finally what spurred this trip in the first place... mt kailash.
this post has pictures of our trip to darchen and to darpoche. but before that our trip to get manasarovar holy water and a tryst with rakshas tal...
mt. kailash, its spiritual and geographical magnetism, whatever it is, is the reason there are so many pictures of it in this post...
'A' below is were we stayed overnight by lake manasarovar, and 'B' is the peak of mt. kailash. we reached south towards the shores of rakshas tal, and north to darpoche, from where the trek around mt kailash-- the kora, the parikrama-- begins. we of course never intended to do the kora, but even if we'd planned it, we'd have been turned back.. just as hundreds of stranded indian pilgrims.. because of heavy snowfall in the upper reaches. the high passes, where a couple of tibetans had also lost their lives just 2 days earlier...
the eastern horizon begins to light up...
as the sky changes colour, so does the lake...
sun about to make an appearance as the birds buzz about
... mt. kailash.. gets the first touch of sun...
jiu khar hillock also catches the morning light
... a bunny with a white tail near our guest house...
.. all of us ready for the road...
we go southwards along the lake shore.. looking for a clean untouched spot to collect the holy water... the water in the lake is very calm...
.. the sky was an amazingly dark blue.. contrasted with the brown cliffs towering above the lake.. it seems there were any birds nesting on the cliff...
some offerings for the holy lake left by other pilgrims.. trishul et al
mt. gurla gets reflected
we find our virgin spot and start collecting water as well s pebbles to take back home
dr khakurel ventures further into the water ... as sanjita dijju offers remembrances to the souls who have left the world...
baba collects jal from manasarovar too
... back in the guest house, we had a quick breakfast, nanu heating the roti for us...
outside pilgrims from down south who had taken a proper bath earlier in the chilly morning were performing a hom (hawan) just outside their guest house...
we started driving towards darchen.. but took a short detour to first also see rakshas tal. en route the view of a glacier in the nalakankar range of which mt. gurla is the highest peak...
the top detail of mt. gurla...
.. we drove down to rakshas tal. unlike lake manasarovar, this is a lake not revered by anyone. this salt water lake, said to be the creation of the demon ravana who meditated by its side, is a salt water lake, and thus maybe why even the migratory birds do not flock to it. this lake is one of the the sources of the karnali (humla karnali, the other being mugu karnali) .. nepal's longest river and one that probably does not have any major pilgrimage sites in its route downstream through nepal... hmmmmm....
.. the mountain seems to float over the lake...
we drive back up to a viewpoint... where we can see mt kailash to the north...
.. and gurla mountain and manasarovar to the south...
.. what a sight...
.. photo op time... out with those cameras and ipads...
.. and of course line up for a photo too...
.. all of us try to see whether we can really see lord shiva's likeness in the mountain head...
.. can we? hmmm
...reflections on the water...
the peculiar stratified rocks of the region. clearly they do not seem to have been impacted, crushed and crumpled by clashing of the tectonic plates.. as is evident elsewhere...
.. our destination.. darchen... there were more security checks before we entered darchen. it seems the whole area of the pilgrimage sites in manasarovar and mt. kailash has been leased to the chinese company for 50 years... so lots of infrastructure being built.. hopefully with better toilets! ; )
.. road that leads to the inner valley for the nandi kora...
.. soon we are there...
.. we go searching for a hotel with attached bathrooms .. toilets...
.. the men go to search actually while we waited in the bus.. and this enterprising tibetan lady with her rucksack full of handcrafts entered our bus and started enticing us with her wares.. she certainly seemed to have a 'golden' smile!.
prabha has a knack for sensing good bargains!
.. the boys found this hotel for us.. run by chinese.. newly built , with an attached squatting type toilet in all rooms... also wifi in the lobby...
only thing it was soooooo cold in the rooms. while it was warm and sunny outside,.. it was freezing inside the rooms.. we had to wear down jackets inside. and at night had to pile ourselves with quilt over quilt.. and in that altitude, even lifting the quilts was a breathless effort!!!
we head for darpoche after that along a dirt road had reach the place from where the mt. kailash kora begins... horses ready for their rides...
pilgrims from india.. wait to hear news about whether clearance had been granted for them to proceed for the kora...
.. but things didn't seem right. for there was a stream of pilgrims coming back.. a day's trek into the kora...
.. so near.. yet so far...
.. their logistics also on the way back...
.. and there she (or is it a he?) is.. peeking up from behind the ridge... pink rocks.. cobweb of prayers flags and the mountain.. what a combination!
the mountain and the prayer flags
the yak skull, the man and the mountain
.. chorten ..
.. in this chorten i laid down the offerings given to me by my office mates...
it was here that i saw lots of clothes, photographs lying about. it seems people bring clothes of their dead loved ones to leave them behind on the mountain.. that explained the clothes we'd seen on the fences along the highway as we were driving towards darchen.. more and more clothes as we drew closer. it seems there is another site in the kora where they offer new clothes in memory of those ded relatives.. another big pile...
.. close up of the mountain...
.. and closer still...
... closeup of the snowy ledge...
prayer flags, and solar panel!
.. everyone felt like being one with the mountain in that quiet and peaceful atmosphere.. i wish i spent more time doing that instead of taking a zillion pictures!
we were just given half an hour by the eco-bus that we took up to come from darchen (they do not allow other vehicles to come up) : (
... a sweep of the mountains from darpoche...
us and the mountain
.. picking up 'blessed' pebbles for home...
delicate flowers growing out from a rock
multicoloured lichen covered rock
the private company seriously need to address issues of trash management...
...khaki layers...
heading back now...
.. and view of the distant rakshas tal and mt gurla
.. the mountains do seem to float over the lake, really!
... construction work going on in darchen.. hopefully will mean much better facilities in a spot where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims flock to each year...
.. we had a great lunch... sugared tomatoes.. my best!
mt. gurla catches the rays of the setting sun...
.. next morning was also bright and sunny .. and this seems to be like a scene from the wild wild west.. cowboys, and horses and yaks!
.. so one last darshan to mt. kailash...
.. and final look towards the himals to the south...
.. and we're on our way back...
... next.. the drive back...
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