Last big hike: back to Tiger's Nest

A week before leaving, I went back to Tiger's Nest to visit the monasteries that most tourists don't visit above Tiger's Nest.

Tiger's Nest:

One of the monasteries at the top:
I made a new friend on the route, and he introduced me to his friends, since he spends a lot of time at these monasteries.
The "trail" was really a stream. Slow going, a little slippery and required at least one jump-across.
Zangto Pelri:
My new friend introduced me to his "grandpa," who made us tea in his one-room home.
And since someone rightly said I don't usually post photos of people, here you go :)
The last temple we visited was two floors, with one nun in silent month-long meditation on each floor. My friend and I sat and meditated for some time here, and I left with such peace.

Last days

My last days in Thimphu were hectic, filled with goodbyes, packing, and happily, a few last hikes.

Strange fungus along the trail we found:

Rainbow over a ridge across the valley, a sweet ending to my time.
Beautiful mushroom:
I love this garbage can, at a local school. One side says "Plez love me" and the other "kiss me nicely."

Puppies

We see dogs all the time here, in various levels of adorableness. These ones are right near where we live, and I am so sorely tempted to take one home.

Morning hike

I went for a couple hours walk today up to a nearby low ridge and gardens. Here's some of what I saw. View of a monastery across the valley:

Butterflies! I think this one is an Eastern Courtier:

Azure Sapphire:
Okay, this guy is from a couple days ago, but I love his look:

Dragonflies

And finally, the dragonflies were amazing at the site, in colors I'd never seen in dragonflies before. Who wouldn't want to make this beautiful valley their home?

Thick mist over the river in the early morning:

Bugs and sun-lovers

This lizard was a daily guest at the site:

Have you ever seen a red grasshopper before?? I sure hadn't.
This is not a leech, but I did get a few leech bites on one of my long hikes in the area.
First what is this??
Second what is this??? It has wings and pinchers, at least 3 inches from top of bottom.

Butterflies!

I indulged in my childhood love for chasing butterflies in the Punakha region. Thanks to a couple local publications, I was able to identify many of the ones I photographed. I easily saw more than 30 species in the week I was there. Here are a few.

Common Hedge Blue:
Dark Blue Tiger:
Golden Emperor:
Not sure about this one:
Staff Sergeant:
Indian Fritillary (male):
Indian Fritillary (female) and the white one is a Grey Pansy:
Either a Common Peacock or a Paris Peacock, not sure which:

Views, villages and bridges

I went on several couple-hours hikes while in the Punakha region, savoring the warmth and surprising amount of sun for monsoon season.

Here is one of several suspension footbridges over the Pho Chu, with a morning cloud hanging low:

Here is a "pipe bridge." Really a water pipe, but also used as a bridge.
Working the paddy fields:
A picturesque village nearby where I was camping:
A view of the beautiful river valley:

Hike up and up and up

Last week I went on a hike with a friend up from river level at 1250m (4,100ft) to a peak at something over 2000m (6,560ft). 6+ hours to the top, 4+ return. By the end of the way back, my friend and I were dragging our feet. We left our camp at 5:30am, and the first hurdle was crossing a footbridge that had been heavily damaged by the surging river just two days before. Definitely the scariest part of the whole hike. I wanted to take a video, but you had to hold on for dear life to the cable in certain sections to get across.

Since we left so early, we got to see an amazing early morning views of the rugged mountains over the paddy fields:

This is the top, a 100-strong monastery.
We saw all sorts of interesting things along the way, like these jelly mushrooms:
We had to climb over numerous recent landslides on the hike:
The gorgeous view from near the top: