Kailash Mansarovar Yatra - Part 14

Lipulekh Pass and Tibet China

Photo courtesy : Sashikumar Nambiar from Trichur.... Sasi our dear Keralite friend had taken this photo.

We left our camp at 1 am sharp... 26th June 2013. I was clothed in 3 layers - regular kurta with double layered trekking trouser; sweater on the kurta; wind-cheater-jacket on top; cotton socks and woollen socks and the trekking shoes; woollen gloves; monkey cap and a scarf to hold the cap tight over my ears and face; waist pouch with money for Himanshu and Bhimsingh in separate covers and plastic cover with my passport; back-pack with a set of clothes, medicines and water bottle and the common money of the group.

It was pitch dark and we were asked to start our trek. There was never any head-count and people just start moving and many times I wonder whether they will even know in time if I get lost on the way. I must say that our leader lacked leadership qualities - he was with one particular group and was not hesitant to criticise many Yatris who were not to his liking. Unfortunately he forgot that he is responsible for ALL and decided to keep his focus on a VERY FEW.

I took my stick and started walking without waiting for arrival of Himanshu and BhimSingh, thinking that I will meet them a little after I leave, on my way, as is the normal practice.  I had walked for nearly 30 minutes with my torch and suddenly realised that there is just one more person in front of me and she was going on lamenting the absence of her porter and ponywallah. I wanted to overtake her and move ahead to avoid such negative words early in the morning. I found that the man ahead was another one who never bothers about anyone else and hence, I decided to walk with this lady as it would be much safer. By then, a soldier of ITBP came near us and urged us to keep moving. He even helped me with adjustment of my cap which was coming on my one eye; gave me water-bottle; and gave encouragement to keep walking in that pitch dark cold night with just my torch as the only source of light other than the whiteness of snow seen on the path.

We were walking on the mountain path with a river flowing underneath - fresh snow had fallen on the mountain and we were walking on snow for the first time. This snow is a moving snow and hence ITBP man wanted us to move faster. 

Hence, I continued walking worrying as to how Himanshu and Bhim Singh would spot me in the darkness. They reached me in the next 15 minutes or so and I was happy and relieved. Himanshu wondered why I left the camp without him. Bhim Singh as usual was quiet and told me that he would tell me as to when I should take the pony and stop walking.

We reached a place where a mountain river was cutting the road and falling down - we had to cross it by jumping across it - two ITBP soldiers were standing on both sides of the river and helping the Yatris to cross; they urged me to jump and other yatris were coming behind me. There was not much time to think whether I can jump that distance and I jumped - I fell down, luckily, on the road side of the river, thus avoiding falling and getting washed away with the water! The vigilant ITBP soldier grabbed me in time (I am sure that is what made me fall outside the water) and gave me a pat on the back and said, "dheeraj rakho - chalte jao - bholo Hara Hara Mahadev" - I had no time to stop and analyse what has happened. It was over in no time and I realised in next few minutes that my shoes and socks are wet with river water. I could feel some water moving under my sole. Bhim Singh crossed the river with his pony and told me that I should take the pony now as he did not want me on the pony while crossing this river. God in the form of that ITBP soldier had saved me! That is all that mattered!

I sat on the pony with the help of Himanshu and Bhim Singh. We must have walked for another 15 minutes, and we had to cross another river. Bhim Singh bent down to fold his trousers and remove his shoes and by then, pony had started moving with me. It bent down to drink water and Bhim Singh lost his grip. Pony slipped and I fell from the pony with my one leg still on the braces and my body and other leg on the ground... ITBP soldier came running and lifted me up and made me sit on the pony which had steadied itself by then. 

Bhim Singh was feeling sorry but somehow I was alright this time. All this had made my dress (3 layers) all wet and I ended up having more water and wetness on me. Almost all layers were wet under the waist which was starting to have its effect. We went ahead with more care - Himanshu and Bhim Singh on either side of the pony and myself sitting on the pony shivering in the cold. We must have moved for another 2 hours in this fashion walking on layers of snow on the mountains - me mumbling Jaya Jaya Sankara Hara Hara Sankara - criss-crossing the mountain - looking for safer path. There were other ponies in front of us and Bhim Singh followed the marks on the snow to determine safe path.

