Kailash Yatra - Day 7

5 June – Tuesday: Mansarovar to Saga

Got up early to get ready; did not want to run into a crowd anywhere.  My voice is completely gone.  Maybe its good. The sherpas were busy till late last night in the kitchen tent and now they have been up since early morning. 

There is no use being out, it is really cold.  It had snowed over the night and now everything was covered with thin film of snow.  The sky is still full of dark clouds.  I am so glad it was not like this yesterday and that it is time to go away from here.  Chai was brought in the tent. Breakfast was nice today – aaloo ka paratha!  Finally something north Indian – except the occasional grain of sand.

We packed up to go and by 9 am we were on the road. I was not feeling well at all today; the last few days of not sleeping well, waking up with a headache and a cold and now my throat; it was taking its toll on me. 

The first 2-3 hrs was all snow covered area, it was quite widespread.  The driver took it slow. Bhaiya was a little irritated but maybe it was better that he was going slow.  If anything happened there would be no one to take care of us.  Besides the entire group had to stay together. I slept most of the way.  We stopped at a town P…. to have lunch.  Lunch was chole-rice and noodles.  Someone in this group loves noodles! I ate little bit – I am not feeling too well.

Phinsu and Shorey (the driver) kept talking all the way like school girls.  I slept some more since the scenery is the same as last time and I am not feeling well.  Got up around 4 pm and listened to my music for a while.

We arrived at Saga at around 6:30 pm. It  was at the same place where we had lunch on the way to Mansarovar.  The Tourist Hotel seemed okay.  We were assigned three people to a room.  I asked Barbara (the other lone woman) to stay with us. I felt guilty for leaving her with the boys for one of the previous nights.

The room was like a normal hotel. Finally!!! Thank you!  The attached bathroom was great and beds were comfortable and there was tea in the room. Oh civilization!!! Hot water was to come from 8pm-12am and then in the morning at 7am.  So when the water came, we started cleaning up.  Oh God!! My scalp was hurting from not being washed for 6 days.  It was strange feeling not to have the silly cap on.

Our other friends came and told us that they were actually 6 to a room. Yikes! Meaning two people sleeping on a twin bed.  Oh God – what is wrong with this travel company???  The south Indian group was actually with a Swamiji and this Swamiji was apparently calling a lot of shots.  I am of sound belief that he was the one who stopped us from going for parikrama.

There is a group of people going back to Kathmandu directly from Saga, while the rest of us are going to Nyalam first and then to Kathmandu.  Apparently the south Indian group who went to take bath in the Mansarovar fell sick so they need to get back.  I feel it will be better for us to do the journey with a break so I did not want to go directly to Kathmandu.

This room made me wonder why the Chinese cannot make residences like this everywhere.  Charge the people some more money but at least provide for a comfortable journey.

Dinner at around 10 pm was as boring as ever.  Went to bed right after that!! A very good night!

Kailash Yatra - Day 6

4 June – Monday: Mansarovar

Did not sleep well at all. Woke up with a headache, cold and cough. The cold weather is also affecting me. The cold weather was the reason I moved to Florida! Well, I know this is temporary, but still it has taken a little bit of a toll on my health. I think it is also because of not doing anything all day. If we were on parikrama I would be active. All this sitting around in the cold weather is a total waste of time. I just feel like going home now. Using the restroom today was the hardest part of my day…..ugghh!!!

Everyday has been a big question mark, “Where will we be today?” Hopeless situation. The touring company should do a better job of planning all this. So the word is that we are all going to Horshu after breakfast. Whatever!!I don’t give a damn! Well….I should have.

Horshu, not far from where we were and on the banks of lovely Mansarovar, is not a town. It is a camping site of a few mud huts and plenty of space to set up tents! Yay!! That’s what I needed – more time out in the cold! This is getting worse and worse. All the money spent on a vacation is going in sleeping in dormitory living and no toilets. This is some sort of a resilience test.

Two of our foreign group members have stomach issues. This trip has taken a toll on everyone one way or another.

The lady guide, Doga, was there again. She seemed so relaxed (because in her mind she knows she will not be doing the parikrama, but we idiots were still rooting for Darchen to open for us). She said that Darchen is not open. We cannot leave for Kathmandu because Saga is all booked for tonight. So we will leave tomorrow for Saga and the next day to Nyalam and after one overnight there we will be off to Kathmandu.

