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| Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar |
15th August 2016 was a special day for me. Not because I was in Delhi for Independence Day, but for one reason that all the people wait in their lifetime. I had applied for Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through Government of India and my application was accepted. When i received the mail confirming acceptance of my application, heaven was 7 fingers high from me. It is literally heaven. People believe that Mount Kailash is the abode of Lord Shiva, the god in Hindu mythology. The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra is not only travel or tour but a spiritual journey which calms your soul. The approximately 200 kms of trek takes you through the scintillating natural journey of the dense forests. The natural beauty of the journey is the key element of the trek. You cannot remove your eyes from the numerous tress of different variety, family, etc. Many of them are of medicinal use and many of them poisonous. The ITBP briefing clearly states that do not touch anything during the treks without asking your porter. The ITBP guidelines even say that "do not drink or collect water from numerous waterfalls on the way". Instead, ask your porter and you will be safe. The ITBP hospital held meeting for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra at Delhi.You will be warmly welcomed by your Liaison Officer (LO), and Kailash Mansarovar Committee. A grand lunch will be held at ITBP hospital after the check-ups by ITBP doctors followed by grand lunch and CPR training. During the briefing various committees are formed by LO which comes as a great help to divide the responsibilities among the yatris. One of the important committee is the luggage committee since it keeps the account of the luggage of fellow yatris. I am very glad that I was part of committee and no luggage was misplaced of our fellow yatris. The work of the luggage committee starts immediately from the next day itself. They are responsible for the counting of luggage bags, receiving them at the places and providing them to fellow yatris during the tenure of the yatra. Another important committee is "Food Committe". The members of the food committee are responsible for looking after the food arrangements in China. This members have to buy the required vegetables, food items, fruits, etc. with the help of local guide in China and as per instructions of LO. Another important committee is "Cultural Committee". The responsibility of this Committee is to make sure that the yatris doesn't get bored during the yatra. This committee has to arrange for bhajans, etc. and help to keep the environment light in view of the exhausting trek. They arrange for small games after the dinner, small activities which help yatris relieve the exhaustion of the trek during the day. Another important committee is "Finance Committee". The work of the finance committee to starts immediately. A small amount of pool money is created by this committee. This pool money is used for buying vegetables, fruits, snacks, etc. for all the yatris during the yatra. It has to be kept in mind that this pool money is only used when the expense is behalf on all yatris and not individual one. If you individually want to buy 'samosa or noodles' at Garbhyang then you have to use your own money and not the pool money. Coming back to ITBP Hospital, the surgeons at ITBP personally visit and ask everyone to repeat the steps shown during the training. During training the doctors guide about the different medicines to be taken during the trekking. The yatra goes through very high altitudes and require the people to be patient. In the every briefing, it is said "Don't be gamma, in the land of Lama", which means you have to be patient and alert at each step. You should never leave your fellow yatris behind you. You should follow the instructions given by your LO from time-to-time during your yatra. Also, the ITBP arranges for grand lunch at Mirthi and Gunji (an ITBP camp at 10,000 ft.). At Mirthi again, you are given a grand welcome by ITBP jawans in the traditional way and a breakfast-cum-briefing is arranged there. The jawans are dressed in the traditional folk clothes and they first take you to the temples they have built and after that you are in a procession till the briefing room/quarters.
Also, ITBP for the convenience of yatris opens their stores if anyone needs to buy woolen clothes, jackets, monkey-caps, etc. The canteen of ITBP is opened at Delhi campus too where the yatris can buy variety of items ranging from clothes to thermos. This are very high quality and durable goods.
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| Group photo at ITBP, Mirthi |
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| Traditional Welcome by ITBP, Mirthi |
So this is on day 2 of your journey at ITBP, Mirthi. It is on the way from Almora to Dharchula.
Day 1: New Delhi to Almora
Day 1 of your journey starts at New Delhi. An A/C bus is arranged by the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) and Uttarakhand Tourism. At a first, you are warmly welcomed at Gazhiabad. Akhil Bhartiya Kailash Mansarovar committee organizes the felicitation of all the yatis in Gazhiabad. You are welcomed with garlands and is followed by heavy breakfast. It may be called lunch since it has many things ranging from sweets, namkeen, rotis, etc.
