[deechan]

What a trip!! All I can say is such travel is a once in a life-time chance which many of us only dream of. Thanks Deky for sharing your experience, and for all the info.

[deky]

Originally Posted by sandip

You could land a Mig 29 Here

These are actually meant to act as air strips in case of emergencies.
We have one in Kolkata too - The Red Road, is suppposed to act as an alternate air strip in any eventuality.

Will wait till the end of your travelogue to post about it.
Mesmerizing is ALL that I can say as of now.

Thanks, Yes, there are a few roads that can double as airstrips in India too.


CONTD


DAY19: DARCHEN TO TRUGHO GOMPA (LAKE MANSAROVAR)


DARCHEN: 4874mtrs
TRUGHO: 4705MTRS
Distance : 75 kms by bus
Time Taken: 5 hours with stops


With one important part of the Journey over, i.e the Kailash Parikrama, we moved on for the next equally important part. This was a dip in The Mansarovar Lake.

Today we will be reaching a Gompa (monastery) situated on the Southern banks of Lake Mansarovar. In the process we would also complete 2/3rds of the Lake’s Parikrama by bus. The name of the monastery was Trugho and we would be spending 2 nights there before proceeding back to Taklakot.


Route from Darchen To Trugho Gompa


It was a cold and a rainy day that morning, luckily the whole journey was supposed to be on bus today, so chances of getting wet was less. As we traversed through the Parkha plains we could see lots of nomadic settlement with their flocks of sheep in the meadows. Little bit of rain also works wonders in a dessert, so the usually barren mountains were looking green. With the weather being cold, fresh snow was being deposited on the mountain tops.

In July the Chinese Govt had issued a visa restriction for tourists going to Tibet. But now it had been lifted. And since this route falls on the route taken by the private operators coming via Nepal to Visit Mt. Kailash, so we crossed loads of jeeps carrying pilgrims to Mt. Kailash on our way.

We stopped for some time at the biggest town on the banks of Lake Mansarovar, it’s called Hore. Here we had to replenish our supplies of groceries and other food stuff to last us till Taklakot. After Hore, started our Parikrama around Mansarovar on unpaved roads. The ride was pretty bumpy, but the surroundings made up for it. It being a cloudy day the lake looked pretty dull, but the feeling of being next to Mansarovar was pretty exhilarating. There were lots of migratory birds nesting around the banks, but clicking them in a moving bus with the light being very less was proving to be difficult.

After another stop by the banks of Mansarovar we reached Trugho. After lunch few Yatris straight away went to have a dip in the lake, but it was too cold for me and I really could not muster courage to get myself into the freezing waters, so I left the dip part for tomorrow.
It continued being grey and dull for the rest of the day, so the best was to sleep early


Pics From Day19

Nomadic settlements and their flocks on Parkha Plains



Piligrims going to Kailash via Pvt Operators


Rain and snowfall continued through out the day



The town Of Hore


While some shopped, I thought the best way would be to sit in a restaurant and warm ourselves.


Hore Chu Camp:- The camp my mother and I stayed at the last time I visited Mansarovar


As we went around the lake, we saw lots of migratory birds




Alpha male standing tall


A yatri talking a walk by the Lake with Kailash Standing tall in the background


Broken structures around the lake. Chinese affect??


Trugho Gompa at a distance


Still snowing at higher reaches


The day was dull and cloudy throughout


End Of Day 19

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by deky

As we went around the lake, we saw lots of migratory birds

The birds in the 1st and 3rd picture are called 'Bar Headed Geese'. We see those birds during the summer near my native place in Hassan District (in Karnataka). Every year, when these birds arrive it makes the news in the local newspaper. Apparently, these birds are one of the highest flying birds in the world. I have some pictures shot when they arrived this summer, will see if I can find them.

I had heard that they migrated over the Himalayas, but your pictures prove that it really happens. Thanks a lot deky

[deky]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

The birds in the 1st and 3rd picture are called 'Bar Headed Geese'. We see those birds during the summer near my native place in Hassan District (in Karnataka). Every year, when these birds arrive it makes the news in the local newspaper. Apparently, these birds are one of the highest flying birds in the world. I have some pictures shot when they arrived this summer, will see if I can find them.

I had heard that they migrated over the Himalayas, but your pictures prove that it really happens. Thanks a lot deky

Thank you for giving details about the Bar headed Geese. You are right the 3rd pic is of the same bird. The 1st pic actually is of a normal Sea Gull, not sure which is the brid in the 2nd pic.