Bhaiya talked to her separately about the Darchen issue and she told him that there was an opportunity to go to parikrama yesterday if we had left by 7 am, but some of the members of our group wanted to do puja on Poornmasi so she all by herself decided to cancel the parikrama. (Now she tells us!! This in itself is a cause to sue the travel company. They make the decision without asking the entire group.) And now it was too late (even that was a lie).

So many changes in the program, so many lies, such poor living arrangement, such poor transportation….we paid a good sum of money to be treated like this.

The next two hours were spent all complaining with Phinsu, Doga and amongst ourselves. But really no one cares. That is the worst part also – NO ONE CARES. It is starting to seem that the trip was not be fruitful right from the beginning but we did not know about it.

We got our two beds in one of the dorms of 12 beds, so Bhaiya and I kept our bags and went out for a walk. By the time we came back our bags had been moved and someone was sleeping in my bed. Oh Lord!! So Bhaiya asked Ramgopal to set up a tent for us. Good. I don’t like sleeping in tents but it is definitely better than a room full of coughing and sneezing people.

My walk to Mansarovar was pleasant but I was slightly turned off by all the poop (yak and goat – I think) everywhere. So bad that in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of beautiful mountains the air did not seem fresh, and I had to watch my step. I could not even think of picking up any stone, not that there was any good one, because I did not know what had been on that stone.

The view was beautiful though, Panchkanya mountains on one side and Kailash (not visible today because of clouds) on the other.

I really needed to use the bathroom, but the boys/sherpas, had not set up the tent for it. They kept telling me go to the “open” toilet. What the heck!!! Yes, as I said, our conditions are getting better. The sherpas would dig a hole in the ground and put a tent on it for privacy. That was going to be our grand toilet! Uff!! It took them some time because someone told them not to dig the hole close to another tent, but I made them put up the tent – no matter what! The only good thing about it was that none of the Indians knew what it was for, so it was really like a private toilet for just us foreigners. Don’t want to know where the Indians went!!!

Lunch was boring – daal-bhaat…again! Once our tent was set up, I slept for a while. There was no place to sit outside. The ground was pooped on all over and there were not many chairs to sit on, so better to stay in the tent. Besides it was so windy outside. As the evening came by, the sherpas got in a party mood and were singing songs and dancing. It was a nice little break from the monotonous day.

Some of us went for a walk in the evening again. Since there was not much to see or photograph we took pictures of the Buddist flags by the lake. I think this is where I got my major sore throat. My voice was gone for the next four days. That could be peaceful for some people :-)

Sat with our new friends, Suresh and Ria, all evening. The sherpas brought great soup, then popcorn. We went out to first see the sunset and then the moon rise. These sights were amazing but parikrama and Kailash close up would have been more amazing.

Dinner was simple – fried rice. It was so cold outside that we all got into some vans to eat. Bhaiya managed to get us one comfortor. We had sleeping bags over a rubber mat. For the first time I slept in my jeans and three layers of clothes with my cap on and the cap of the parka. But I was still cold. I got up in the middle of the night to wear another warm shirt, but the cold was coming from the ground. There was no getting warm tonight.

I had lost my voice by dinner time now this cold. Really miserable night.

Kailash Yatra - Day 5

3 June – Sunday: Mansarovar

Did not sleep properly, it was on again off again.  Stuffy nose and headache were becoming quite common.  I ate so many Advils on this trip!  Finally got up around 8 am to do my daily stuff and then the hot water arrived followed by tea. Breakfast was around 10 am.  Finally something ethnic! Tibetian bread. It was good – like kulcha and to be eaten with honey.  Very tasty.

There was nothing to do, so some of us sat outside on a table and talked.  As I said, there was a lot of talking.  I went to the room to rest but ended up talking to Ria.  After a while Bhaiya came and said lets go to take bath in Mansarovar. Good! So we walked to the first tent near the lake and outside our building. It turned out be Satyam’s tent! As I turned around, I saw Uncle and his group doing puja. Great!! We tried to take a bath in Satyam tent, but the sherpa would not let us! Idiot!! Does he think Mansarovar belongs to him??!! Too annoying.  This whole trip was supposed to be spiritual but I am feeling dirty, angry, frustrated and now I just wanted to take this guy and throw him Mansarovar!! But I controlled myself and walked over to Uncle and did puja with him and Aunty.  It was strange doing puja without taking a full bath. Luckily I had dry cleaned today!

