Holy Yatra to the Abode of Lord Shiva - 23

Darshan of the three faces of the Lord 

A group of yatris who opted out of the parikrama and returned to Darchen from Deraphuk. They were lucky to have the darshan of all the three faces of the Lord. On the onward journey we could not get the darshanof teh south face of the Lord because of cloud cover.  

Ready to trek to Darchen  

The ponies are being readied

Darshan of North face at dawn

In these coloured tents normally the porters and pony men sleep for the night. 

Manjusri mountain at dawn

One can see both west face and the North face at this point covered by clouds only the bottom portion is visible

The west face of the Lord 

 Mrs Sugandhi on her way back to Darchen 

La Chu river 

The massif of Kailsh ranges 

Choku Gompa 

This gompa is on the other bank of La chu river first of the five Gompas found on the Kailash Kora.  One have to climb about 100 m to rach the Gompa but one gets a magnificent view of Kailash from here. Two important objects in this Gompa are a conch and a big tea pot Naropa. Little above the Gompa  there are two caves,  one in which Milrepa meditated; in other Padmasambhava is said to have buried sacred texts which were rediscovered after centuries. 

Darshan of the South face of the Lord 

On the onward parikrama the yatris could not get this darshan being of clouds. On the return they were lucky to get this darshan also.  

Yamdwar

View of South face of the Lord from Yamdwar

On the way back there were some minor incidents. Three of the ladies fell from the ponies and one of them was injured in the neck and was treated by the  doctor in the ambulance. They charged for the treatment we were told.  Also one of the yatris as he was not properly acclimatized to higher altitude  became very ill and was advised to shift to Nylam and he was sent to Nylam.  Normallu the best treatment for Acute mountain sickness is to shift the person to  a lower altitude. Only problem is you will not be able to cross the border as the visa is a group visa. On request they some times allow but by paying a hefty fine. This explains the importance of physical fitness while planning for the yatra through this route also. 

  Some Rest in Darchen 

Some shopping also

As the yatris were waiting for those who proceeded for the full parikrama they took some rest and went for some shopping and had the darshan of the Lord. 

The yatra continues . . . . . .