Footsteps of a Pilgrim - Circling Around Mt. Kailash - World's Holiest Mountain (Part 1)
Episode 14
Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7
Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13 Episode 14
Episode 15 Episode 16 Episode 17 Episode 18
Legends say if you have ever completed circling around Mount Kailash, all of the sins you committed in your lifetime will be forgiven.
To
Tibetan Buddhists and Bonists, Mount Kailash is the center and axis of
the universe. Its four perfectly aligned faces define the directions of
North, South, East, and West. To Hindus, Mount Kailash is the abode of
Shiva, the God of Transformation and the Destroyer of Evil. To Jainists,
Mount Kailash is where the religion was founded. Its mighty glacier
feeds four major rivers in the subcontinent: Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra,
and Ganges, nurturing billions of lives. In total, over one billion
people worship this natural wonder faithfully from all over the world, which makes it possibly and arguably the holiest mountain in the world.
In June 2016, together with 7 of my group mates from all over the world, we successfully circled the pilgrim route known as the Outer Kora in Tibetan. Regardless of the religious significance, the experience itself changed my life, as well as how I view the world around me.
For every story, there is a beginning. Why don't we start from here?
....................................................................................................
PART 1: THIRD EYE OF SHIVA
Looking into the world outside of the window, I couldn't help but not to ignore one thing that was out there.
The bell shaped mountain.
Our guide told us that the colossal peak actually had a name, and also a story.
"Naimonanyi, and Hindus believe that it represents Shiva's wife, Parvati". (Fact check: Hindus call this mountain Gurla Mandhata. They believe that Parvati resides with Shiva together on Mt. Kailash, not on Gurla Mandhata).
On the other side of the vehicle, through the window, Mount Kailash just stood right there as we were getting closer and closer to it. Eventually it disappeared in sight, whereas the bell shaped mountain was still at the same spot looking exactly the same in compare to what we saw 80 kilometers before.
We entered Darchen, a small town at the foot of Mount Kailash. Primarily
a base for exploring the area, the bustling town reminded me of trade
centers on the ancient Silk Road I learned in books - chaotic, yet you could find anything you want (nothing fancy of course). In the beginning we had problem finding hotels in the town, as our guide promised us to find a hotel with better facilities (after two accommodations in a row lacking electricity and running water). Eventually he found a hotel run by a Han Chinese couple from Wanzhou, Chongqing. The boss told me that he relocated to Darchen shortly after the completion of the Three Gorges Dam, a controversial project that resulted in millions of people losing their homes and migrating to other places in China. It was interesting that instead of going to big cities like Beijing or Shanghai, the boss man's family came to Darchen - possibly one of the most remote places in the world and one of the hardest places to reach in the country.
The
hotel was a lot better than we thought: our room had a shower powered
by solar panel, as well as blankets that had heating functions. While
everyone else decided to take a break and rest up for the trek next day,
I decided to "acclimatize" myself further by walking on a path that
very few people know.
How
many is "very few"? Well, at least nobody else in my group knew. Our
guide refused to tell us more about it. Lonely Planet did mention a
thing or two, describing the road to two monasteries up there as a"good
way for acclimatization before the trek". The path to the mysterious
inner kora, which was not included in our itinerary had been the best
secret that everyone knew. On the internet, everybody talked about it,
but only a handful ventured out to try, yet there were almost no photos
or videos introducing it unless you search for the exact keywords.
According to local Tibetan beliefs, only those who have circled the
outer kora at least 12 times can enter the inner kora. I simply didn't
have the time to complete the inner kora, let alone whether I was
qualified to enter or not - because I had completed the outer kora zero
times.
I
found the boss man of the hotel at the lobby. He told me that Selung
Gompa on the path would be the best place to see Mount Kailash up close.
It was already 3 o' clock in the afternoon, and I asked him whether
that would give me enough time to get back before sunset. He told me
that I should be able to return by 9 o'clock - or on a solar clock 6
o'clock in the afternoon like in everywhere else. I asked him whether
the road was dangerous, he said:
"It's well marked. People often take a walk there."
Then the boss man offered to take me up with an SUV for 300 Yuan. I turned down the offer, but took down his phone number nontheless- just in case I couldn't get back down in time, I could always phone him for a 300 Yuan taxi service. You never know what would happen at 5,000 meters above sea level in the middle of nowhere.
After bidding farewell to everyone else in my group, I hit the road. When I reached the end of the town, I began to look for a "little ramp" upwards (in boss man's own words). However, the only thing I could find was an at least 30 degree slope right in front of me behind a herd of sheep. There was a Tibetan elder sitting not far in the town. I walked up and asked him the way to Selung Gompa, he told me that if I climb the slope, I should be able to reach it.
