Day 3

Sunday 30 Sept 218

We made an acclimatisation trek to Hermit's Cave which, to our amazement also had its own power lines to provide electricity to the one or two monks at the monastery.
The trail slowly rose through old juniper trees and meadows in which yaks graze. We passed a small Royal Bhutan Army outpost and then in about 1.5 hrs we reached a large meadow with a lone white chorten. From the chorten in the meadow we started a steep climb up a small hill but In about a half hour we reached a meadow decorated with small birch trees and rhododendrons. A further 2hrs hiking took us to the upper part of this scenic meadow, where we had lunch. After lunch, we continued past a few meditation centres or 'drup khang' eventually teaching the Hermit's Cave at about 4200m.

The complete solitude of this region has in the past drawn several important historical figures to this area to meditate, such as the great saint Guru Rinpoche who travelled here in the 8th century and in recent times a highly-respected Thai/Burmese Monk, Kuba Rinpoche who spent time meditating here. We walked back down to a glacial meadow at lower elevation (3900m) where we camped for the night.
Tshering, our guide, told us a nice story before bed!
“The Yak and the Buffalo”
The Yak and the Buffalo were brothers and one day the yak noticed that their food supplies were low so he asked the buffalo to travel over the mountains to buy provisions. “But it is cold in the mountains” said the buffalo, “I will also need your fur so I can survive the journey”. The yak agreed and off went the buffalo through wind and snow over the high passes to Tibet. After his return, the buffalo and the Yak lived comfortably for weeks but the buffalo soon noticed the food stocks dwindling. “It is your turn to journey North”, said the buffalo. So this time the yak set off to Tibet complete with all the fur and baskets. On his way back, the yak came across a beautiful high pasture and after tasting the delicious grass, he decided to stay forever! And so this is why yaks have so much fur and are only to be found high in the mountains, while water buffalos have little hair and always seem to have their heads tilted up awaiting the return of the yak!

Distance 11km 5hrs

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