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| Felicitation at Gazhiabad |
Day 2: Almora to Dharchula
Day 2 of your yatra is really challenging. You have to travel almost 210 kms and that too in a ghat section. The journey starts early at 5.30 am from Almora KMVN guest house. When you get up early morning, you are greeted by the snow-clad mountain tops which you can see from guest-house. These snow-clad mountains reminds you of the bollywood movies shot at exotic locations in Europe, Australia, etc. But after seeing the beauty of this mountains, you regret why this people are wasting so much of money shooting outside of the country. The mornings are chilly and since, it is your first day to start, you may get irritated. You have to bear some patience with your body habits. But the early morning rise is worth. You are provided with all comfort at the KMVN guest houses. You arrive at Almora on Day 1.You reach Almora at around 6 pm, but since our bus had a break-down after Kathgodam, we reached around 9 pm in Almora. KMVN serves a delicious dinner at Almora and a cup of tea as well as Bournvita before starting the journey to Dharchula. Soon after your journey starts, you are greeted with Deodar trees and hilly terrains of the Uttarakhand. Viewing them is absolute beauty. The road is very bumpy though especially from Mirthi to Dharchula, the road is so good that after getting down at Dharchula, you need to measure the number of bones you have lost in the journey. There are no mobile networks available after Mirthi, only BSNL. Before Dharcula, at some places you have Idea and BSNL but in Dharchula, only BSNL works and no other network works. Dharchula is a borden town. It is divided by Kaliganga river. On west banks it is India and on east bank it is Nepal. They have a bridge across the river which can be crossed only on foot. You can visit Dharchula, Nepal while returning back.
On reaching Dharcula, you have to book for your pony and porter i.e. you have to pay advance amount for the same. The vendor representing the same makes himself available in the evening before dinner at the Dharchula KMVN Guest house. The yatris need to handover the baggage to the vendors next day morning.This is the responsibility of the Luggage committee. They need to collect the main baggage from the yatris in the morning and make it ready for handing over. Also, since the limit for yatri luggage is 25 kgs, the committee has to weigh the luggage of each yatri before it is handed over to the vendor. If any yatri is carrying luggage more than 25 kgs they are asked to remove extra luggage. The extra luggage may be kept at Dharchula guest house. KMVN provides the facility to keep the luggage with them at Dharcula and Gunji.
It is worth noting that the porter which will be your guide during your trek has a load limit of 6 kgs. Each yatri has to carry the clothes, etc. for 2 days since, the luggage will be made available every 2 days after starting the yatra. The yatri has to ensure that his/her luggage is packed properly since due to heavy rainfall, it may get wet. The yatri is provided with gunny sacks by Kailash Mansarovar Committee at Delhi with the gunny sacks and ropes. Yatri has to ensure that the luggage is packed in a good manner. It is responsibility of yatri to hand-over the properly packed luggage to the Luggage Committee.
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| Breakfast Point |
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| On the way to Dharchula. On the banks of Sarayu River |
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| View from Mirthi KMVN Guest house |
Day 3: Dharchula to Sirkha
The KMVN arranges small vehicles like Mahindra Bolero, etc. to transport yatris to Pangla, a village from where the actual trek for Kailash Mansarovar starts. Actually, you have to start the trek from Narayan Ashram, but due to heavy rains and damaged roads, KMVN dropped us at Pangla. The ponies and porters met us there and from there we started our trek. It is 7 km trek till Sirkha, our first base or the place where we will spend our first night after the trek. Shortly, after starting the trek, we found out that why at all the briefings, we have been said "Walk slowly and steadily". The trek is uphill and is very exhausting. Some 2-3 kms is a plain walk in the mountains. Once, you cross the Pangla village you start to enjoy the beauty of nature. You are surrounded by wonderful fields in the mountains and running waterfalls. The colours of the fields are magnificent. You can actually see the shades of green. The sound of the waterfalls running down make you feel great. You actually get close to the nature. Automatically, you start chanting "Om Nama Shivay" and thank the Lord for bringing you on this beautiful journey. Each day you are greeted by the calls of nature to which you fell for it. Its magic. The magic of nature which held you to your dreams and motivate you to walk this arduous mountains. The roads are twisted and at some points you have to be so careful and concentrated, that if you lose the same, you can directly land up either is hospital or in heaven. The roads are so small that only a single foot can be placed. During this times chant "om namah shivay" and start walking towards you journey.