30 mins later, we bid Uncle bye and went to see the other tent far away.  The walk was not hard but I did get a little winded.  Low oxygen! It turns out the tent was ours – the group we had been traveling with.  I saw Bhaiya take a dip in the cool Mansarovar!! Good for him.  I did not bring a change of clothes so I got the warm Mansarovar water from Ramgopal and did my ablutions in the privacy of a tent.  It felt like heaven!  I was the last one to bathe so I had plenty of water.  While Ramgopal packed up everything, Bhaiya filled up the two bottles with Mansarovar jal. We got a ride back to the mud house with the sherpas.

Problem: It was only now that I realized that Nitesh had sold us Touch Kailash touring company.  We were no longer with Satyam. 

We decided to look for Uncle after coming back. On the way we stopped by the kitchen and had a nice warm cup of strawberry juice.  Very unusual and very good! Lunch was not ready yet.  There was yet another issue.  We were to move to another location today because the place we were in was booked for the night by another group.  This part of the journey was not the most pleasant.

Uncle’s group was staying in such a nice place.  They had a nice big room, although they were also 10 in a room! But the rooms were more comfortable than what we had been staying in.  And their lunch was soo good!! They had puris, two sabzi, daal, paapad and of course dessert.  All north Indian food.  We told them about our program and hoped that we would all get to do parikrama. (Note: It seems that taking the altitude sickness pill, Diamox, was giving everyone tingling all over their body!)

On the way back we ran into Suresh and Ria.  They like being outside a lot! They told us that the south Indians in our group had gone to the other side of Mansarovar to take bath and then do puja.  Oh okay! Why?? Whatever, but they were delaying our lunch. Oh God!! It was about 3 pm now.  And after seeing all the puris I was hungry.

We came back to our room.  I wanted to just rest for a while, while Bhaiya wanted to trek up to the monastery.  Good – more power to him. So he went by himself.   We went for lunch after Bhaiya came back.  He wanted to go and see Dr. Sain immediately after but I told him not to go because he (Bhaiya) must be exhausted and I thought we were going to move only a few buildings over when we moved.

It turns out when we moved at 6 pm it was about 1 mile away from the lake.  Darn!! It was purnima today and we wanted to see if stars came down to the lake at night and then go to Kailash.  I tell you this trip has been one let down after another.  The new digs were equally bad.  Now there were four of us in one room.  It seems there were not enough rooms here.  So some people were staying in some other place.  This travel company, Touch Kailash, is hopeless!! And the toilets in this place….oh – someone have mercy!! It is getting progressively worse.

During this time the other lady guide, Doga, came back from Darchen and said they did not get permission to go into Darchen.  She had come back in a police car because the security had closed Darchen.  A few people were really mad and in particular one Indian got really aggressive and both he and Doga almost got into fist fight.  She threatened to tell police about him so he would be in Chinese jail. (No guide is supposed to threaten!)  It was a battlefield for 10 mins.  Later things got calm and she convinced everyone that Darchen was closed and that we have to vacate this current place tomorrow because it is booked for the next group.   

She said we have to move to Horshu, on the banks of Mansorovar, tomorrow and wait to see if we get permission to go to Darchen.  Yeah....I feel like a football...being kicked around from one place to another.

Problem: None of what Doga told us about Darchen was true.  We were blatantly lied to by these Chinese/Tibetians guides. We did not know this until we got back to Nyalam.  This was the place where we were cheated of an experience of a lifetime, a yatra done once in a lifetime….

Part of the group wanted to go back to Nyalam tomorrow, 3^rd, since going to Darchen was not looking too optimistic. We wanted to stay with the big group and go to Horshu so that if Darchen opens then we can do our parikrama.  Which means if we don’t do parikrama, then we will be back in Kathmandu by 7^th June, two days earlier than scheduled. 

Yesterday and today were the most disappointing days of the trip because the Chinese/Tibetian guides lied to us through their teeth just because they wanted more money! (We found that out later).  They ruined our yatra for their own greediness.  As far as I am concerned they will never find peace in their life for this.

The rest of the evening was quite boring. It was cold, miserable and we were all feeling blue.  Dinner was brought to our rooms as there was no place to set the food.  It was kichdi and noodles today.

After dinner four of us took the van to Mansarovar around 11:30 pm to see if we could see the stars coming into the lake.  We also needed to see Uncle and ask what their group was up to.  So when we reached Uncle’s group was all upbeat and the mood was relaxed.  I still envied their rooms – so nicely lit and comfortable.  We asked to speak with their guide and their guide had not told them half the things our guide was telling us.  And he was positive that Darchen would open and they were going on parikrama.  They had already paid for their ponies and porters.  We told them about what our guide told us.  But they were not worried.  Either they were not told the truth or we were being lied to!

