Journey To The West (Part Two)

Episode 12 

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(Continued from part one)


The soldier got off the vehicle, we waved at him, and he waved back at us. Tenzin turned on the engine once again, but there was still no sign of our guide.

We moved to a parking space beside the check point station. 5 Minutes later, our guide showed up. It turned out that he went to the washroom.   

After the check point, we soon entered the region of Ngari. Not only was Ngari one of the highest regions on earth, it was also one of the least populated with a density of 0.31 people per square kilometer.  North of Ngari was Xinjiang Autonomous Region where the Himalayas met the Karakoram and Pamir Plateau. To the west it bordered with Kashmir, India, and Pakistan. 

Because Ngari was so sparsely populated,  we had to stop at a small town along the highway for lunch (before we starve to death in the middle of nowhere). We entered a local Tibetan restaurant with Bollywood posters all over its walls. We sat there for about five minutes, but no one showed up.

The town where we stopped for lunch

Then a lady wearing a Chinese police hat entered the scene. She began to communicate with our guide and driver in Tibetan. It turned out that she was the owner of the restaurant. She gave each one of us a menu, and was ready to take order. We tried to order several meat dishes on the menu, but she told us that they were unavailable- because the meat was shipped to her restaurant one week ago, and they were not fresh (beginning that day, I didn't have any of my beloved yak curry until 5 days later when we returned to Shigatse). However there was one meat item she could make for us: pork dumplings. Right behind her on the counter, I saw a bamboo tray with some dough and meat on the top. Yes, at least the dumplings were fresh.

Suddenly these magical words from someone echoed in my ear:

"Tibetans don't eat porks."

I looked at our guide and driver. They each ordered some dumplings. 

Nomadic tents and mountains of Tibet

I began to doubt that whether the "Tibetans don't eat pork" theory was actually invented to emphasize the Han vs. Tibetan mentality, which seemed to be greatly exaggerated by the western media and pro-Tibet independence fighters.  I believed that all of us who first went to Tibet expected to see the place as somewhere more like a war zone with its people living under extreme oppression. But instead, many of us were shocked the first time we saw that Apple store in Lhasa. While there was no doubt that the security level was quite high across Tibet, after speaking to people of all ethnicities living in Lhasa, I found out that nobody really hated each other. There were indeed some level of discontents towards each other, but there was absolutely no need to hate and no place for hatred. Even in one of the documentaries the Dalai Lama himself told one of the radical pro-Tibet independence fighters: 

"There's no reason for all of you to hate the Han Chinese. If you hate them and do terrible things to them, in turn they are going to abuse their powers and do even worse things to the Tibetan society as a whole. However, if we act with compassion and love, eventually their hearts will be changed. Many of them will re-evaluate their opinions about Tibet, learn who we really are, and stop activities that really do no good to everyone. "

A typical public washroom in Tibet - no running water, no electricity. The money collector can be seen at the back of the washroom who would charge people 2 yuan for using the washroom

After one more military checkpoint, we officially entered Ngari. Ngari would be the perfect place to heal everyone's "human problem": seeing people everywhere, feeling annoyed by people everywhere, thinking everyone is unworthy and they themselves are better than everybody else. In Ngari, you would have problem locating a single human being, let alone whether that human being you found is a wise man or a total idiot. Fortunately I was traveling with a group of amazing people, who were probably all sleeping on the vehicle at that time. I couldn't imagine if I happened to visit Ngari by myself, how would I be punished by the unforgiving nature around me that spelled nothing but death?

Ngari

Suddenly a lake appeared in the middle of nowhere. Around the lake, I saw yaks gathered up along the sapphire colored shores. Our guide told us that this lake was long considered by local nomads as a holy lake that symbolized life. I could only imagine that in a place like Ngari where water was so hard to find, any water could be worshiped and deified by human. Both humans and animals needed water to flourish- every single drop was meaningful and appreciated. 