While walking you come across the Rung village in the valley. You are greeted by the people and small children. The people usually are relatives of your porters or pony-handlers. During our spell of walk since the road was closed, people who wanted to reach Dharchula was trekking downhill to Pangla. The olds, the youngs and the children, it is like routine to them, walking almost 5 kms downhill. In cities, we go for treks in Sahayadri hills for one day and after coming back, we are applying all the available painkiller ointments, oils, etc. But for this people its daily routine. The village is not too small, not too big, but big enough to have a 70-80 households. After getting through Rung village, you reach your camp Sirkha. KMVN have constructed camps. At most of the camps you are greeted with "Buronsh" sharbat. This sharbat is healthy for heart and tastes sweet. The sharbat removes all your tiredness.
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| The Luggage of the yatris |
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| The shades of green |
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| The mountains with clouds |
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| A smallish waterfall whose sound can be heard from distance |
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| A temple with local flowers in Rung village |
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| Ducks swimming in the pond |
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| Myself and Babaji with local Children |
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| The Sirkha KMVN Camp |
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| Evening view from the Sirkha camp |
Day 4: Sirkha to Gala
Day 4 starts with the trek early morning at 5 am.The KMVN guys at each camp serve the yatris with bed-tea and a cup of bournvita early morning before leaving the camp since yatris have to walk for almost 2 hours before the breakfast point is reached. The Day 4 trek from Sirkha to Gala starts on small footwalls. The yatris walk for almost a 2 kms before starting the uphill trek. This day you have to trek for almost 5 kms uphill and downhill. In between of the uphill trek there is a breakfast point where the yatris are served with hot "puris" and "chole". The yatris are insisted to have a heavy breakfast so that they does not feel hungry in between the trek. The taste of puri-chole and hot tea is still on my tongue. The breakfast is delicious. The trek between Sirkha and Gala is approximately 18 kms. Out of that you have to climb hill for 5 kms. There are 65 twisted walks. I was so exhausted after having the breakfast, I used to only walk for 5 - 10 steps wait to catch breath for 2 mins and again start walking. The walk is through the dense forest and hence the name is "Junglechatti". If it starts raining, it only adds to your irritation and exhaustion. Once you reach the top, you are greeted by a sun-shine. You can see the glimpse of snow-clad mountains from the top. There is one small temple of goddess. Wait for sometime, seek her blessings and then move downhill. The road the so steep, you are pulled by the gravity and your speed increases too. You need to keep control over your speed so that you do not slip. You will be greeted by numerous small flowers en-route. Once you reach downhill, there is a village from where a plain road starts towards Gala. It is almost 5 kms. You need to cross several small streams before reaching this village. You will be greeted by ITBP jawans and they will provide you with hot tea and potato chips for instant energy. A yatri will never say no to this hospitality provided by the ITBP during our journey.
I reached Gala by 12.30 pm. When I reached, some of my fellow yatris had already reached. I had a bath with hot water at Gala and washed my clothes. By 3 pm all the fellow yatris reached the Gala camp. On that way, it was Raksha-bandhan. Our cultural committee had arranged for rakhis. We had a small function. After that, we had our dinner and prepared for the next day trek. We had received our luggage. Once again we unpacked, took out required things and re-packed the luggage and it was handed over to luggage committee.