We drove from there to the lake.  It was dark except for the beautiful illumination from the full moon.  We sat in the van with our eyes glued to the sky.  We stayed there for 30-40 mins, partly outside the van also.  But no stars came down…. although I could feel the presence Shiv-Parvati all around me, but stars would have been amazing too.

By the time we came back to our rooms, the power had been turned off.  It was a pain changing clothes in the dark under the comforter for me.  And it was bloody cold!

Kailash Yatra - Day 4

2 June – Saturday: Dongba to Mansarovar

Slept okay today but still got up around 5 am. Going to use the toilet is always a debate in my head. The one thing I have just detested in this whole journey is the toilet. It is very sad that we go for this very pious yatra for all Hindus yet we don’t get to take bath anywhere or a use a clean toilet. I felt dirty all the way through. Why can't the Chinese make some nice hotels along the way? Charge us some more money but at least provide the convenience in a little bit more decent manner.  It is day four that I have not taken a bath or washed my hair!!

In any case got up around 6:30 am when the call for hot water came to get ready. Modesty has been taking a back burner as time is passing. Using open toilets, staying in a room with so many people and having no privacy whatsoever has been a tough adjustment. I have not really been hungry during the trip and I have been eating half of my diet. Maybe that is why I am not feeling so strong. I don’t know.

Bed tea came soon after, but Ramgopal gave me coffee instead of tea, it was really awful. I threw half of it away and got me some tea! Today we had upma for breakfast. We have about 40 south Indians in our group so our food has been primarily all south Indian. I am tired of rasam already! What I found absolutely amazing is our Nepali sherpas/cooks. They have the best disposition. Always smiling, ready to hear and deal with any complaint and so efficient in unpacking and repacking. For a number of days they have had to cook both breakfast and lunch in the morning, and they have done a fabulous job. The food always tastes perfect with a balance of salt and spices.

The drive to Mansarovar was quite boring. And I am just anxious to see Kailash now. The landscape is the same over and over again….I did not have any headache today. I have not taken any headache or altitude sickness pills. I have not been sleeping properly but strangely I don’t feel any lack of sleep either.

A check post came just before lunch time. Phinsu took our passports to clear us. It took about one hour to cross this. Luckily there was charge in the car so I plugged in my phone and played games. What else to do?? I don’t feel like socializing. As soon as we crossed the check point, lunch was served. They set it out but it was so windy that the dust was getting into our plates, so they moved outside a building nearby. It was a little better there. Lunch was good pulao, noodles and rajma. Canned fruits for dessert and of course juice. A tent nearby was a general store.

Tip: One could buy water almost at any store. Even our guys would have boiled water with them and we could just refill our water bottles.

It was another 2-3 hr drive to Kailash. Today I did take a little nap, probably because the scenery was boring. We stopped at a lake which was the beginning point of the river Bhramaputra. And soon after that was Kailash! Wow! Both Mansarovar and Kailash came right after reaching a high point on the highway. We all stopped there and of course took photos. What an amazing feeling to see Kailash!! It was a nice day, blue skies and few clouds. On the other side of Kailash were a whole series of other snow covered mountains (Panchkanya?). No one really told us the importance of those.

In our itinerary we were promised the parikrama of Mansarovar lake, to be done in the vehicle. We asked Phinsu how long it would take and he said about 1.5 hrs. And we all said sure! Lets do it. But we were not told the truth! The whole parikrama takes about 3 hrs and it is not at all comfortable in a van because the entire road is gravel!!! Ohhh the lies!!

The drive itself was really nice to begin with. But then the scenery got quite repetitive and the bumpy road was not making the parikrama a comfortable one. We stopped at one very nice spot to take some pictures. I walked up to Mansarovar to touch the water. It was not cold at all, it was quite bearable water. Of course it was also around 4 pm, so it’s possible that the water had warmed up. The spot was really peaceful and the view was amazing. I could have camped out there for one night. But we had to move on.

The rest of the parikrama was okay. We stopped at one place for open toilet. I thought it was weird that Mansarovar was not too far yet we were creating this pollution right there. But what else to do??

We reached the paved road at about 7 pm. We reached our place of overnight stay soon after that. This time us foreigners were split into 4 and 2, so Bhaiya and I got into one room. It was about 8x6 ft and they still managed to squeeze three beds in it. Luckily, no third person came!! For some time there was some confusion about whether we get that room or share with someone else, but we did not want to go from there.

