"Human imagination stays bewildered with the thought how this monastery could have been built at such an altitude of 3,120 metres (10,200 feet) above sea level. Above all, the entire monastery complex consists of seven temples." ~ Hello Travel

By this point, 

we knew to listen to the wise counsel of our guide, Karma... 

and rose early to begin our trek...

through the morning mist,

up, up, up,
to Para Taktsang, 
best known as Tiger's Nest Monastery.

 My concern rose a bit...

when ponies stood by...

waiting for tourists who had booked ahead.

We began our ascent...

passing 'tsa-tsas' containing ashes of the dead...

prayer stone stacks...

and of course prayer flags...

 until we finally reached the prayer wheels near the half-way mark.

Wanting to stay ahead of the crowd...

 we continued to climb.

I would like to say when we were this close it meant we were almost there

however, we had another hefty descent...

 and then a hefty ascent...

 before seeing these happy yellow doors 
marking the entrance to the monastery.

All bags,cameras and shoes are left with an assistant
before experiencing the various temples with or without a guide.
Very peaceful. 

As we headed back down we felt quite pleased with ourselves...

and encouraged others who still had a climb ahead.

This guy was not impressed.

One motivating factor rolling around my head 
as we climbed 3,000 feet above the already 7,000 feet elevation of Paro, 
to an elevation of 10,000 feet...

was the hot stone bath happening next.

Oh yeah...
our muscles were dancing a happy dance.
The Homestay where these baths are located also have rooms and offer a local meal.

They always offered a dessert of some kind for us Americans.
So thoughtful, but totally unnecessary.

Bhutan is a must for all bucket lists.
RenMan is already discussing when he can return for a proper trek.
Mr. Big Talk!