Tibet Tour 2

I have to admit I got a bit confused by the whole hot spring issue in Tibet. For me, the term hot spring conjures up images of bubbling pools, either natural or of the "ce-ment pond" type, where you can lie back and let the hot water work on your aching muscles, preferably while you sip on a cocktail. We encountered several hot springs during this trip, none of which even came close to my mental image. For the most part they were like little streams coming out of the ground, sometimes creating puddles and usually just building interesting mineral formations. They were definitely not big enough to comfortably climb into. In some locations, industrious locals would build bath houses where the hot water was piped into stalls either through shower heads or directly into tubs. In these places you could at least get clean, but there was no lounging around with friends in your bathing suits enjoying a drink and a soak. Tirthapuri was one of these places.

We were camped on a large plain beside a stream that provided us with our water. The first morning we were wakened early in the morning by a heard of yaks grazing around our tents, snorting alarmingly loudly. I don't know about the others, but I decided to stay put and hope that none of them (yaks, not tour-mates) came through the tent roof. After breakfast we visited a Bon monastery a couple of hours away. The Bon religion predates Buddhism, but over the intervening years they have become almost identical. The main difference is that the Bon people circumambulate in a counter-clockwise direction in order to meet Buddha face-on instead of walking in the same direction as he does. We followed this practice when visiting the monastery and everything felt decidedly weird after a year of going in the other direction. Even prayer wheels are spun "backwards".

We then continued up a breathtakingly beautiful gorge to arrive at Kyunglung valley, the location of the early kingdom of Shanshung (about 2000 years old). There are some more hot springs here (of the mineral deposit variety)along with a smattering of ruins and tons of cave dwellings in the hills. We had a great time clambering around the hills and exploring the caves, ruins, chortens and mani walls. It is really spectacular - all stone and sand with little or no vegetation - just huge cliffs and wild rock formations. It's a really magical place and I felt very close to nature there.

We came back to camp and after lunch set out on a kora of the Tirthapuri monastery very close to our camp site. It proved to be quite an "interactive" kora and we all got to test our karma and see some unusual sites along the way. We passed a sky burial site as well as several holes in the ground where earth is taken to prepare special medicines. To test our karma we took turns drawing two stones out of a hole in the ground, the colour of which determined our karma. I drew one black and one white which means middle-of-the-road karma - not bad for someone with my history :-). We visited the monastery along the kora and I lit a lamp on the altar which was a wonderful experience. There was an incredible vibe throughout this area which was really lovely to absorb. On the way back to camp we stopped at the bath house and took a shower. It felt great to get clean after a few days on the dusty road with no opportunity to wash. We ended the afternoon with a beer in the sunshine by the stream.

The next day we drove to our most westerly destination, Zhanda. This is a Chinese-manufactured town and is ugly and totally without personality. However it is the gateway to the Guge (Goo-geh) Kingdom which is absolutely spectacular. Once again we are surrounded by fabulous rock formations and dramatic cliffs - the drive was really beautiful. We also descended to below 4000 meters of altitude, so we were finally able to walk up a flight of stairs without panting :-). We stayed in a crappy little guest house with no running water of any kind and a disgusting pit toilet. They only see about 200 tourists a year there, so we had to rely heavily on our staff to help us find meals without accidentally ordering fried intestines or dried chicken feet.

When we camped we had our meals cooked for us by our staff, and they were generally really great. We got a bit tired of crepes as thick as pancakes for breakfast, but our dinners were varied and tasty. When we stayed in hotels or guest houses we were on our own and generally went out as a group for meals. Zhanda was the only place where we couldn't find English on the menus, and even when we had them translated the food was a bit frightening. Fortunately it was a small town and we invariably found Sonam somewhere in the street at meal times and dragged him into the restaurant to help us out.

The next day was amazing. We drove a couple of hours to the remains of a citadel at Tsaparang. This was once a huge complex virtually engulfing a hill. There are lots of ruins remaining as well as intact buildings at the very top. The hill is also riddled with caves which served as lodgings. The "winter palace" is a series of caves accessed by a horrifically steep enclosed staircase through the centre of the hill. There are also some remaining chapels within the complex which we were able to visit but not photograph. The views of the surrounding area were superb from the top of the hill and the whole experience was breathtaking.

We returned to Zhanda and visited the Tholing monastery in town after lunch. This monastery was very badly damaged during the cultural revolution and we were able to see some of the restoration work being performed by a Swiss team in one of the chapels.

