After a brief hiatus from writing up notes from my trip in Tibet, here’s another installment.
Mt. Kailash is Asia’s most holy mountain. Set off from other major mountain ranges, it stands alone, snow-capped, in a vast plain of flats and lower-lying ridges. The final day’s approach passes Ngari Pusum and ends at Manasrovar, where I noted the following:
Puppies play and a family cards/brushes sheep wool from a small flock of pashmina goats and sheep. Later, at a checkpoint a patroller wanders around stopped tourist and supply vehicles, peering in at the passers-through. He plays patriotic Tibetan music on a cell phone that probably doesn’t get service. Blustery wind buffets a small encampment where we stopped for lunch — sandwiches, cold pakoras, tea, and a chocolate ration of 1 Dove bar per day.
After crossing the 5200m pass of Maryum La, we dropped down to a final long valley, passing the length of Gung Gyu Lake. Dust devils, like small twisters, spring up and die down. I danced with the khyang (Tibetan wild asses) this morning, angling for a close photo. Fox, marmot, pica also abound today.
The first view of Mt. Kailash is from far away, at the eastern edge of the sacred lake Manasrovar (Mapam Yumtsho to Tibetan Buddhists, Mapang Yumtsho to Bonpo). On this day, clouds cover most of the mountain and only dissipate enough to provide brief glimpses of the snow-covered peak. We speculate about snowfall on the area we are expected to explore in the coming days.
Two nights at Manasrovar provide acclimatization and rest time. The first night it snowed a dusting, which sublimated by noon. Snow higher up may have stayed a bit longer. Clouds hovered on the Himalayan range to the south, and we went back and forth between wishing for the rain to cross over, to water the parched Tibetan grasses, and hoping for clear exploration weather.
