Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Kailash Manasarovar darshan (yatra) - 26

Return Journey

21St day trek from Lipu Leh pass to Kalapani



Wonderful return journey

By the benign grace of the Shivasakthi, we were selcted for their darshan and had a very good darshan and did the parikrama and bathed in Holy Manasarovar and returned back to India without any problem.

As we approached the last steep we could see the incoming group along with ITBP personnel standing anxiously waiting for us when they saw us they were happy and started descending we offered our blessings to them and crossed the border and we could see the beaming faces of our and porters and pony keepers. These natives earn some money during the yatra season as they have take one group and then bring back them they can at the maximum cater to only 8 groups , so when you travel if possible please help them by engaging both pony and porter though not fully needed, in the overall cost this will be a miniscule portion only.

Darshan of OM Parvat during return journey

During the onward journey as we traveled from Nabidang to Lipu leh in the night we could not fully see the surrounding while ascending, but now we could clearly see the environment and greatly enjoyed the snow covered peaks and the Lipu Nala which later becomes the mighty Kali River was flowing gently and there was a single trek lane near to that. After a brief halt we started our descent. As a thanks giving gesture Mr Dhanuskodi decided that he will not use the pony for the descent and accordingly he walked the whole way on the return journey , but he paid the contracted amount to the ponykeeper Thus our batch had many sterling devotees and really the author was happy to have did the yatra with them . We collected the incense herbs and easily reached Nabidang by lunch time.
Quite flowing Kali river in the upper reaches
On the return journey we don’t camp at Nabidang but straight away reach Kalapani. As it is a descent and the altitude decreases the trek is not that much difficult. We had our lunch at Nabidang, collected our film rolls and other items we deposited at the Nabidang camp. Now also we got the full darshan of the OM Parvat again, sang the OM Mangalam song in front of the natural wonder and started our journey enjoying the innumerable confluences of rivers reached Kalapani camp. Every thing seemed greener and bright now the hymn of Appar "KandEn avar ThiruppAtham kaNDaRiyaathana kaNDEn "( I saw His Holy feet and I found everything even the one I havenot seen so far ) only came to our mind. The whole world is the beautiful creation of the Lord who sustains this by His grace but at the same time He annihilates unwanted things and also gives His blessings to all who surrender at His Lotus feet.

Thanks giving Bhajan at Kalapani temple

On the way we witnessed a lot of snow covered peaks including the Nagini and Nag parvats named so as they resemble a snake rising its hood on both the sides of Lipu Nala. After reaching Kalapani we completed our immigration formalities. We had a nice bhajan at the Kalapani temple and everybody danced merrily thanking the Lord Shiva and Mother Kali, the joy in the eyes of everyone was palpable and it was a dance of thanks giving. ITBP personnel hosted a dinner in our honor and also presented a memorabilia, we also thanked them profusely for providing security and all help and gave a small gift to them in return as a show of our gratitude. If we had planned correctly we could have carried some sporting material from Delhi but some how we missed out on this part. If you take up the trip you can ask your group to take some sports item and also some pooja items for the temples at Gunji and Kalapani. Mr Goswami offered half of the Dakshina collected in the hundi of this temple.
The 21st day was the day of thanks giving to Shiva-Sakthi.


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22nd day trek from Kalapani to Gunji


ITBP Personnel sharing their ration with Yatris ( Thanks to them)

We started leisurely from Kalapani again witnessed Vyasa’s cave, trekked leisurely as this was a descent and the trek was much easier than the ascent enjoyed the AdiSeshan(Nag) and Nagini peaks and ate the berries of rose wood and enjoyed the picturesque scene on the Nepal side, clicked photos with ITBP personnel and reached Gunji comfortably by lunch time , ITBP hosted us a grand lunch here and we all got back our medical reports and thanked those doctors for their concern. In the night again we had a nice bhajan at the Gunji temple along with ITBP personnel and thanked the King and Queen of the Universe for having selected us for setting foot in their holy land and also blessing us with a good darshan. Remaining half of the collection was deposited in the hundi of this temple. We also gifted some items like Chinese shawls to ITBP personnel.


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