Earlier in the day I had lent a couple of batteries to one of our drivers. When he returned them, via Catherine, he told her to give them to the one "who doesn't wear pants". This was a reference to the fact that until then I had only worn skirts, but of course my pantlessness became a running joke throughout the remainder of the tour.

The next day was spent on the road heading back to Darchen where we would begin our kora of Mt. Kailash. Darchen is an ugly and dirty town, where we were packed five to a room in a guesthouse with no running water and another disgusting pit toilet. The kora around Mt. Kailash is the most sacred ritual for Hindus, Buddhists, Bons and Jains. All Buddhists try to make a pilgrimage there at least once in their life, and each kora is believed to wipe out the sins of a lifetime. One hundred and eight of them guarantees you instant enlightenment. It's not a tough walk - many pilgrims will actually complete it over about 18 hours in one day, but for the average tourist it's a three-day hike. There is a 5600 metre pass on the second day, which while high, isn't that much of a gain given that Darchen is at 5000 metres. I have wanted to do this kora for a long time and it was to be the highlight of this tour for me.

Things started going wrong from the beginning and looking back I realize that the kora was just not meant to be. We were unable to hire yaks to carry our luggage, as there was a horse race in a neighbouring town and all the yak herders had left Darchen to attend it. We secured some human porters to do the job but lost them almost immediately to a Chinese group who offered them more money. There is limited road access at either end of the trail, so we finally decided that our staff would drive our gear up to the first camp, then the next morning drive back down and go up the other side to meet us for our second night.

We woke to pouring rain, bundled up in our foul-weather gear and set off. After about two hours we came to a tent where we stopped for tea. The rain had turned to wet snow, but it was melting on the ground and not causing any problems. At that point a group that had set out the previous day turned up at the tent with piles of snow on their hats and shoulders. Apparently it was snowing very hard higher up and the pass wasn't navigable. In addition, our cars couldn't get up the road to bring us our gear under these conditions. I fought tooth and nail to press on, but I was the solitary voice in favour of continuing, so we headed back down. I was very disappointed as I really wanted to do this and frankly a little bit of snow is hardly a deterrent for a Canadian. Half of us walked back down to Darchen and the others caught a lift in the Land Cruisers. We spent the remainder of the afternoon in one bedroom, wrapped up in our sleeping bags drinking cheap Chinese booze.

We awoke the next morning to much of the same weather: rain in Darchen and snow higher up. Given that we now had extra days to kill we discussed our options over breakfast. We could do a short hike to a gompa about four kilometres above Darchen or we could press on to our next destination, Chiu Gompa, on the shores of the sacred Lake Manasarovar and hope for better weather there. Nobody, except me, wanted to do the hike in the snow so they all made their preparations to leave. I was going stir-crazy from so much time spent sitting in the car, I was disappointed about the kora and I really just wanted to get out and do something active. I sent them all ahead to Chiu Gompa and had one Land Cruiser wait for me while I did the short hike.

It was the best decision of the trip. It started out quite wet, but after a short climb the rain had turned to snow and I had a wonderfully peaceful walk up the road to the gompa. It had been a very long time since I'd seen snow of any significance, and was surprised to find myself really enjoying it. I twirled and skipped through it and caught snowflakes on my tongue. After a hour or so, a few chortens and mani-walls appeared through the fog and snow, and shortly thereafter I saw the faint outline of the gompa on a hill. I managed to find a path through the ankle-deep snow and arrived at a very quiet and beautiful monastery. There was no door to be seen, so I followed the traditional route, walking around the building in a clockwise direction, spinning the prayer wheels and admiring the building and nearby ruins. After turning a couple of corners I heard solitary chanting and found a young monk in a small room which housed a huge prayer wheel. I think I caught him quite off guard - I don't suppose that they were expecting any single blond women to drop in that day. I spun the wheel the obligatory three times,left him a donation and continued my kora of the building. I finally located the door and found the main chapel to be locked. I followed the sound of more chanting up some stairs and found a family of Tibetan pilgrims enjoying some yak butter tea as the lama prayed on their behalf. I joined them for half an hour or so in the small upper chapel and it was joy to be able to participate in their rituals with them.

As I was leaving, I ran into the caretaker who opened the main chapel for me. I was able to light a butter lamp for the alter and spend some quiet time as he did his chores. The walk back was as delightful as the walk up had been (although easier on the lungs!) and I sang the whole way down. Near Darchen I stopped to hang some prayer flags on a pole along the trail. These had been intended for the pass on the Kailash kora, but given how my day was going, I figured this was a great substitute location. When I arrived back in Darchen, I was hurried into the Land Cruiser and we took off to join the others in Chui Gompa.