CONTD

DAY 20: REST DAY AT TRUGHO GOMPA (LAKE MANSAROVAR)

The weather had not improved overnight. It was still drizzling and was still freezing cold. Any way there was not much to do today except relax at the Gompa Guesthouse and chat with friends. I was in no mood to take a dip in the freezing waters of the lake. While my time on the ships, they had scared me enough of Hypothermia and its affects. I would wait till tomorrow and see if the sky opens up and we get bit of warmth to be able to enter in the water.

Apart from the ritual of taking a dip in the lake, the other thing to be done was to do a “Havan”. But with it drizzling continuously, we had no chance to sit by the lake and do it. The caretaker of the Guesthouse was kind enough to allow us to perform a small Havan in one of the tent, with adequate precautions of course.

With the Havan place and timing decided a few yatris went ahead and braved the cold waters of the lake and took a dip. Seeing them I also got encouraged and decided that I too should go ahead and do the needful, you never know tomorrow the lake might just freeze. Any way I had seen the Tv series “Man v/s Wild” and I remembered how he educated us on how to stay calm and collected if we have to jump into Frezzing waters, and what one should do to avoid going in shock etc etc

As soon as my feet touched the cold water, due to the cold I felt as if 10000’s of pins and needles were stinging my skin, but I continued. I wanted to finish this as fast as possible. After a few meters inside with the water now till my waist, I took a dip. I just went under shock, I could not feel the rest of my body, my heart was thumping against my chest, and I had no time to recompose myself. All the learning from Man v/s Wild went out of the window, I just had to get out. So after total 3 hurried dips, I came running out. I have no qualms in saying that I maybe had the fastest dip in the Lake amongst the rest of the yatris, cold water is not for me!!

Actually once I came out, it was not that bad. Maybe the air temperature was much higher that the water temperature. With my body coming back to the normal temperature I felt absolutely fine and quite refreshed. I was glad that I took a dip.

After the Havan, with nothing else to do, I decided to visit the Gompa. Gompa’s in leh and in Tibet are almost the same. Same kind of architecture, same kind of decoration and same kind of artifacts. But the major difference is that in India they can put the photo of Dalai lama in a Gompa but in Tibet they cannot!!

In the evening the clouds cleared a bit and for the first time in last 3 days we could see Mt. Kailash again. Could this be a good sign for tomorrow??


Pics From Day20

Cloudy, Rain dull and cold weather greeted us the next day too




Havan



The best way to spend the day was to Visit the Trugho Gompa









By the evening, we could see the silver lining on the clouds. Finally we get to see Mt. Kailash after a break of 3 days



By night we could see other mountains around. Notice the fresh Snow on the top


End Of Day20

[amitwlele]

Originally Posted by deky

Piligrims going to Kailash via Pvt Operators
Attachment 612301

@deky - What is this with Pilgrims going to Kailash via Private Operators? How does this work out. So in this case the MEA, Medical Check Ups etc - all the steps that you mentioned in your starting posts would be done by the private operator?

Also what are these vehicles in the snap? Land Cruisers?

[Revy]

Deky, PRANAM ! Wonderfully written and I don't know how many times I got goosebumps ! To be there twice, very few people will be so lucky...Since yesterday I am reading this thread and believe me, I am keeping off my work and rescheduling meetings in office to read this :-)

There is a wonderful book written by Shri. M.K. Ramachandran from Kerala who did the MEA trip early in the 2000's. Ever since I read that book (in Malayalam, not sure if it is translated to English or Hindi), this trip had been my dream. He was having no literary background and he got the state academy award for best travel writing ! Your narrative is equally good with top class photographs, why not convert this into a book ?

Regarding the lack of development of roads on our side of Himalaya, I have read some interesting perspectives in defense forums. Once you finish your postings on journey, I am sure this thread will have a lot of discussions on many things. Shri Ramachandran had very strong words for the Chinese attitude towards the Indian pilgrims, hope you will be discussing all such things later. For now, let me wait for the remaining of your posts on the journey.

[wolg]

Amazing travelogue. Deky . I read both your travelogues in the past few days and it his has been a wonderful experience of viewing the sights through your pictures and detailed logs. Thanks for sharing !

[dre@ms]

Amazing writeup and equally justifiable snaps all around. Like many have mentioned, your writeup made us feel being a part of the yatra. Doing these yatra needs a tremendous will power, and seeing age old persons scraping the mountains, make me feel, what am I still doing here!?!?!?

[deky]

Originally Posted by amitwlele

@deky - What is this with Pilgrims going to Kailash via Private Operators? How does this work out. So in this case the MEA, Medical Check Ups etc - all the steps that you mentioned in your starting posts would be done by the private operator?

Also what are these vehicles in the snap? Land Cruisers?