We were asked to halt at a particular point. All of us except a very few who were walking (not on pony) were there. We waited and waited in the cold with snow collecting under our feet and that of the pony. Later we understood that we were made to wait here instead of waiting on top of Lipulekh pass which will be more cold and windy. Chinese authorities reach their side of Lipulekh pass by 7 am their time (4:30 am India time) and we have to be there well in time, as we were told that if they do not find us, they will just go back and we will be in trouble. So our LO made us wait here for nearly one hour. One of the yatris was getting restless and started screaming that he will die there and the sin will fall on LO for his death :-)  

I was clapping my hands and moving my toes, ankles and knees to keep myself warm. I moved my shoulders and palms and any other part that would listen to me!  Still cold was cold and body was screaming    

for some warmth. Nose was leaking - my shoes were reminding me that my feet is "on" water... my clothes were sticking to my body and trying to take whatever heat they could!

Above photo courtesy : Sanjay Patel from Ahmedabad. Seen in this photo is his wife Jalpakumari Patel, a friendly, warm person with a big heart and helping hand.

Finally we moved and reached the top of the pass where we had to get down from the pony and walk for a short distance to start climbing down to the Tibet side. Once I reached the top where all others were assembled, my body started shivering violently - Anuradha and Radha held me - Anuradha pushed me inside her big raincoat and rubbed on my back vigorously. By then ITBP people had lit a small fire using some gunny bag, petrol and lighter. Praveen Tyagi from Delhi was equally bad - in fact worse - he was also shivering violently and was vomitting - Sasi from Trichur had been vomitting for the last 30 minutes or so - we all sat near the fire and tried to warm up ourselves. 

By now Chinese authorities were spotted on the other side and we were asked to start moving down. We saw a Chinese guy (Tibetian) speaking Hindi urging us to hold the rope and start climbing down. For first time in the Yatra, our group decided that ladies would move first and gentlemen would wait! 

The climbing down looked more dangerous with steep slopes and snow of 4 to 6 feet... the Tibetian had tied a rope to rocks on both sides - up and down and wanted us to hold and come down... one more lady from Tibet side joined and she started swiftly moving the hesitant yatris via the rope path and further down... she even went sliding down the snow and wanted us to do the same. We walked slowly on the snow came to the point where Chinese immigration authorities were standing with a suit-case. We showed our passport - they made some people remove the monkey cap and cross-checked with the photograph on the passport. 

We were told that a bus will wait for us and take us to Taklakot. I went on asking where the bus is for the next 30 minutes.. in this snowy trek there is no porter to hold hand and we all have our hand-bags to carry ourselves. At Lipulekh Indian side end, when I was sick, Piyush took my bag and offered to bring it! Thankyou Piyush! Akhilesh and Ashish were worried over me and the minute I was on Tibet side, Ashish came and held my hand and helped me climb down safely. I was putting my foot in the mark made by his shoes on the snow and walked carefully. Thanks a million, billion Ashish for your kindness and thoughtfulness!

Seen in this photo is Ashish from Khandwa, who called me "Uma Mausi" and took care of me everywhere. Here he is seen in our mini-bus to Dharchula from Kath Godam.  Thanks my dear nephew!

We walked down a muddy path after crossing the snowy path and spotted a jeep. It was waiting to carry our luggage (brought to India side by ponies and by porters of Tibet on the Tibet side) and we were disappointed. But they allowed some seniors and Sasi who was continuously vomitting to take the jeep. By now, I was alright, and walked leaving Ashish's hand. He waited for some more time to help other yatris. I walked up to the bus-point, where we were welcomed with a can of "Coke" (made in China). 

Once we were all in the bus, we were taken to the customs office, where our bags were disinfected first, scanned next! We walked through a room where we were "body-scanned" by looking at a particular point and then taken to the guest house at Taklakot riding in the bus for nearly 30 minutes.

We were excited, tired, (first time in this yatra we had not eaten for nearly 16 hours) and were thirsty and hungry. At the guest house we were welcomed with bursting of crackers (China or Sivakasi made I wonder) and white-silk-garlands were put on each of us. We had been told that we will get room with geyser and hence can have nice hot water shower.

Photo above is Taklakot, Tibet (China) - the street is where our guest house was situated.

After the usual commotion over allotment of rooms, I got a room which was already allotted to some one else! Waiting till everyone got their rooms took another 30 minutes and then we were given a room. I saw our guide going to a room and lifting some suitcases and going to another room - he was followed by a couple into the other room - now he gave the room thus vacated by him just then to us. I was with Deepashree and Kamlesh in this room. By now, Kamlesh was exhausted and she fell on one of the beds. I noticed that the bed-sheets and pillow covers were badly soiled, bathroom stinking and floor was very dirty. But there was none to whom I could go and complain about this. So I went out looking for the guide and he had disappeared. I did not feel like sitting on that bed, forget sleeping on it.