The toilets are really far from the building!! That is going to be tough if I want to go at night. Not only that - they were out in the middle of the buildings and people could easily walk in - although no one really did, but still!! Oh the lack of decency the Chinese make us go through!!

Tea and soup was served as usual in the evening.

Big Problem: So now for the other change of plans. We were informed by our Chinese guide that Darchen was closed because of some festival going on and also that two monks had self-immolated and so Chinese government had restricted enterance into Darchen in retaliation. The festival goes from 3-5 June. But if we pass through Darchen by 9 am then we can go on to Dherapuk and start the parikrama. All of us standing there at that time – about 7-8 of us were ready to go. (Later we learned that is was just a story concocted by the Chinese guides)

This would mean no puja or bathing in Mansarovar on Poornima (it's considered auspicious - who knows?). We would do that when we came back. Fine – no problem!! Parikrama was much more important for us. I had told Bhaiya that we should definitely do a porter. I don’t care about a pony because I can walk, but I know I cannot walk with weight on me. So I went to the room and started getting my bag pack ready with the most minimum things. Packed all my warm clothes, relevant medicines, water bottle etc. It was so cold in Mansarovar that I was afraid it would be even colder during the parikrama.

While I was finishing up, Bhaiya went out for a walk. When he came back he said the program has changed! Now we cannot go tomorrow at all. Problem: Someone somewhere decided were NOT going to Darchen. We did not find out how the program got changed. We were worried that if we don’t go tomorrow we would not be able to go at all. But we did not know who to talk to. Phinsu was nowhere to be found. It was a very helpless feeling. We were in a foreign land, with no phones, language barrier, no one to talk to about what was going on. All we had were a few friends with whom we would commiserate with about our pathetic situation.

All we could do was make the most of our time here at Mansarovar. It was the day before full moon, so we went out to see Mansarovar with the moon. It was bloody cold!! But the scene was worth it!! Tried to take some shots from my point and shoot camera. The nice thing was that it was pitch dark outside so the moonlight was giving such a beautiful illumination.

(no...this is not taken in pitch darkness :-))

Dinner was at 10 pm. A little subdued because of the uncertainty of tomorrow’s program. All of us who were ready to go to the parikrama were really bummed. And there was nothing we could do.

Took some Alka Seltzer today as all this food is giving me some stomach issues.

Kailash Yatra - Day 3

1 June – Friday: Nyalam to Saga (oops…Dongba)

Last night was restless too. Now my nose is also stuffed up along with the headache! No cold just a stuffy nose. So sleeping was hard. Got up at 6 am to use the toilets before anyone gets up! At 8 am the sherpas brought hot water for brushing etc. They did this during the whole journey…nice! I had forgotten to pack my toothbrush and had already given my duffle bag…so for the next two days I was going to have a dirty mouth – yuck!!

Bed tea came 20 mins later…aaah the best part of the day. Went for breakfast – today was puri and chana! Lovely. Met a member of our original Satyam group and he said they were also leaving Nyalam today- okay so no acclimatization for them?

I went to see Dr. Sain to get some altitude sickness meds for myself and Bhaiya (since I am so smart I packed the medicine bag in the duffle bag!) He gave me Diamox for altitude sickness and another pill for energy. I was hoping to complete the journey without any medicine but I don’t think I have any choice.

We left Nyalam around 9:30 am with our Tibetian guide (His name was really Phinsu, but we had been introduced to him as TB initially. Miscommunication is everywhere.)

Problem: And then we were informed that we will not be staying at Saga, as scheduled, but in Dongba, because Saga was all booked. And Dongba is about 240 km far from Saga. But we were still going to stop and have lunch at Saga. So what can you do?

The drive to Saga was very interesting. The landscape was really barren, no greenery at all. There were plenty of mountain goats and yaks to see. Small rivers were flowing through the brown mountains. It was a beautiful sight. The road was really smooth and good. It was like a black snake going through the light brown mountains. Our driver was going so slow though. If only I had my BMW I would have reached Mansarover by the same night :-)

We passed the highest point of the journey, 5200 m (17,000 ft) about 2 hrs after we started. It was a little windy there and a little cold. But what a sight!! One really needs the panoramic camera to capture the whole view. Normal cameras don’t do justice to it. No one lived there of course, but there were a few vendors with some artifacts. There was also a girls and boys toilet! Thank you!