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| Morning view starting the trek |
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| Wild flower at the top |
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| A view from forests |
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| Sneak-peek of snow-clad mountain |
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| A wild-flower en-route |
Day 5: Gala to Budhi
Day 5 is the hardest day of Kailash Mansarovar trek. The trek is of approximately 21 kms. You have to climb down 4444 steps at Jipti. The trek again starts early morning at 5 am. The route for first 3 kms is plain in the hills. Start ascending 4444 steps till Jipti. Once ascended you will reach the bottom of the hill and near the Kaliganga river. The river is the border between India and Nepal. You walk in India and on opposite side you will see the Nepal. As some points the people in Nepal are visible too. Once to stop ascending, your legs start paining. It is advised to carry a pain-balm and apply while having the breakfast. It will calm you and pain will start reducing, making you ready for the next trek. The lunch point on this route is Lamari. Yes the site where all the yatris while asleep got buried due to the heavy land-slide.At this point you will be served with heavy lunch comprising of rotis, rajma-chawal, and again a mixed subzi of all the sprouts available in the valley. At Jipti, we had heavy breakfast and reached our lunch-point pretty early. We had lunch at about 10 am.
After crossing Lamari, the route is again an uphill trek. Between Jipti and Lamari you will have to walk through the waterfalls. You have to climb-down, like in a cave. If you have a good height then you have to be extra careful while crawling through this cave like structures. You have a good Kaliganga river flowing near you by about speed of 200 kms/hr. It was advised us not to hang on to the railings since they are very old and due to weight may fall on the river side. The ITBP jawans say if anything falls in the river we never happen to search. During our yatra, at one point there was a land-slide and the footwall was totally damaged. At that point of time, I was alone walking on the footwall and I 2 ITBP jawans walking in front of me. I was scared for the the first time while walking on that damaged foot-wall. I called up the two jawans and asked to wait on the other side till I cross that section. They helped me out, but my heart was pounding heavily. I merrily crossed and started my journey towards Budhi again. En-route, I saw numerous waterfalls running down from the hills towards the Kaliganga river.
Between after crossing the damaged foot-wall there was an small uphill climb. The steps was carved out of the rocks, or say that the rocks was arranged as steps. They were so high that height of some rocks was up to my knee-level. I was wondering how I will be able to climb those steps, but again chanted "Om Namah Shivay" and within 20 mins I was on the hill. So, the chanting of the mantra works. The last 3 kms of this trek before Budhi was very exhausting. I barely took 5-10 mins break after walking only for 100 meters. The uphill climb to Budhi made me anxious. No doubt, it was small but still it was exhausting after walking for around 18 kms.
Finally, I made it. Reached Budhi at around 2 pm. Had sharbat of Buransh. Almost 2 glasses. Called up home from the satellite phone available. Had bath and slept at 3 pm. While my fellow yatris reached Budhi by 4 pm, I was again fresh and energized for their help.
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| A waterfall on Kaliganga River |
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| A bridge on Kaliganga River |
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| Roaring Kaliganga |
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| Waterfall en-route |
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| Again a waterfall |
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| Bright flowers at Budhi |
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| Cloud covered mountains at Budhi |
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| Bright sunflowers at Budhi |
Day 6: Budhi to Gunji
The 6th day of trek was again started at 5 am in the early morning. The breakfast point was Chiyalekh. The meaning of Chiyalekh is "Valley of Flowers". Again we had an uphill trek of around 5 km. We have to climb the steps of a hill. There was no plain roads in this area. We in the night prepared for the trek. This was a bit steep and first. When we started walking, it was directly the steps carved in the hill and way to Chiyalekh. It took us almost 2.5 hours to reach the top. Some of the yatris who had ponies were fast, the one without it was slow. The last half kilometer was too tiring. Once we were at the top, there was a small gateway through rocks on both sides. It looked as if someone had cut the rock in two and had made a way to go through. I reached the top and went through the cut rocks and WOW......!!!!! The otherside of the hill was awesome. Full spread plateau with a wide mud-road for vehicles. On the left-hand side had a small temple of goddess on a hill-top and right side, it was snow-clad mountain. It was looking like there was just a snowfall on the mountain and it had covered itself in the snow. The snow on the mountain was covered in smooth manner. No rock cuts or no cuts was present on the mountain. My fellow yatris who had arrived early was having their breakfast at the top. Some were busy clicking the photographs of the landscapes. Some were enjoying the hot tea and some had reached the temple on the hill. The valley had all over the pine trees tall and sharp and ready to reach the hill-top. The landscape was so amazing, I still remember all over. When I think of it, I feel that I have already reached there and my mind starts playing the video memory. It was unforgettable. I clicked some of the photographs of the snow-clad mountain and started our journey.
