[ambivalent_98]

@deky.....
Your photographs are truly amazing. Actually my mother had traversed the same route about 2 years ago. Her photos have a lot of cloud cover for the view of Mt.Kailas and Mansarovar. I also saw pictures of few other groups who have been here. You have been extremely lucky with all those clear sunlight pictures.
One more input is that when my mother and one of my cousins who have visited the amazing Mansarovar and Mt Kailas parikrama saw all the pictures in your thread they were very pleased. Thanks a lot for sharing such pictures. I am addicted to this thread truly.

[kvish]

Phenominal place, amazing photos and superb travelogue. Easily amongst the best in t-bhp!.

[king_julian]

Simply superb experience and an amazing travelogue with great photos. Thanks for taking the time to put this up for our viewing pleasure!

Amit.

[isldhn]

Originally Posted by watashi75

This photo is truly amazing - CHU GOMPA AGAINST THE SUN. Even seasoned photographers would have a hard time to match this!

+1 to that. Amazing skills yaar.Wish I had the same skills and the patience and determination to write such a travelogue. I know many of us would have not even thought of writing such a log when facing such ordeals. 6-8 hours of sitting in a car whole day and then not getting the usual amenities. Hats off to you Deky.

[deky]

Darchen/Tarchen or gateway to Mount Kailash is the base camp for yatris doing the parikrama. Its a small town at a height of 4650mtrs or 15338 feet

The journey from Chu Gompa to Darchen is just about 40kms on a smooth tar road. This road joins the border town of Taklakot and Darchen and when finished would finally join to Karakorum in Pakistan, hence reviving the old silk route.

GETTING READY TO START FROM CHU GOMPA


Since we had only a small distance to cover we started late. The road was good hence it would take us more than 1 hour to reach Darchen. Also once we descended from a small hill, the rest of the journey was in vast planes called the Barkha/Parkha plains.

PARKHA PLAINS ON THE SLOPES OF MT. KAILASH


The Parkha plains are vast pasturelands between the slopes of Mount Kailash and the Rakshas Tal. These plains are used by numerious nomads as feeding grounds of their cattle. These plains are mostly fed by rivers coming down the slopes of Kailash and criss crossing the meadows.

NOMADIC SETTLEMENTS WITH THEIR CATTLE GRAZING IN PARKHA PLAINS


The smooth tar road is suppose to continue till Darchen, but the drivers decided to cut across through the medows instead of keeping on the road. I guess they so used to bumpy roads that smooth roads do not suit them.

JEEP TAKING SHORT CUT ACROSS THE PLAINS


BACK ON SMOOTH ROADS


Mount Kailash was covered in clouds most of the time, but the cloud were adding to the beauty of the whole surroundings.

MT KAILASH COVERED WITH CLOUDS MOST OF THE TIME




At a distance we could see Darchen town nestled in the south slopes of Mount Kailash.

DARCHEN TOWN NESTLED ON THE SLOPES OF KAILASH


We reached the hotel and setlled down. one room had about 14 beds and was getting very crowded. So as to live more comfortable, well only relatively, mom and I decided to sleep the night in a tent.

THE NAME OF OUR HOTEL


The first thing that had to be done here immediately was to order for ponies and porters for those who required them for Kailash parikrama, starting from tomorrow. The list of yatris and their requirements was handed over to Tenzing, the Tibeten Guide whose duty was to arrange for the same.

OUR TENT


Out of a our group of 24 yatris, 14 yatris, including Mom and I were interested in doing the full parikrama of 3 days. 7 yatris were interested in only doing the first day of the parikrama and return back to Darchen the second day. And 3 were not keen on doing the parikrama at all. Out of the 14 yatris who wanted to do the full parikrama 10 had requested for a pony and mostly everyone requested for a porter.

We decided that mom would use a pony for the parikrama and I would do it on foot. In between two of us we decided to hire a porter.

ORDERING FOR PORTER AND PONIES IN THE ROOM


Mom and I then went out into the town for a walk. Darchen town has lots of local handicraft shops and is the right place for shopping for Buddhist souveniers. e.g prayer wheels, flags, vajra etc etc. Also in the town you can get items you might require for the trek around Kailash eg walking sticks, jackets, oxygen cans etc etc. Make sure to bargain for everything you buy.

YAKS USED FOR TRANSPORTING STUFF IN DARCHEN TOWN


MOM WITH A PRAYER WHEEL OR KHOLO (IN TIBETESE)


Darchen also has bath facilities available on payment. In about Rs 150/- you can get a bathroom with hot water for shower. Towels would cost etc.

In the afternoon after lunch we decided to go to Ashtapad. Ashtapad at a height of 5200mtrs, is very close to Mount Kailash and suppose to be an important place for those following Jain religion. Its believed that the first Tirthankar of Jainism Rishabhdev meditated there. Drive to Asthapad is optional and one has to pay extra for this trip

VIEW OF KAILASH AND NANDI IN FRONT


Evening time was mostly spent realxing and preparing our rucksack for the parikrama tomorrow. Mom and I decided to carry just one big ruck sac between us. The ruck sack had the following things:-

1. rain coats
2. dryfruits and choclates
3. first aid kit
4. torch, lighter
5. swiss knife
6. extra set of clothes, very important are socks (I did not have them, and suffered later)
7. tooth brush and soap
8. wind sheater

On us I would have:-
1. camera
2. ample clothes layering plus down jacket, which if not required can be taken off and the wind sheater can be worn
3. walking stick

The rest of the luggage will stay in Darchen till we return from the Parikrama

As the sun set it was time for evening pictures again. The beautifull amber light of the setting sun on the snow peaks was a treat to watch. But the cold weather and too many photo opportunities was taking a toll on the battery life. And I needed the camera atleast till the parikrama ended. Beacuse after that would be just the return journey left.