As I am looking at the Tibetian/Chinese people I am reminded of rural Peru. They were also like this, their dress and houses, the mountains, the rivers, instead of goats they had llamas.

We drove past one large lake, Pickuk lake, which was just crystal blue. Opposite it were snow clad mountains including the highest mountain in Tibet, Shishibama. It was quite majestic, very sharp and stood quite defiant amongst all the other mountains. A sight to drink in. We stopped here for a longer time on the way back from Mansarover.

Very soon after the lake the nice road changed to a dirt road. And that is how it was for the next 2 hours or so. Oh it is hard on the butt!! And since it was dirt road, the windows of the van were closed and so it was toasty in the van!! The outside scenery did not change much. The mountains and lakes continued to come. I enjoy such drives so I was ready with my camera all the time! Although the road was curved and had a number of U pin turns, I did fine. I was afraid I would get motion sickness – but I was just fine.

The rest of the bathroom breaks along the journey were in “open” restrooms :-)

We reached Saga around 2 pm and lunch was served picnic style. Our first “on the road” lunch. A table was set up and the sherpas brought out the heated food and served. Within 10 mins everyone was eating. There was always plenty of food, drinks and water. The painful thing today was waiting 40 mins for the drivers to come back from their lunch. Apparently they don’t like vegetarian food. So we sat and talked …. Trust me there was a lot of talking in this trip!

The road after Saga became good again. Our group of about 50 people were all traveling together under two leaders one Nepali, TB (the real TB) and one Chinese (Phinsu). Phinsu had all the permits and TB was in charge of all the sherpas and communicating with us. (Problem: we found this out much later….)

On the way to Dongba we passed a whole bunch of mud houses. They all have the same basic architecture but were decorated really nicely. The landscape changed a little bit more to green and swampy. It reminded me of the drive from Arequipa to Colca canyon in Peru.

All of a sudden we arrived at Dongba. The van turned into this mud house place. The rooms were all dormitory style. We got one in which there were eight beds. A bulb was hanging in the room but not lit up yet. The toilets were literally a hole in the ground with no door or privacy….yuck!! But what to do?

Since it was only about 6 pm there was plenty of light and there was not much to do so a few of us went out to explore Dongba. It was a micro town just enough for travelers to stop at. This place is also at a height so it was cold and there was the lack of oxygen. Walking normally was also making me pant, but its good. I know my capacity now to do parikrama. I will have to take it slow.

We came across this small park which had all sorts of colorful workout equipment – all manual – no power. Really interesting! For a few minutes it was our playground. We checked all the equipment out. What else was there to do?? Well….actually – drink beer! It seems to be the national pastime. I saw soooo many beer bottles decorated outside the houses that it seemed part of the architecture :-)

Back in the room, we got our evening tea with Marie biscuits (eve n those were tasting good in Dongba!) And then hot soup!! Yummy!! I always look forward to the soup. It’s from the packets but still good.

Healthwise I was more energetic than yesterday. Dr. Sain’s energy medicine really helped. But Diamox did not suit me. I was getting tingling feeling all over my body all the time. Not a good feeling.

The power came on at 10pm. (All these little towns have solar power.) Everyone kept their camera batteries on charge! I went to sleep right away…no dinner for me tonight. The bed was calling me.

Kailash Yatra - Day 2

31 May – Thursday: A Day in Nyalam

Could not sleep during the night because I got a headache sometime during the night. I did take Tylenol during the night, but it did not help. (I found out later that headaches were because of low oxygen. I had thought they were because I was tired.) Got up with the headache. Except for the two German travelers, we were all having some sort of altitude issues.

Morning tea was brought to the room by the Nepali sherpas. That was probably one the best part of this journey – bed tea!! Went for breakfast after tea. As we stepped out, we ran into yaks!! Oooh yea! Now I know I am in the mountains. Of course there were these huge mountains around Nyalam too. Really picturesque. Again, just look up, not down at the dirty street.

Breakfast was downstairs this time and was better than dinner (vada-sambhar). They would always have cereal and milk also. Our Nepali guide, Ramgopal, arranged for a hike at 11:30 am. Perfect! We all came back to our rooms and slept till 11:30 and then met outside to for the hike. There were total seven of us and our guide was Dil. Nice guy, did not push us. The whole idea of staying in Nyalam for one day was to acclimatize to the high altitude, 13,300 ft.