As we proceeded, we had a immigration check. ITBP officers checked our passport and identity cards provided by Government of India, entered our name in their registers and we proceeded with our journey. As I moved forward, the snow-clad mountain was now completely visible. At the top, we only saw the top portion, but from here it was completely visible. It was so mesmerizing....can't stop my memories. As described above, Chiyalekh is truly valley of flowers. There are numerous flowers on the way having different colours, different types, different families, same families with different colours, the usually "we don't see" colours of flowers. We stopped and clicked the photographs of the same. Felt like I was in heaven. The yellow colour of the soil matched the colours of the flowers of different types. The hills was totally covered with the different colours of flowers on another side the valley was full of the pine trees. The pine-trees are called "Morphanki" in the local dialect. As we moved forward, we went through the Garbhayng village. It is said that this village is continuously subsiding down the hill. My porter provided me with homegrown apples at his cousin's place. I am grateful to him that he allowed us to take some apples with us. After reaching the Garbyang, our passports was again checked and we made our entries into the register. At that point, we met Marathi jawans who were posted there. The jawans was so happy to met the people from Maharashtra. We chit-chatted a little and came to know that from this point ITBP arranges small vehicles and trucks for senior citizens and ladies since the road is motorable. So, the senior citizens sat in the vehicles and some 10 of us started walking down the road. Again, on the left hand side was the yellow hills and on right hand side it was kaliganga but now very calm. Nepal as usual was on right-hand side and numerous narrow bridges connecting to Nepal was seen. People coming to and fro on both sides was visible. After asking, my porter told me, there is some function in Nepal.
After having lunch at 11.30 am we started walking, but the speed was slow, since we had halt next day at Gunji. While walking, we came across small red-fruits (small version of tomatoes). I asked my porter about the same, he said they call it "Gubbam" and it is rich source of Vitamin-C. He added to knowledge that do not eat all the fruits which can be seen here. They look like Gubbam but may be poisonous. So he asked us all to tell your porters if you wish to eat the same. Myself and one of my fellow yatri Mr. Mahendra Joshi, we reached Gunji by 3 pm. Till then our friends who had reached Gunji took accommodation of tents on behalf of both of us. After having some rest, doctors from ITBP camp briefed about next day's tests. After having our delicious dinner in the night which mostly comprised of sprouts, rajma chaval, some sweet, etc. we were standing outside our tents looking at the clear skies. We saw lakhs and lakhs of stars and our galaxy. The sight of our own galaxy made me feel so small. In our life, now and then we boast of "Myself and Mine", but that night felt how small I am. It was a night to remember. As the sky was clear, we were able to see it, otherwise, it is not visible as clear as that night. Felt so lucky.
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| A view of Budhi valley |
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| En-route to Chiyalekh |
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| A snow-clad mountain of Chiyalekh |
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| View of Chiyalekh Valley |
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| Flowers of Chiyalekh |
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| Flowers of Chiyalekh |
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| Road to Garbhayang |
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| Flowers of Chiyalekh |
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| Flowers of Chiyalekh |
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| Flowers of Chiyalekh |
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| House at Garbhayang |
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| A view from Garbhyang |
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| The instant energy fruits "Gubbam" or "Nano Tomatoes" |
Day 7 and 8: Gunji and Gunji to Nabhidhang
Our yatra was on schedule and on next day we had halt at Gunji due to the tests which was to be conducted by the ITBP doctors. We were called upon at 10 am at the Gunji camp at ITBP. We were ready at 9.30 am with our all reports given by DHLI. After almost 8-10 days we were watching news in at Gunji. Before Gunji there is a village called Nepalchu. The Nepalchu village is rich in herbal plants and Baba Ramdev's Patanjali is researching further on those plants in Nepalchu. The morning of the Gunji was pleasant. At 5.30 am we were awake. The snow-clad mountains which was on the west-side started shining golden in the morning sun. The view was superb. No words to describe. Almost all of us had never seen such a morning view. The three-peaks of the mountains was shining. We immediately started our cameras and clicked the photographs.
The above 2 photographs explains the phenomenon.