The other way to go to Kailash and Mansarovar is to go via Pvt. Operators. These operators are in Nepal but they have sub agents in India also. This route is via the Nepal side. Most of the journey is done in Toyota LC's. Only the parikrama here is done on foot/pony.

With them there are no steps required, you just pay the money and you are on. Thats why the fatality rate with pvt tours is higher.

In 2009 I went with them. To know more you can read here. The link will take you to the traveloguw on the trip via pvt operators

Originally Posted by Revy

Deky, PRANAM ! Wonderfully written and I don't know how many times I got goosebumps ! To be there twice, very few people will be so lucky...Since yesterday I am reading this thread and believe me, I am keeping off my work and rescheduling meetings in office to read this :-)

There is a wonderful book written by Shri. M.K. Ramachandran from Kerala who did the MEA trip early in the 2000's. Ever since I read that book (in Malayalam, not sure if it is translated to English or Hindi), this trip had been my dream. He was having no literary background and he got the state academy award for best travel writing ! Your narrative is equally good with top class photographs, why not convert this into a book ?

Regarding the lack of development of roads on our side of Himalaya, I have read some interesting perspectives in defense forums. Once you finish your postings on journey, I am sure this thread will have a lot of discussions on many things. Shri Ramachandran had very strong words for the Chinese attitude towards the Indian pilgrims, hope you will be discussing all such things later. For now, let me wait for the remaining of your posts on the journey.

Thank you for your kind words. I am glad you enjoying the journey. I will try to include everything that may occur to me, but if I do miss something and you have something you want to know/discuss about, Please feel free to ask.

About publishing a book, well I have no idea how to go about it. Its an interesting thought though.

Originally Posted by wolg

Amazing travelogue. Deky . I read both your travelogues in the past few days and it his has been a wonderful experience of viewing the sights through your pictures and detailed logs. Thanks for sharing !

You most welcome, and thank you also for gointg thru both of them

Originally Posted by dre@ms

Amazing writeup and equally justifiable snaps all around. Like many have mentioned, your writeup made us feel being a part of the yatra. Doing these yatra needs a tremendous will power, and seeing age old persons scraping the mountains, make me feel, what am I still doing here!?!?!?

Well actually, I firmly believe that where there is will there is a way, so if you keen, I am sure sooner or later this trip will happen to you too!!!

[deky]

DAY21: TRUGHO GOMPA TO TAKLAKOT (Via Samadhi of Gen. Zorawar Singh)

TRUGHO: 4705 mtrs
TAKLAKOT: 3863mtrs
DISTANCE: 57 kms (by bus)
TIME TAKEN: 3 hours

We got up in the morning quite surprised. It was bright quite early and that meant that the sun was out. Hurriedly we got ready as all of us wanted to see the glory of Mansarovar basking in sunlight. We were not disappointed in what we saw. It was the perfect day that we all were waiting for the past few days and luckily we were blessed with sunshine on the last day.

Those who wanted to take a last dip went ahead, some just sat by the lake meditating and I just went click click click with my camera.

Route from Trugho To Taklakot


But sadly we had to leave soon. Our time by the Lake was over and we had to return to Taklakot. On our way back we stopped at a view point and from there we could see a 360 degree view. We could see Mt. Kailash in front, Rakshas Tal on our Left, Lake Mansarovar to our right and Gurla Mandhata on our back. This was the perfect place to bid Adieu and get final blessings. As we continued we reached the point next to Rakshas Tal, where we had stopped while going to Darchen, at this point our Parikrama around Mansarovar was over too.

Mansarovar parikrama Route


With all the religious motives accomplished successfully it was time to head back to Taklakot. On our way back we stopped The Samadhi Of Gen. Zorawar Singh. Zorawar Singh was a General in the J&K state army and had conquered this part of Tibet as well before he was killed. This is in his remembrance.

After paying our homage we continued our journey to our hotel in Taklakot. After another session of washing clothes, what happened next was unbelievable. With all the religious obligations over, the yatris turned into tourists and went berserk over shopping for cheap Chinese goods. Nice warm jackets for Rs200/- and who wouldn’t go for it? At the end the whole group must have had atleast 10 gunny bags of jacket to carry back.

I did not shop much; I concentrated more on eating and trying Tibetan delicacies.