We started off by walking on a highway and I in my complete optimism thought that we would be walking on that highway for one hour. Oh boy was I wrong. We were going to be climbing this little bit of a steep hill on the left. Okay! I don’t really like climbing mountains. I don’t do very well and this was harder because of the altitude. Luckily I was not always the last one to climb up. We had met a nice couple, Suresh and Ria, and Suresh was always kind enough to stay behind and give me company.

We stopped a lot and walked up slowly. I saw many small flowers on the way up. It’s amazing to see flowers at this altitude…and they are so pretty. We saw a yak and baby on the way. It took us about an hour and half to climb up. It was totally worth it. The view was amazing. The snow covered mountains with the clouds going by was just something I have always had in my mind. So beautiful. The group decided to walk a little further. This part was a gradual climb. I had a little hard time climbing here also. The lack of oxygen was really affecting me. It was a beautiful part of the mountain.

We started walking down as soon as we had all rested a bit. Going down was easier, except there were some places where there was loose gravel and therefore very slippery to walk down on. We would definitely need a walking stick during the Kailash parikrama. Ria was nice enough to lend me her walking stick for sometime.

Tip: I would highly recommend this kind of a hike to everyone as it gives a good idea what you might need for the parikrama.

We went straight for lunch and then we all crashed for about 2 hrs! It was a good sleep! In the evening around 6:30 pm the sherpas came with evening tea, another nice part of the journey. We were told to pack an overnight bag since we would not be getting our duffle bags the next day. Oh – more work!! Did not pack the medicines Dr. Sain gave.....bad move! (We were supposed to be travelling in Uncle’s group in which was one of his doctor friend, Dr. Sain, who had made this most awesome medicine kit for this journey.)

Tip: One of our group members recommended taking Advil for the headache instead of Tylenol. It worked for me.

Two of our groups members were really nice enough to bring me a walking stick from the Nyalam market. The sherpas brought hot soup around 8 pm. This is really nice that they serve so much in the room. Soup was great! Bhaiya came back from his walk and said that Uncle’s group had arrived. We went to find them but we could not find them. So we ended up having dinner first. Boring menu again!

Finally we did find where Uncle was and went to visit him. The gents and ladies were in different rooms. Apparently they were stuck at Nepal border for one night because some issue with their group in which the passport number did not match the permit number. Dr. Sain checked our oxygen level, mine was okay, Bhaiya’s was awesome. My heart rate was really high though.

Came back to the room and slept! I still have a little headache but it will probably go away tomorrow.

Overall day was okay, part trekking part resting. But after the trek I have some doubts about my ability to do the parikrama. I am sure God gives strength when it is needed.

Note: There were no plug points in our room for charging batteries but other rooms in the Nyalam hotel did.

Kailash Yatra - Day 1

30 May – Wednesday: Kathmandu to Nyalam

Got up really early at 3 am to get ready for the 4 am bus. But as usual with all our getting ready on time, it was always another at least one hour wait! In this case – 2 hrs!! Aaagghh – I could have slept for one more hour! We gave our suitcases to the hotel for safekeeping and the duffle bag was given to the tour company contact.  From now on the duffle bag will be taken and given to us daily by the sherpa, so all we had was our small bag pack. We made sure we had some eatables, drinking water, small towel, and of course toilet roll!! I will write all the essentials to take later on.

Bhaiya, at the last minute, decided to ask for the thick winter jackets before we left. Very good move because the rest of the trip was so unknown that we did not know where would get one. Also Nitesh was nowhere to be found, so we had no one to get advice from.

At 5:15 am we were asked to walk to the bus that would drive us to the China border.  We got good seats on the bus (up front), that way we don’t jump up and down during the bumps; and of course we got window seats! Vaishali delivered boxed breakfast to us on the bus. It was too early to eat, so I kept it for later. It had bread, butter, cake, a banana and juice box.

The drive to the border was generally uneventful except for restrooms, especially for us girls. There was not one place for us to go until we reached the border. So either you lose your shame or just hold it!!

The traffic was okay since it was so early in the morning. The scenery only got better and better as we neared the border. The mountains grew higher, the river grew wilder and we started driving at a higher level than at Kathmandu. The road got more curvy, dangerous and gravel kind. I am always impressed with these drivers who drive in these narrow mountain roads. We were driving so close to the edge of the road that I had to close my eyes!! But I could not close them for too long or I would miss the beautiful waterfalls. We did see one vehicle fallen down the valley.

The one thing I was not expecting in Nepal was all the checking going on. We stopped at many checkpoints during the drive where the army/security force was assured that we were going for Kailash Yatra. I thought that was a Chinese thing.