While passing through the sheep, I found a couple of wild dogs running around with the sheep. I had long heard about the wild dogs near Mt. Kailash - they were capable of attacking humans very aggressively. This was the main reason why I had to return to my hotel before sunset - there were cases where travelers were brutally attacked by some of the seemingly friendly wild dogs at night.
While climbing the slope, the steepness made me thinking of giving up. However, I chose to go on. After slipping a couple of times, I eventually made it to the top. At a same time an SUV came down from the visible path and passed right by me. I realized that there was a main road that led to Darchen about 1 mile further from where I climbed. The path I took was a shortcut, but my horrid experience on the slope definitely suggested otherwise: should've gone for the main road!
I kept going. The music playing on my phone at the moment was the disco version of the Star Wars theme. The scene and the road in front of me made me feel like I was on another planet. The sun was high and blisteringly hot, but I had to wear a balaclava and the hood of my Gore-Tex shell jacket because the wind was very strong - so strong that whenever it blew, my skin felt like being cut by knives. I looked around, there was no sign of Mount Kailash. The place didn't even look like a place where people "took a walk" after dinner.
I was the only one there!
All of sudden the evil faces of the hotel boss man and the Tibetan elder who pointed me to the slope appeared on my mind. Their ill laughter suddenly rang in my ear together with the sound of the high plateau's harsh wind. When the theme of Darth Vader began to play on my phone, I could only associate everything with one classic line from the movie:
It's A Trap!
I kept going nonetheless, knowing that the road would eventually lead to somewhere. The bottom line was, I knew how to get back to Darchen safely. If anything happened, I would turn back immediately.
Once I passed a bunch of prayer flag and a solar panel, I turned back. Then I saw something.
I saw the bell shaped mountain, looking majestic as ever. This time, the lake of Demon Rakshastal's deep blue in front of the snow peak presented one of the most stunning sceneries I had ever seen in my life. I looked down, the town of Darchen was right underneath me.
There was no point for me to turn back now. There had to be something more.
I continued my journey to the deep heart of the Holy Mountain. Ahead of me were several bizarre looking mountains. Their shape resembled the pyramids of Egypt perfectly - except they weren't built by humans. As I kept walking, these enormous pyramids approached closer and closer. A sense of fear suddenly rose from my heart, as I had never seen such things before in my life.
What if these pyramids served exact the same functions as the pyramids in Egypt? Did I just walk into the tombs of Gods?
The road in the front branched out at one point. According to the map I saw at the hotel, the road on the right would take me to Gyangdrak Gompa. If I wanted to go to Selung Gompa, I needed to choose the path on the left.
Looking towards my right, I saw a monastery standing half way on a hill at the end of the road - it must be Gyangdrak Gompa. Behind the hill, it seemed that a giant cream cone was hiding behind there.
No ice cream cone could be this big. It was Mount Kailash!
Up till that point, the only other human being I encountered was the person appearing on my phone screen when I took a selfie. There was still no sign of Selung Gompa. I began to debate with myself whether I should visit Gyangdrak Gompa instead.
I
had no idea whether I convinced myself or not, but moments later I
found myself on the way to Selung Gompa. The wind just got stronger as
the road began to ascend in altitude. The temperatures were so low that
the stream remained frozen in early June. The pyramid mountains got
closer and closer, but there was still no signs of the holy mountain nor
Selung Gompa.
Suddenly I sensed the existence of some creature. I knew it was there, but I couldn't spot it anywhere. Once I crossed a bridge, I noticed that some rocks beside me rolled down from the hill right above my head. I dodged, then found a marmot hiding in the grass. The marmot was staring at me, like a villager seeing a stranger in a remote, hard to reach village. I kept going, the marmot just stayed there, looking at me. Suddenly the marmot ran away into the frozen stream. Then two wild dogs came out of nowhere, apparently chasing after the marmot.
Just as the marmot and the two dogs disappeared, I spotted a building around the curve of the path. I began to walk towards that direction. Moments later, a familiar sight came into my view, except this time it was in a much much larger scale.
The full view of Mount Kailash emerged. There was a mysterious power emitting from the giant monolith which made me feel very nervous and uneasy for absolutely no reason. At that moment I could feel chills in my bones, unsure whether that menacing power would cause any harm to me.
I walked up to the building, knowing that I had arrived at the Selung Gompa. I hoped to learn more about Mount Kailash and its mystic power from someone who could explain to me why I had such feeling. However, all the doors of the monastery were shut tight. I knocked on the entrance, but nobody answered.
I had a feeling that I was being watched. Then I spotted someone circling around the white stupa not far from the monastery. The man or woman was covered in red robes, wearing a mask on his or her face. I went up to the stupa, trying to talk to that person. However, the person was nowhere to be found when I reached there.
