AP KARMA’S MELODRAMATIC MOMENT AT TIGER’S NEST
Wanwisa’s Dream Trip
A week in the Maldives with a stopover in Hong Kong
Dream Trip 2008 Finalists: The 2008 winner(s) snapped a shot of a monastery in Tigers Nest, Bhutan, as they hiked up a long, windy road riddled with shear drops (the young honeymooners were both battling severe fear of heights).
This photo was taken at the last viewing point on our hike to Tiger’s Nest, a monastery perched on a 900 foot cliff in Bhutan. My husband and I are both afraid of heights and the next part of the path to reaching the monastery from this viewing point involves sheer drops, narrow paths and lots of tourists traversing to and fro. We were probably the youngest tourists (honeymooners) by 30 years and felt quite ridiculous standing there pale with fear as troops of senior citizens passed us on their return from the monastery. One older gentleman told us we would regret not completing the hike, he told us that he has a fear of heights and only has one functioning eye so his depth perspective is not so great. After hearing this, we were inspired to muster up some courage and finish our pilgrimage.
Had I been asked what my dream trip was a year ago, my answer likely would have involved some remote locale and some exotic itinerary (say a trans-Siberian journey from London to Japan via Mongolia). These days, however, nothing could make me happier than an empty beach and beautiful blue horizons.
After spending our honeymoon in Bangkok and touring Bhutan, my husband and I are ready for a vacation from the honeymoon. We have been traveling together since we were 18 and we’ve always kidded about having great travel karma. It’s always sunny in the tropics, even during rainy season, and as much traveling as we’ve done, we’ve never run into any of the common catastrophes (losing luggage, missing connecting flights, etc). However, we never made it to Phuket on our honeymoon because of unending torrential downpours during the start of the region’s high season, plus I had a horrendous, weeklong case of traveler’s diarrhea while in Bhutan. Despite all of that, the trip was life changing, but I would love to have a honeymoon-redo.
by Wanwisa Posner, New York, NY
Source: concierge.com