Pics from Day21

Start to a beautiful Day


After a cloudy few days we could finally see the surrounding mountains



Initially Mt. Kailash was still hiding under clouds


With the sun out, even the birds were having a gala time






The Feline's could not resist staying back


Slowly the clouds lifted from Mt. Kailash also




And it all looks so magical and divine


This surely must be heaven



Everyone was enjoying basking in the Glory of Mt. Kailash





Even the Tibetan biker gang was there


Panormaic view of the surrounding from the view point. In front is Mt. Kailash, to the left is Rakshas Tal, to the right is Mansarovar and at the nack is Gurla Mandhata peak


Samadhi Of Gen. Zorawar Singh


Back At Taklakot


End Of Day 21

[deky]

MR. A

Before we continue further, let me update you guys on Mr. A. If you remember we had to leave Mr. A at Taklakot in the hospital to recover fully. He was supposed to be transported to India with the group returning back to India.

So after we left Taklakot for our Mt. Kailash parikrama, the previous batch returned to Taklakot a day later. After staying there for 2 days they crossed over Lipulekh to India. Mr. A was transported in jeeps almost till the pass and there the ITBP men were ready with stretchers and HAPO bag and they carried him over Lipulekh and then till Nabhidhang. Nabhidhang has a helipad but due to weather conditions he had to be carried further till Chialekh from where he was air lifted to Dehradun.


He stayed in Dehradun for a while and later when he recovered fully he went back to his home town, Kolkata.

I spoke to him a week back and apart from a bit of weakness he said he feels fully fine

[deky]

DAY 22 & 23: TAKLAKOT

Both the days were spent resting at Taklakot. Actually by now everyone was getting home sick and all of us just wanted to return back home. With nothing to do people were getting bored and most of the yatris, now turned tourists, killed time by shopping. Gunny bags full of shopping were done in these 2 days.

Another outing that was planned was a short trip to Khorchak Nath 0r Khojarnath temple. This 10th century temple is situated 18 kms away from Taklakot and is dedicated to Ram, Sita & Laxmana. As per mythology some Hindu Piligirms came here and left bags of gold and silver which transformed themselves into idols of gods and goddesses. This trip was a good opportunity to have a look around and see the different colours of the Tibetan plateau.

In the afternoon we went to Taklakot City Square to watch a cultural programme to mark 100 years of Chinese Rule over Tibet. It was hot and it was crowded, so I just took some photographs of the dancers in their traditional costume and came back to rest.

After dinner some of us youngsters decided to check out the night life in Taklakot. Since most of the tourists there are Indians and Nepalese, the disco’s there play a lot of Hindi music plus Bollywood songs are also pretty popular with the locals as well. Our transformation from being yatris to now being tourists was complete!!

But before we could have even get into the mood we were unceremoniously shooed away from the disco by the local authorities. Actually since we had gone on a religious visa, and that to a paper one, with nothing being stamped on our passports, we can only visit places those we are allowed to visit and apparently disco’s were not a part of it. But to tell the truth, we had already been informed of the same but we decided to ignore it.

So, sheepishly we came back to the hotel and slept. We thanked our stars that we were back to the comfort of the hotel room and not locked up in a cell.

Next day the luggage had to be packed and given to the customs for clearance, passports had to be collected and given for immigration, left over money had to be spent shopping etc etc. We were more than happy that tonight will be our last night in Tibet.

Though we all had a great time here but home is home and we were more than anxious to get back to India.


Pics from Day 22 & 23

Liberal use of solar power


Different colours of the Tibetan Plateau


Same mountain ridge with two different colour stones


Tibetan or should I say Chinese version of the temple


The temple from outside



The only place where one could take pics inside was this beautifully done Mural


Surrounding view from the terrace of the temple




Snow capped peaks not very far


Another village that we passed on our return to Taklakot


Ever seen a full circle rainbow?


Cultural show about to start at the city square


Artists in their traditional clothes











End of Day 22 & 23

[ravibhat]

So beautiful and informative post Deky. Well done.

Ravi.

[lordofgondor]

Wow Dhiraj, that's an amazing yatra you had. And thanks again for the in depth info, definitely a lot valuable for people like me who dream of doing it someday. The great pics also added a lot more life to your narration. Cool!

[amitwlele]

Originally Posted by deky

I did not shop much; I concentrated more on eating and trying Tibetan delicacies.

Foodie in me could not resist asking - What are the Tibetan delicacies? Mainly chicken??

Originally Posted by deky

DAY 22 & 23: TAKLAKOT

But before we could have even get into the mood we were unceremoniously shooed away from the disco by the local authorities. Actually since we had gone on a religious visa, and that to a paper one, with nothing being stamped on our passports, we can only visit places those we are allowed to visit and apparently disco’s were not a part of it. But to tell the truth, we had already been informed of the same but we decided to ignore it.
Cultural show about to start at the city square

That is sad. So they check your Visa before you enter the Disco?

The cultural show has a lot of colors. Very vibrant pictures.