I noticed that there was a small sign at the end of the trail. Behind the main trail there was another trail that climbed up to a hill. On the sign, it said:
"No Passing For Tourists"
I figured that it must be the beginning of the inner kora. Out of the respect, I stayed away from entering the forbidden zone. Meanwhile, I was looking for other places where I could view Mount Kailash from different angles.
I crossed the frozen
stream to the hill where stood a small prayer flag pole. When I reached
the pole, I saw a bunch of people's clothing scattered in the area. I
remember reading about sky burial sites in Tibet. This place seemed to
fit the description of these forbidden grounds (I will further explain
the practice of sky burial in the next episode, in which we walked by
the highest sky burial site in the world. It's very similar to water
burial practice mentioned in episode 8).
I better leave this place as soon as possible.
Still
somewhat reluctant to go, I debated with myself whether I really should
leave or climb to an even higher spot - after all, I traveled this far
to see Mount Kailash, and I wanted to see the most of the mountain. My
selfishness pulled me away from the road back to Darchen like an
invisible hand. I was anxious and panicking, all alone in the
wilderness.
Suddenly,
the two wild dogs appeared from the higher part of the hill. They
stopped and stared at me. I tried to avoid the two dogs, but whenever I
moved, the two dogs followed me closer and closer as well. Unsure of
their intentions, I decided probably it was time to leave the area. I
quickly got off the hill, but the dogs mysteriously disappeared.
The
weather began to change. Clouds had quickly gathered and moved towards
Mount Kailash. I remembered how ugly the weather could become within a
very short period of time on the hill right across Chiu Gompa the day
before. I headed back to the road where I came from, and made my way
back to Darchen. When I just passed Selung Gompa, I found the marmot I
saw earlier standing by the road with its back turned against me - Did I
help the marmot to stay alive by attracting the two wild dogs attention
just moments ago on the hill?
As
I walked back, the blue sky disappeared. The color had turned pale like
a carp's belly. Somewhere in the distance, I spotted a giant dust devil
coming to my direction. Somehow the path of the swirl crossed with my
path back to Darchen. The dust devil was as wide as the road. I checked
my surrounding, there was nowhere for me to hide.
At
that moment, I tightened the hood of my shell jacket, secured all
places where my skin might touch the strong wind, and turned my back
towards the twister and ducked down in the position of the marmot I just
saw. The dust devil went over me like I was in a washing machine. As
soon as the twister passed, I hurried up my steps, just in case the
weather would turn even worse (Special thanks to Arc'teryx - North
Vancouver based company making quality shell jackets since 1989) .
Soon
I reached the cliff right above Darchen. Eventually I returned to the
town by sliding down the steep ramp I climbed a few hours earlier (If I
took the main road, it was likely that I would encouter another dust
devil). I was very hungry by the time I entered Darchen. So I
immediately went into a noodle shop right by the main road. While
waiting for my order, I found a poster on the wall. The poster depicted
the Hindu god Shiva with a third eye on his forehead sitting in front of
Mount Kailash. The eye's shape strikingly matched Mount Kailash's long
scar on its south face. I asked the restaurant owner, who was a Hui
Muslim, whether he knew anything about Shiva's third eye.
"Every
year I see many Hindus coming to this town. Those groups would leave
posters behind our place so future groups would know that they were here
in Darchen. I heard them saying that when the third eye of Shiva opens,
there will be destruction and misfortune".....
On my way back to the hotel, I heard Aurelie calling my name. I turned around, and she was right there.
I asked her how she spotted me from a dark tea shop while I was walking down on a busy street. She told me that I was the only person who dressed like Pikachu in the entire town (referring to the yellow color of my jacket).
We
had some tea/beer with the rest of the group. Considering we needed to
leave no later than 6 o'clock the next morning, we headed back to our
hotel before the sun even set.
When we entered the hotel lobby, the boss man was sitting there. I told him about my trip to Selung Gompa.
"You.....you made it? wow that's great. Did you meet the monk at Selung Gompa? If you did, you should have mentioned that you know me. He would love to invite you in for a cup of tea"......
Why didn't he tell me all this when he offered me the 300 Yuan SUV ride?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He marched like a soldier in the land of forsaken. The burden on His back was heavy.
He had no idea where He was going, but soon He would know. There was one thing He must do - to help someone He didn't even know to fulfill the person's wish.
He wasn't sure what changed His mind. A surge of pity and compassion just came out of nowhere when He witnessed that scene.
Suddenly two young men driving a buggy emerged from the road ahead. The buggy stopped right in front of Him.
The young men got off. Together the three of them loaded the body of the dead elderly Hindu pilgrim onto the buggy.
He must first find a sky burial master.
(To Be Continued in Part 2)
Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7
Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13 Episode 14
Episode 15 Episode 16 Episode 17 Episode 18
Legends say if you have ever completed circling around Mount Kailash, all of the sins you committed in your lifetime will be forgiven.
