Kailash Manasarovar Yatra -2012 -19

Brahmaputra River

Reflection

 Brahmaputra River

Brahmaputra near Saga

The Bridge across Brahmaputra

Prayer flags

Welcome arch of bridge

Saga Town

Leaving beautiful turquoise Paiku Tso Lake we travelled up to Brahmaputra river, having seen 10 Km  mighty Brahmaputra at Assam.  Here it looked like a pygmy. The Brahmaputra River is called Jamuna in Benagali, Dihang in Assam, Tsangpo in Tibetan and Yarlung Zangbo or Ya-lu-tsang-pu Chiang is a major trans-border river of Central and South Asia.

 It originates in the Kailash mountains of Himalayas and flows around 2900 Km to its confluence with the Ganges(Ganga) after which the mingled water drains into Bay of Bengal. Along it's course  it passes through the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam and Bangladesh. Brahmaputra means Son of Brahma the creator, and also this does not drain directly into sea. 

The bridge built across the Brahmaputra near Saga is a great boon to all the Holy Kailash  yatri's. Prior to this the yatris and their vehicles were transported by boats across the river. Some times it happened so that they were forced to stay before crossing because of heavy rush. This bridge is also decorated with prayer flags to bless those who cross the bridge. After crossing the bridge we entered into the Saga Town. Around 3 PM we reached Saga,one of the biggest towns in this route. Saga is known as Kyakyaru in Tibetan, lies at an altitude of 4640 meters(15223 ft).Saga means "Happy Land". It's  one of the major garrison towns of China. The  Chinese Garrison which patrols the entire length of Tibetan-Nepalese border is stationed in this town. As there are many military installations, the yatri's are advised not to photograph same lest they may end up in some  trouble.

Saga is situated strategically in the confluence of Dargye Tsangpo and Brahmaputra rivers and the junction of three major roads Lhartse road coming from the east, the Dzongka  road from the south and the Purang and Drongpa road from the west. We can make the last minute purchases here in this town, There are many decent accommodation available here.     

 On reaching Saga our Sherpa informed us that we will not be staying here and will halt at Dongba.  From the outskirts of  Saga  the road was diverted as some construction work was going on. We experienced the bone rattling journey in the undulated topography which many earlier Kailash Yatri's have written about. To traverse this 4 Km mud track it took around 2 hours, but the driver drove the vehicle patiently. Later we reached Old Dongba.    As this village is situated in between  Saga and Purang it is a convenient for the yatris to stay here and reach Manasarovar the next day otherwise there used to be one night halt at Purang earlier.

We were ushered into a typical Tibetan  mud house accommodation here with open toilet.Many of our fellow yatris were disappointed with the type of accommodation provided and spoke to Shreshta Holidays representative in Nepal nut of no avail. More yatris fell because of long travel in high altitude. We rested for some time, and then chanted Rudram as that day was an auspicious Maha Pradosaham day an mportant day to Worship Lord Shiva. This day was a long day of Passes, Lakes and Snow Covered Peaks.