Kailash Manasarovar Yatra -2012 - 32

First Day's Parikrama

Grand Darshan of Akor(South) face of Lord from Yamdwar

The flag post near south face

( This flag post is replaced during  Saga Dawa festval)

Yamadwar

We were late due  to our visit to Asthapad so as suggested by our  Sherpas we proceeded directly skipping yamdwar. These are some of the snaps taken near yamdwar during my last yatra.

Start of Parikrama

( Mukherjee, Suthar, Mahajan, Himansu, Sherpa  Ranjith, Gupta)

Babu,  Porter, Murugan

 Rashmi, Pankaj Gupta

Yagyang Pandey

The weather was  clear when we commenced  the parikrama

 Goyal couple on parikrama route

Frozen water fall

 Parikrama route

 Rest in between

 Waiting for others 

La Chu River (Indus)

After a satisfying darshan at Asthapad, we returned to Darchen, made our shoulder bag ready with snacks, glucose, hot water flask, rain coat, and pooja items and took  our walking stick and left for circumambulation of Holy Kailash. By His grace all the impediments like whether permission will be given and  dilemma whether to undertake the parikrama or not  were  removed and we were ready for parikrama.   As it was already noon  and that day's parikrama  has to be complete we skipped Yamdwar and directly reached   Tarboche from where the Parikrama starts. There ponies and porters were available no body opted for pony that day, some us only hired porter and praying to Shivasakthi we commenced our much awaited parikrama. For lunch we were provided with samosa, apple, frooti juice and kitkat. So it is always better to carry our own snacks during kora.

Darchen is at an altitude of 4575 m and Deraphuk which is our destination is 5150 m and the distance of the trek is about 13 Km, the ascent is gentle almost plain. So we proceeded slowly and steadily enjoying the mountains and the frozen La Chu River. As it was the beginning of the season there were many pilgrims from all parts of the world and one never felt lonely as it was last time.

We noticed many improvements this time, there are signs that tha  kora path is being developed into a good   road so that vehicles can ply upto Deraphuk, earlier it was a foot path now it has been  widened to double path. Also there are many name boards at important places but now it is in Chinese only, they  have built their own style toilets at vantage points. Slowly one day it may be possible for one to complete the parikrama by a vehicle,  but they will miss the thrill of trekking in the beautiful conditions. 

When we commenced our Holy circumambulation of the Mount Kailash the weather was clear  after about one hour of trekking suddenly it started snowing.  At first it was just a drizzle but it intensified and it became a fall. Normally in the higher reached because of colder climate rain becomes snow. undeterred we proceeded further praying to the Lord  to take care of us. 

Please wait for the next post to know about what happened later.

Kailash Manasarovar Yatra -2012 - 28

Frozen Manasarovar

When we reached the Holy Lake  for ceremonial bath.........

 Water  was  frozen on the top.......

Ice flakes were  floating   on the surface

Sun's rays being reflected by the frozen ice 

Broke the ice and had the bath with mug

Sherpas collecting water for cooking 

A brave one ventured inside collected Holy water

Eti  having her ablution

Pankaj Gupta
Had a leisurely bath

Changed dress

Offerings to  ancestors

It's Harshit's  turn and Himansu is watching

Prayers to Lord of Kailash

C K Vaishnav

Golden duck

Nesting water fowls

Temporary sheds for dress changing

The day dawned and we woke up with lot of expectations, there were lot of things to do that day, first was to take the holy bath in the sacred waters of Manasarovar then to perform the customary Homam on the bank of Manasarovar as a measure of thanks giving to Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati for having chosen us for giving their  darshan to us. Then proceed to Darchen to witness the marvelous Saga Dawa festival  and stay there for the night. 

We enjoyed the dawn at Manasarovar, he lake  resembled molten gold at that juncture,  Later when we reached Manasarovar for the ceremonial bath  were perplexed  to see that the top portion  of the lake is frozen, when we reached Manasarovar yesterday we saw waves in the lake indicting normalcy. But in the morning may be due to cool moon's rays the lake was frozen. We broke the ice at one spot and then had bath using a mug. It was an wonderful experience to bath in near freezing water. This time they had erected many temporary tents  for dress changing which is an improvement over the years.

That day was the Buddha Poornima day , Gauthama Buddha was born at Lumbini, attained  enlightment (Nirvana) in Bodh Gaya and passed away (Parinirvana) on this full moon day  and Buddhists all over the world celebrate this day with pomp. Here it is celebrated  as Saga Dawa festival  the main event of the ceremony at Kailash near Yamdwar is the replacement and raising of Tarboche, the tall flagpole which marks the mountain's position as the center of the universe. As the pole is festooned on all sides with multi colored prayer flags to form a huge cone, observers throw thousands of additional paper prayers into the air, along with handfuls of tsampa, barley flour.  Mr. Suthar had mailed us about this festival and were eager to witness  the same. But to our dismay our guide told that as Darchen is full and entry into Darchen  is restricted only to Tibetans that day we will not be able to go to Darchen and have to stay for the night here itself. Though disappointed we accepted that as the will of the Lord  and proceeded with other activities.