The towering snowy peaks appeared again, this time in massive numbers. As we travel further and further west, the mountains got higher and higher. Eventually our eyes met this bell shaped giant standing like a cabinet in the wilderness. In front of it was a huge lake - so big that I couldn't even see the other end of it.

Sheeps grazing in the wilderness

The bell shaped mountain

The bell shaped mountain

"Everybody, this is Lake Manasarovar".  

We got out of the bus by the eastern shore of Lake Manasarovar. While everybody else was busy taking pictures of the lake, I realized that our driver Tenzin was no where to be found. I had a feeling that I knew where to find him. Because we were right by the shore of Manasarovar, that means one thing will be in our sight - the place we all traveled thousands of miles to see.

We definitely didn't travel far to see this......

I walked around the vehicle, and Tenzin was right there. In front of him were a cluster of prayer flags. He was practicing the Tibetan prostration like we saw in front of the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa a couple of days ago in the brand new jacket he had been wearing since we left civilization. He prostrated down once, then got up. He prostrated twice, then got up. He prostrated the third time, then got up. Watching our own driver doing the traditional Tibetan prostration was really different from watching all other pilgrims doing it. It made me wonder whether those pilgrims also had day jobs and lived the same lives like Tenzin and I did.

The next moment I looked afar, and I found out the reason why Tenzin was doing what he was doing. I finally got the chance to see what everyone in our group was so eager to see. Because of it, two Australians, one Irishman, one Englishwoman, one Scottish, one French, one American, one Canadian, and two Tibetans would have the chance to travel together for thousands miles together to this one of the most isolated corners on earth.

Mount Kailash

We kept traveling along the vast shore of holy Manasarovar. Mount Kailash appeared to be closer and closer. Suddenly Tenzin made a sharp turn south. After some ups and downs, we reached a strange place where a lone monastery stood high on a cliff.

Lone monastery with the giant mountain

A close up view of the monastery and the giant mountain

The guide began to search for a place for all of us to stay overnight. However, we were turned away by most guest houses as none  of them could host foreigners. Out of nowhere there was this 3 story high concrete building. We asked our guide whether we could stay there or not.

"No, we can't. The government of India built that building, specially for Hindu pilgrims."

Lake Manasarovar

Eventually we reached a couple of poorly built one story huts. We could even see broken windows from outside. A Tibetan lady showed up, and showed us a couple of rooms. Considering that the condition of the place was better that we thought from just looking from the outside and the fact that there wasn't really any other choices, we settled in.

The place where we spent the night, with the monastery and the cliff right behind

The room where we spent the night

There was no electricity at this place, nor any running water. The owner lady promised us that she would turn the diesel generator on from 9:00pm to 11:00pm so we could charge our phones and turn the lights on in our rooms. If we needed to use the washroom, we must walk in the strong wind to the outhouse a couple hundred meters away in the darkness........

The area where we spent the night

I walked out of the door, in front of me was a pole of prayer flags. Behind the pole, it was the ocean of Lake Manasarovar.

At least the view wasn't bad at all.



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The Elder raised his lifeless eyes, and saw the silhouette of Him.  The elder could feel a strong sense of sadness and resentment from the young man. However, at this moment he could only watch, watching Him moving steadily towards the dark clouds.

The Elder and his two sons eventually made to the shore of Manasarovar. The sons laid the father on the ground, and chanted the sacred mantra in front of the holy lake. The moment had come. Under the helps of his two sons, the elder used his last strength trying to touch the divine lake. This was the moment he waited for his entire life - he knew that if he could touch the water, his soul would be cleansed, and his sins would be forgiven. 

The moment the elder's finger tip felt the icy cold water, the time seemed to be frozen to him.

Suddenly the elder's body collapsed entirely into the lake. His two sons burst out in tears, knowing their father's life in this world had reached to an end.

He heard these sad weepings too, but He didn't stop his steps to find out why.

(The End)