Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Holy Yatra to the Abode of Lord Shiva - 6

Stay at Thathopani

Due to landslide and subsequent trekking to cross the landslide the group stayed for the night at the bordertown og Tathopani. This place is named so because of the hot water springs there and is famous for bungy jumping. Because of this unscheduled stay at Thathopani the yatra got delayed by a day .


Step Irrigation all along the way 

With great difficulty alla of us crossed the landslide and reached Barabishe and had our lunch there. Later we travelled by bus to the border town of Kodari. The scars of the massive landslide was visible throughput the journey.  We saw many damaged buildings. Bote Kosi river was flowing  with muddy water indicating that still it is raining. In between we saw a lot of waterfalls. The road was damaged and we proceeded slowly. On both sides we saw  step irrigation being carried out where ever it is possible. all the houses had stocks of maize corns.  

A  beautiful waterfall


Sherpas from this organization lead us into Tibet


Normally the tour operators from India have tie-up with some tour operator in Nepal and the members of this tour operator normally lead the yatri's into Tibet ans take care of the Food, accommodation and all the needs of the yatris. Normally they take the help of a Chinese guide also  for smooth passage int China.  The Sherpas form The Trekkers Society Pvt Ltd lead us in this yatra.




                        
 Himalayan Eco Resorts    

                                                  
 A High rise Hotel

The five floor high rise Resort was situated on the banks of the Bote Kosi River . There were regular rooms and cottages . To reach  the river  which was flowing down below there were steps .  The sound of the flowing river was a lullaby for us in the night. 


On the banks of  Bote Kosi River  





Comfortable rooms





Fully manicured grass meadows and cottages

Shri. Kumaraswamy who sang the Holy hymns with rhythm


Evening prayer in progress



We had decided that prayer meetings will be held in the morning and evening  but it started to rain when we started assembling for the prayer then all of us prayed to the Lord to stop the rain for sometime, by His grace the rain stopped for sometime and we completed the prayer after which rain started again. 


Morning Prayer



Our group 


Bote Kosi River view


Unlike Kathmandu, Thathopani was cold and was less crowded. The cold was a precursor to the days to come. We were all provided with overcoat by Sherpas and also we converted Indian currency to yuan here. 



With the Sherpas of Himalayan Trekkers Association 



Ready for crossing the border


Distribution of presents to Local children


Playful local children


After a nice unscheduled  one night stay at Thathopani we crossed into China through Friendship bridge. This time the passage was smooth. Our Chinese guide and three buses and were waiting for us. As suddenly Chinese Govt ordered that only 18 passengers are allowed in a bus we needed 3 buses otherwise we could have travelled in 2 buses. it cost each yatri an extra cost of U.S$ 300( Rs 18000).  We were provided packed lunch at Zangmu and the Chinese policemen joined us here. Then we drove  straight to Nylam. It was raining heavily. The mountains were refreshing with thick green canopy and we saw a number of waterfalls in between. Here in Nylam we were accomodated in  Nylam Tourist Inn .

The yatra continues . . . . . . . . . 



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