In June 2016, together with 7 of my group mates from all over the world, we successfully circled the pilgrim route known as the Outer Kora in Tibetan. Regardless of the religious significance, the experience itself changed my life, as well as how I view the world around me.
For every story, there is a beginning. Why don't we start from here?
....................................................................................................
PART 1: THIRD EYE OF SHIVA
Looking into the world outside of the window, I couldn't help but not to ignore one thing that was out there.
The bell shaped mountain.
"Naimonanyi, and Hindus believe that it represents Shiva's wife, Parvati". (Fact check: Hindus call this mountain Gurla Mandhata. They believe that Parvati resides with Shiva together on Mt. Kailash, not on Gurla Mandhata).
 |
| Naimonanyi (Gurla Mandhata) |
 |
| Mt. Kailash |
 |
| Mt. Kailash from Darchen |
 |
| The town of Darchen |
 |
| Mt. Kailash from Darchen |
"It's well marked. People often take a walk there."
Then the boss man offered to take me up with an SUV for 300 Yuan. I turned down the offer, but took down his phone number nontheless- just in case I couldn't get back down in time, I could always phone him for a 300 Yuan taxi service. You never know what would happen at 5,000 meters above sea level in the middle of nowhere.
After bidding farewell to everyone else in my group, I hit the road. When I reached the end of the town, I began to look for a "little ramp" upwards (in boss man's own words). However, the only thing I could find was an at least 30 degree slope right in front of me behind a herd of sheep. There was a Tibetan elder sitting not far in the town. I walked up and asked him the way to Selung Gompa, he told me that if I climb the slope, I should be able to reach it.
 |
| Sheeps near the steep ramp |
 |
| Prayer flags near Darchen |
 |
| A prayer flag |
I was the only one there!
 |
| Road to the inner kora |
It's A Trap!
I kept going nonetheless, knowing that the road would eventually lead to somewhere. The bottom line was, I knew how to get back to Darchen safely. If anything happened, I would turn back immediately.
Once I passed a bunch of prayer flag and a solar panel, I turned back. Then I saw something.
There was no point for me to turn back now. There had to be something more.
 |
| Naimonanyi (Gurla Mandhata) and Lake Rakshastal |
 |
| Natural Pyramids |
 |
| A "pyramid" |
 |
| Gyangdrak Gompa |
No ice cream cone could be this big. It was Mount Kailash!
 |
| Gyangdrak Gompa and "the ice cream" |
 |
| Frozen stream and a pyramid looking mountain |
 |
| "Highland Ice Cream" |
 |
| Close up of a"pyramid" |
 |
| Scenery en route to Selung Gompa |
 |
| En route to Selung Gompa |
 |
| A wild dog |
 |
| Two wild dogs |
 |
| Looking back at the roads I had already walked |
 |
| Mount Kailash |
 |
| Mt. Kailash |
 |
| Mt Kailash |
 |
| Mt Kailash |
 |
| The mysterious person |
 |
| The mysterious person and Mt. Kailash |
"No Passing For Tourists"
 |
| Scenery near the sign |
 |
| Mount Kailash |
 |
| Mount Kailash |
I better leave this place as soon as possible.
 |
| Mt. Kaialsh |
 |
| Mount Kailash |
 |
| Mount Kailash |
 |
| The marmot |
 |
| Scenery on the way back |
 |
| Moments later, the weather changed |
 |
| Another dust devil I saw later on |
 |
| The pyramids on my way back |
 |
| Gyangdrak Gompa on my way back |
 |
| A Mani pile, Lake Rakshastal, and Naimonanyi (behind the cloud) |
 |
| Darchen and the Demonic Lake Rakshastal |
I asked her how she spotted me from a dark tea shop while I was walking down on a busy street. She told me that I was the only person who dressed like Pikachu in the entire town (referring to the yellow color of my jacket).
 |
| Darchen |
When we entered the hotel lobby, the boss man was sitting there. I told him about my trip to Selung Gompa.
"You.....you made it? wow that's great. Did you meet the monk at Selung Gompa? If you did, you should have mentioned that you know me. He would love to invite you in for a cup of tea"......
Why didn't he tell me all this when he offered me the 300 Yuan SUV ride?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He marched like a soldier in the land of forsaken. The burden on His back was heavy.
He had no idea where He was going, but soon He would know. There was one thing He must do - to help someone He didn't even know to fulfill the person's wish.
He wasn't sure what changed His mind. A surge of pity and compassion just came out of nowhere when He witnessed that scene.
Suddenly two young men driving a buggy emerged from the road ahead. The buggy stopped right in front of Him.
The young men got off. Together the three of them loaded the body of the dead elderly Hindu pilgrim onto the buggy.
He must first find a sky burial master.
(To Be Continued in Part 2)
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