The breathtakingly beautiful Tachog Lhakhang Dzong on our way to Thimphu, from the valley of Paro. It was constructed by Thangtong Gyalpo, also known as Chakzampa, the “Iron Chain Maker” in the 14th century. His other epithet was – “Madman of the Empty Valley”, which is rather fascinating. Apart from being a brilliant blacksmith, he was a powerful yogi too.

He built hundreds of bridges around Tibet and Bhutan, many of them are still in use amazingly!

Legend has it, that any bridge that was built on the river, was quickly gulped down. Thangtong Gyalpo was asked to help out, and what he built centuries back, is what we see even today. It’s quite a bridge to walk on, tad scary initially, but then you see all the prayer flags, and just the auro there – and a sense of calm takes over.

This was in November 2015, and I distinctively remember the sunshiney day, green and brown colour pallette, grey imprint of the floating clouds, river gushing and sound of prayer flags, moving to the cold breeze. It was quite a reality!