EVENING VIEW OF THE MOUNTAINS



After taking sunset pictures I managed to pull up a coup of sorts. I managed to locate a plug point in the room and pluggeg in my battery immidiately. They would soon start the generators and I would be able to charge it atleast for some time. This would be the 3rd time after Kathmandu I would be able to charge the battery. The first two places being Nayalam and Saga

With the battery getting a new lease of life I decided to take some long exposure shots in the night. I know they are hopeless but still!!!

SOME LONG EXPOSURE SHOTS




It was getting late and more important was to save battery for the coming few days.

[deky]

Thank you all for all the nice complements.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Mesmerising stuff - lowering productivity of BHPians globally

Sorry!! am trying to keep the posts as short as possible, but what to do not being able to, feel like sharing it all. Actually am quite enjoying re-living the moments.

Originally Posted by watashi75

This photo is truly amazing - CHU GOMPA AGAINST THE SUN. Even seasoned photographers would have a hard time to match this!

Wow!! thanks, thats a very nice complement.

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

@deky.....
Your photographs are truly amazing. Actually my mother had traversed the same route about 2 years ago. Her photos have a lot of cloud cover for the view of Mt.Kailas and Mansarovar. I also saw pictures of few other groups who have been here. You have been extremely lucky with all those clear sunlight pictures.
One more input is that when my mother and one of my cousins who have visited the amazing Mansarovar and Mt Kailas parikrama saw all the pictures in your thread they were very pleased. Thanks a lot for sharing such pictures. I am addicted to this thread truly.

Thank You and congrats to your Mom for doing the trip. As you can see in the photos in the last post, Kailash has been covered in clouds. We were kinda very lucky to see its beauty without clouds in the first few days.

[isldhn]

Deky, Could you please PM me some photographs of Ashtapad. I know because of filtering the enumerous photographs you have, you might have not posted them due to irrelevance to the current topic. But I being a Jain am intersted in seeing those. Thank you in advance dude.

P.S. - You know in some photographs with the dirt mask pulled down you look like Mohammad Yousuf( the Pakistani cricketer) with the mask acting as the beard.

[R2D2]

Deky, I must confess that this is a stunning set of photographs and the narration is equally impressive. Thank you sooooo soooo much for sharing this with us. This is THE best travelogue I've ever read on TBHP.

I can only imagine how you and your mother must be feeling after this once in a life time trip to the abode of Lord Shiva.

Thanks once again.

Cheers!

R2D2

[deky]

Originally Posted by isldhn

Deky, Could you please PM me some photographs of Ashtapad. I know because of filtering the enumerous photographs you have, you might have not posted them due to irrelevance to the current topic. But I being a Jain am intersted in seeing those. Thank you in advance dude.

P.S. - You know in some photographs with the dirt mask pulled down you look like Mohammad Yousuf( the Pakistani cricketer) with the mask acting as the beard.

The pic "VIEW OF KAILASH WITH NANDI IN FRONT" is taken from Asthapad (no temple or sign if u meant that). Asthapad was just a mountain top and I am sorry I just took the pic of Kailash from that place, that to only 2 pics. I was on battery saving mode also remeber!!!!

Mhd. Yousuf...lol...I have to look at the pic again!!

[ASHISHPALLOD]

We want full resolution pic of Mount Kailash.
Deky,
can you post the pic with full resolution as single post.

[unimog]

Beautiful pictures! Hope to do it someday.

FYI - its Tibetan and not Tibetese. Just like India and Indian.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Hat's off to your mum, Deky... that's one adventurous lady

[deky]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

We want full resolution pic of Mount Kailash.
Deky,
can you post the pic with full resolution as single post.

Full resolution pics are over 3mb hence cant upload them without resizing them. Is there any other way to do it?

Originally Posted by unimog

Beautiful pictures! Hope to do it someday.

FYI - its Tibetan and not Tibetese. Just like India and Indian.

Thanks for correcting!!! Ill remeber that for the future.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Hat's off to your mum, Deky... that's one adventurous lady

And mentally a tough lady too!! She was the eldest amongst all the other ladies and the second eldest amongst all in the group.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by deky

Full resolution pics are over 3mb hence cant upload them without resizing them. Is there any other way to do it?

I think there is need of download section in this forum.
Members can upload whatever they want that is worth for Bhpians.
Bhpians can download that file.

GTO and team, are you listening?

[deky]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

I think there is need of download section in this forum.
Members can upload whatever they want that is worth for Bhpians.
Bhpians can download that file.

GTO and team, are you listening?

This topic closed for the time being. Pics emailed to Ashish.