After, we had our tests at Gunji and all of the yatris was passed for next expedition of Kailash Parikrama. On day 8 we reached Nabhidhang. The point from where the famous "Om Parbat" is visible. But to our luck, we never had the darshan. I have to cut the journey down here as from Gunji, it is not allowed to post the photographs since, India shares border with China from here. There are reports that Chinese government on basis of photographs shared try to locate the bases of Indian Army. Hence, no report can be posted here from Gunji to Nabhidhang. There were some interesting stories though but its government orders.
Day 10: Taklakot Or Purang
We crossed the Lipulekh pass on Day 9. It was chilly in the morning and temperature must have dipped to almost -5 to -10 degree C. The Chinese police came half-an-hour late as per their prescribed timing. Till then we were stranded at Indian side in the chilly winter. We were not able to move our hand and feet and felt like they are made up of wood. We were almost wearing 5 layers of clothes that day but the wind was so cold that 5 layers was nothing for good.
Finally at 9.30 CST the Chinese officials took the hand-over of yatris and Indian Officials did the same with yatris returning home from Kailash Parikrama. We need to climb down at Chinese side for around 100 meters and from there the Chinese Government arranges small vehicles like Land Cruiser or so to transfer yatris till bus point. Some of us were stranded at the point since the vehicles took long to come again to collect the yatris. So we started walking in the Chinese territory and almost after 2-3 kms of walk, the vehicles came up and collected us. After reaching the bus point, the Chinese police checked for our passports and provided us with one apple and water bottle. The bus at one point after 20 kms, the Chinese army officials again checked our passports. We were taken to immigration centre at Taklakot. Taklakot is the major town in Tibet or Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) governed by China. Taklakot has one big immigration center and after entering we began to feel the rule of the Communist Government. It was like we see in the movies, how the praise and videos of the dictator and his decisions is played on the screens at airport, the feel was the same. Outside, there was a public address system and on it continuously the instrumental version of Chinese national anthem was played on it. Not for a second, it was shut down, plus in Tibetian region it is compulsory that every house should have a Chinese flag hoisted. For immigration formalities we were made to sit for around 1 hour in the center and was tortured with the videos of Chinese government. In TAR, we cannot speak about Dalai Lama or his preaching or about anything about the Dalai Lama. If heard, we directly land up in jail with our passport blacklisted on Chinese systems. Even the photography in the city of Taklakot is prohibited. There is Nepali market inside Taklakot and items ranging from Dettol to Noodles can be procured. The price is marked in Indian rupees but you have to pay in Yuan or Reminbi.
The Chinese government collects fee of USD 961 from the yatris. This USD 961 includes your stay at Burang, Darchen, Deraphuk, Zunzhi Pu and Mansarowar, your bus journey, immigration fees. The cooks are made available by the Chinese Government and they take around 6000 Yuan for 6 days. The required vegetables has to be made available by the yatris by their own money/pool money. We collected USD 961 from each yatri in the hotel and handed over it to our guide at China side in presence of LO. The hotel at Taklakot is Pu-Lan Hotel and it is not so good. The toilets are worst. Same experience at each place in China. Since, we had whole day in our hand, we trolled in the market at Taklakot, explored the Nepali market, vegetable market, etc. clicked some photographs in the city and returned to hotel.