The bus itself was quite horrible. It screeched all the way to the border and there was no AC and either the fans were not working or the driver refused to turn them on. But it was a very hot drive to the border. We met some kids on the way where we would stop because of traffic jam or checkpoint. These kids seemed to have the habit of begging. It must be all the tourists coming through who like to give and cultivate this habit.

We reached the border town, Tattopani, about 11:30 am. There was a decent toilet!! Thank you Lord! We waited for about 30 mins before we could sit for lunch. It was the most simplest of lunches. We were served daal, sabzi, achaar, rice and paapad. I lost my appetite. What made up for the lack of tasty food was the view. It was just awesome!

Tip: You can exchange money into chinese currency at the border here but you get a better exchange rate once you cross the border into China.

From this hotel we had to walk to the border with our bagpack. The luggage would be brought by the sherpas. The walk was less than 0.5 km, but all uphill; the signs of times to come! As we approached the border, we noticed one young Chinese guy making sure that things were in order and did not allow us to take any photographs at the border.

The border was across the bridge over a deep gorge. The view from there was just fabulous – just don’t look down – too much garbage! All around were huge mountains. On one of them, the one right above the river was a town. Later I realized that is where we were going. It was so high!! Oh and mind your camera - no photo taking allowed here!!

The wait was not too bad. The non-Indians were collected in one place. There were six of us. Who knew that we would be travel mates for the rest of the journey? The line to the China immigration was really long. That I can handle, but what was hard to handle was the smell coming from the dumpster next to the line. Nice welcome! We saw a number of Nepali (or Tibetian?) women carrying our bags, water and supplies across the border. It was amazing how much weight they could carry! There should be some other way to take the stuff across the border.

We met our Tibetian/Chinese guide here. He took us across the border. What was needed here was the list of permits that only the Chinese guide had. He kept the permits with him throughout the journey as they were needed in many places. Permits are given only in groups of certain people. We were of course the non-Indian group so all six of us were on one list. So we had to stick together for the entire trip. In any case, we went through without any hitch. We had to go through security and have our bags checked also, however the Indians did not have to do it. Oh well!

We walked out of the immigration office. It had just finished raining. It was still hot here…no need for a jacket yet. We walked a little bit to get to our transport. 10 mins later a van came around. Problem – we were told we would be getting a land cruiser but we got a van. Anyway we all sat and drove up and up and up the town up in the mountains. After about an hour or so we reached there. We stopped here because our Chinese guide had to go and register us at the police station. It was supposed to take 30-40 mins but it ended up taking about 3 hrs. We walked around for a while but then we just sat and talked. We were at about 8000 ft. I was not feeling the low oxygen yet.

I was hungry and tired and soooo sleepy. We had been up since 3 am and now it was about 6 pm. We were also two hours ahead of Nepal time. Which was really weird because we were still in the same time zone as Nepal. So really we had been up for more than 12 hrs. During the drive to Nyalam I slept a lot. I did miss a whole bunch of waterfalls. The scenery was beautiful whenever I woke.

Just before we came to Nyalam there was long line for permit checkup. The river had moved from the bottom of the mountains to our level now…wow!! It was roaring, wild river surrounded by mountains; the clouds were settling on the mountains. It was just a sight to drink in, so beautiful. As I got out to take photographs I felt the cold in the air. It was also getting dark now.

The check up did not take too long. Nyalam was not far from there. We came to a building and were all taken to one room. I was surprised to see that there were six beds in one room! There was barely enough room for all our luggage. We managed somehow. So apparently all six of us will be really, really together for the next two weeks!! Okay….

The first thing I did was checkout the toilets. Bearable. At least there was running water, cold but running! We were told that food was in the other building so we went hunting for it. Dinner was very simple – I hope they will make something better than just daal and mixed vegetable with rice and roti. There was no place to sit, so we just had to stand and eat. Climbing the stairs was getting me little winded though.

Nyalam was cold, so we did need our jackets. My feet were exhausted from being squeezed in the shoes all day. I was dying to take them off. The bed was equipped with two comforters and a good pillow. It was quite comfortable. After a while it even got a little warm in there!

I felt like we were having a slumber party in the room with all six of us there. We were all getting along fine. All these travelers were really well traveled and had a good idea of living in different cultures and with minimum things. They had all been camping before. I am just a city girl who needs a good room and a good working toilet for a comfortable holiday. What was really weird is that the two other Americans there were also from Florida!! What a coincidence.

Came back to the room and promptly went to sleep!