I found out the Manager's room (which was a shabby room with liquor, water, cigarettes and eatables thrown around everywhere and 3 more guys sitting there) and informed him that they should change the sheets and pillow covers. They pretended that they did not understand and tried to send me out. I went looking for LO. I went from pillar to post to pillar to post and finally one lady came with a new bed sheet (washed one) and pillow cover and a quilt and changed my bed alone. She did not change the other two beds! By then, Deepashree and Kamlesh were fast asleep and hence I could not bother them.

Thus having settled my bed's cleanliness, I went to the bathroom. Holding my nose and keeping one eye closed, filled a bucket of water from the washbasin and poured it in the bathroom and the toilet. The stink was horrible throughout our stay. No amount of water would reduce the bad smell as I suspect that their plumbing itself was poor and the flushing did not take place properly.

I had hot water shower, washed my clothes that were wet and muddy and put them in the Sun. By now our lunch was ready. Kamlesh refused to get up for lunch and preferred to sleep. I went with Deepashree for lunch. We were served dhal, sticky rice (half-boiled) and potatoe bhaji - but the refreshing item was salad of carrots, cucumber and tomatoes along with a bowl of fruits.

While we were eating lunch, our guide (his name starts with Guru hence we called him Gurubhai) announced that we will leave the next day morning to Darchen and hence we should complete our US dollar deposit to Chinese Tourism department and also convert Indian Rupees / US dollars into Chinese currency to pay the porters and ponywallahs that we would hire there. This is a big task and I know that I have to do a good amount of work - collecting, converting currencies, handing over, getting receipt etc on behalf of all yatris. Sasi, who was a member in finance committee was not well and was resting. I had no heart to disturb him though he offered his help. Narayan came forward to help me.

He started collecting names and money for Pony and Porter (what happened to this committee is a question that noone bothered to ask) and I started collecting 801 US dollars from each Yatri. WE were told that currency notes printed before the year 2002 may not be accepted at China. Hence, all yatris had to write the number of the currency notes that they were giving to me - so that the rejected notes can be replaced by the same yatri. 

In the next few hours this task was completed and I went to the room with the US dollars of all yatris. Narayan came with his bundle of notes and we made separate bundles, wrote everything, counted, tallied and kept the money safe. I finished writing accounts for the common money and categorised the expenditure headwise and tallied the physical cash in Indian Rupees. So, had some thief decided to enter my room, he would have gone away with nearly 1 lac+ Indian rupees and 40,000 US dollars! Luckily, nothing of this sort happened!

I made Kamlesh get up and eat something and take tea. Manik, Sanjay and others came and helped me in this task. By now all yatris were coming to our room either to make payment or to enquire about payment. Once I completed this work, I went out with Narayan, Radha and Deepashree. I found a phone booth and paid them Rs.60/- for one short quick call to my husband informing him of my safe arrival at Taklakot.

Narayan was explaining us the system in Taklakot - Nepali market, Chinese market etc. 

We came back to the guest house and on finding none around, wondered what was happening. All were seated in the I floor where Tourism department of China had organised a party for us. Minister for Tourism addressed us in Mandarin which was translated by our guide in Hindi. We were served fresh fruits, some nuts, soft-drinks and mineral water.

Everyone started singing songs and Bhajans and we realised that we have not had dinner. I came down with Narayan, Radha and Deepashree to have dinner and we understood that it is over before the party and there was no food left!

There were some more Indians in the guest house and I had noticed them having nice bhajias in the evening. One gentleman from their group was standing there and I told him in a round about way the fact that we are hungry and we have no food to eat. He organised food for nearly 10 of us from our group - a nice dinner of roti, bhaji, dhal and rice with papad and pickle which were prepared for members of his group.  In the night he came with his wife to our room and gave us 3 boxes of home-made nice sweets, glucose packs and fruit juice packs. His group could not complete the Parikrama of Mount Kailash as they were told that Dolma Pass was full of snow and they will not be able to cross it.

They had gone to Mansarovar lake and by then his wife had developed severe high altitude sickness and they were rushing back to Jaipur by helicopter.

The presence of this group from Jaipur and the news of their non completion of Parikrama for which they had come all the way from Jaipur spread to our group. Once again all got anxious about the possibility of Parikrama of the Mount for which we all had taken all this trouble. Piyush was insisting that we will do the Parikrama come what may, and I believed that this one man's faith alone was enough for all of us to do whatever we had come for.

By night we were informed that we will move to Darchen after a day's rest at Taklakot which came as a big relief. We spent the next day exploring the small shops of Taklakot. 

A note about the lady guide from Chinese Tourism department - Dichi is her name and she was alert, intelligent, responsive and swift. 

Sachin with Dichi who helped a good number of yatris in crossing Lipulekh pass when we entered and left Tibet! 

So we halt at Taklakot and start our Parikrama in the next post. Om NamaShivayah!