk at 8:30, stopped for morning tea at 10:00 at the teahouse, about half way up. Our lunch stop was to be at a restaurant, near the viewpoint and we decided that we should have lunch before our final climb up to the monastery as our guide had been advised that the monastery would not be closed ...

Another 8:00 am departure - next stop Paro. Stopped at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Lamperi - bit of a disappointment as not very well established and poorly set out. Lunched at Dochu La - cloudy again so still no views of the Bhutan Himalayas. We didn't get to Paro until 3:00 and raced off to visit Paro Dzong before it closed. Paro Dzong is one of Bhutan's most impressive and well known dzongs. It was built in 1649 and, as a fort, was initially used on numero...

In the morning we drove to the ruins of Drukgyel Dzong, meaning fortress of victory, which was built to commemorate the the victory over the allied Tibet-Mongol forces. In the early 1950's the Dzong was completely destroyed by fire and sadly the Dzong is now in ruins. However, the Dzong is still worth visiting for its ruins of charred huge wooden beams, watch towers, mud walls and the courtyard, all remnants of an impressive Dzong. It was built in 1649 by the loc...

Flight from Kathmandu on Druk Air was supposed to leave at 9:45 but was delayed arriving from Paro so we did not leave until 11:30. Met at Paro's little airport by the World Expeditions rep (along with 2 other ladies who were starting other tours) and driven to our hotel. It was wonderful to be in Bhutan breathing in the fresh unpolluted air and gentler pace. As we were late arriving, the rest of our group had already arrived, settled in and had gone into Paro....