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| The Hotel at Taklakot |
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| From Left Mr. Nanubhai, Mr. Joshi, Mr and Mrs. Krishnamurti |
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| Town of Taklakot |
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| The Nepali Market |
Day 11: Taklakot to Darchen via Rakshas Tal
On Day 11, we left Taklakot for the Kailash Mansarovar. The actual journey of Kailash and Mansarovar parikrama started after reaching Taklakot. Chinese Government have built roads in the Tibet plateau and are quality roads. The Chinese Government arranges a bus for the yatra. In China, there is no trek. Only the Kailash Parikrama is on foot. It is such a great feeling. The region is inaccessible, still it has got almost all the facilities. The roads have CCTV cameras installed, they have Agricultural Bank of China where-in you can convert your money, you have mobile networks, electricity, etc. From environment perspective, the people have the electric motorcycles to move in their goods. The Taklakot have the supermarkets, where-in you can buy toys, shoes, trekking gear, etc. but all the material is of low quality and hence, it is recommended that you take it from India. Only thing you can buy of good quality is sweaters, fela jackets, etc. We left Taklakot around 7 AM CST. The China is 2.5 hours ahead of India. Our bus was accompanied by the Chinese police vans for around 20 kms after we left Taklakot, One was going ahead of our bus and another was after our bus. The purpose is still not clear of sending police vans. Chinese are thinking, that we are going to start a revolution against them in Tibet or else Indian people will provide arms and ammunition to Tibetian people to start a war. There is one check point before entering the Kailash Parikrama, till that point the Chinese police vans were there. After that check point we had a view of Rakshas Tal. The Rakshas Tal is the lake where it is believed that it was constructed for the "Asuras". To what Mansarovar is for "Devas", Rakshas Tal is for "Asuras". The salinity of Rakashas Tal is very high and hence, it is prohibited to go near it. The colour of the water is deep blue and is very attractive. It is said that, the one who is attracted towards Rakshas Tal, has the attributes associated with the "Asuaras". We spent some time clicking photographs at Rakshas Tal and other landscapes and we left for our next stop i.e. Darchen. On the way to Darchen, the bus stopped at Mansarovar Lake. We took the glimpse of the lake, waited for sometime and left for Darchen. While moving, we got first glimpse of Mount Kailash. All of prayed and chanted "Har Har Mahadev". Each and everyone had tears in their eyes after having the darshan of Mount Kailash. We reached Darchen at around 12 pm. Mt. Kailash was very near from Darchen. After lunch, we roamed around the city of Darchen. Darchen too had one supermarket, the Chinese national anthem playing day and night and a big police control room. At around 4 pm CST we had first proper darshan of Mt. Kailash. Hike and skype was working on my phone. Darchen has the internet connectivity. I called up my mother and started the video of the same. She was so happy, she started crying in her office and all her office colleagues lined-up for the darshan. I made a small video and sent her. Next day we left for Deraphuk.
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| Glimpse of Mt. Kailash from Darchen |
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| A view from Hotel Room at Darchen |
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| The Rakshas Tal |
Day 12/13: The Kailash Parikrama and back to Darchen
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| After the snowfall Mount Kailash darshan |
Next day, we left Darchen for Deraphuk. The bus took us to Yamdwar at 11 am CST. Our pony and porters were allocated at Yamdwar. Yamdwar is a place, where a temple like structure is erected. It is said that the Yam "The God of Death" comes through this door. The one who does the Parikrama of Yamdwar is directly admitted to heaven. It is also said, people who don't do the parikrama of Yamdwar does not complete the Kailash Parikrama. By 11 am CST we left for Kailash Parikrama, the weather was chilly, we had 2 layers of clothes. In between, rain and sometimes snowfall would start. The winds were too strong. While starting the journey, it felt we are entering the heaven from the gates. It felt like this is the last resort on the earth, where we can come. The experience was mystifying. It really looked like the residences of the Gods, which we have seen in the mythological serials in India. One of the hill was of the shape of Balleshwar Ganpati at Pali. It was visible for quite a time. The large semi-circle shaped showed up, I asked my fellow yatris if they are seeing the same, but they were unable to see it. It was my lucky day that Ganpati Bappa had given me the darshan. After sometime when I started to find it, it was no longer there. Some may say it is psychological effect or so, but the it was real good. After 6 kms we started walking towards Deraphuk and the North side of Mount Kailash was visible to us. At first, thick clouds had covered the Mount Kailash but as we approached near and near the cloud cover became thin. We clicked numerous photographs of the same. Close ups. It was so near that it could felt we can touch it. There is a place called Charan-sparsh where you can actually touch the Mount Kailash, but Chinese government have now banned going in there. In 2015, there was a accident where-in some of the yatris without permission tried to go to Charan-sparsh and had an accident. All of them were killed. Now, instead the Chinese government have created a space somewhat near to that spot where yatris can go and pray. In our batch, 3 of us went to that spot. Myself, Mr. Joshi and Mr. Sanjay Sheth. We collected some flowers which were available on the spot. Mr. Joshi had brought leave of Bel from his home. We offered our prayers to Mount Kailash, we sung "arti's" and waited for the cloud cover to go away. For 10-15 minutes it was same. Finally, we closed our eyes thinking that, the clouds will not get aside. As soon as I closed my eyes I felt a strong light source coming on to my eyes and I opened my eyes for 2 seconds, the cloud cover was completely gone. Tears started rolling down my eyes. I again closed my eyes, prayed again to Lord Shiva and we started to descend to our camp. Once we reached the camp, we had our dinner ready for that day. We had our dinner, changed the wet clothes. When we came out of our room, there was snowfall on Mount Kailash and the cloud cover was completely gone.The snowfall was in shape of a snake ready to pounce on his prey. It stayed for around 5-10 minutes and again got covered. The top was covered and remaining of the Mount Kailash was open. Several "akrutis" was seen on Mount Kailash. According to everyone's perception they saw different gods, their "ganas", etc. The famous "Om" was seen and again everybody chanted "Har Har Mahadev". The memory is so strong that as soon as you think of it, you feel you are there watching the same. The next day we started for Kailash Parikrama passing through the Zongjila Pass. The weather above was very cold and had a snowfall up there. The Gauri-kund was frozen. It is said at Gauri-kund Goddess Parvati comes to take bath. The another day we came back to Darchen and left for Mansarovar Parikrama,
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| Yamdwar |
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| The road to Kailash Parikrama |
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| North face of Mount Kailash |
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| Nandi Parvat |
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| The North Side of Mount Kailash |
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| The North side of Mount Kailash |
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| The north side covered in clouds |
Day 14/15: Lake Mansarovar
On Day 14, we left for Lake Mansarovar from Darchen. It is the journey of around 2 hours. Before entering the premises of Lake Mansarovar, the Chinese Government have built-up the Mansarovar reception centre, From the outside, it looks like the airport. Some of us had the urge to click the photographs of the building, but being a Government building, it was prohibited and apart from that it had CCTV cameras. It was like a jail with freedom to roam around. The Lake Mansarovar keeps on the right side of the bus travel. Have said people saying that you get darshan of various gods at Mansarovar. I used to make fun of the people but me too when reached Mansarovar, had the darshan of gods, but in the form of clouds and it existed only for a second. When I started to get the pictures, the clouds use to move aside or change the shape. It is true, but for a second you get the darshan. It is also said you can see the gods coming down for bath in Mansarovar. You can get to see some "divya jyoti" coming down from Mount Kailash and take a dip in the holy lake. We stayed up all the light but did not get to see anything. But we can see the stars falling into the Mansarovar. Almost. every 2 secs you see the stars falling into the Lake Mansarovar. It is quite a experience watching the same, sitting by the side of Lake Mansarovar. The temperature dips to -10 degree C so you cannot sustain in the night. We tried sitting on the banks of Lake Mansarovar in the night but it became to chilly. Only 2 minutes dip is allowed in the Lake Mansarovar, after that if you still try to be in waters, it may affect your brain area and there are chances you get edema in the brain. So it is recommended to have a quick dip in the lake. You can roam on the banks whenever you can. Chinese government have constructed a "chauthara" and "agni-kund" where you can have pooja. Our batch, we had a single pooja from all of us. We collected all the pooja sahitya from all people and used it to do a single pooja. Lake Mansarovar is a quite place and you can do kind of meditation on the banks and try to achieve the peace. It helps you create positive energy around you and inside you. On the banks try and find out location not very far from the quarters and do a meditation. It is okay to bring water from Lake Mansarovar. So on the 2nd day of our stay we brought almost 20 ltrs of water from Lake Mansarovar. It can be used for doing day-to-day pooja. It is said that, a drop of Mansarovar water into normal water converts it to Mansarovar water.
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| Lake Mansarovar |
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| Lake Mansarovar |
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| Lake Mansarovar - 1 |
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| Lake Mansarovar - 2 |
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Lake Mansarovar - 3
We left Lake Mansarovar for our return journey on Day 17. It was a mesmerizing experience throughout the journey and we were in no mood to leave the place. But their is our home and we have our people waiting at home. So we bid bye-bye to Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar and returned to our homes after a week or so with lots of good memories and experiences.
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