KAILASA MANASA SAROVAR YATRA

BY-B M MOHAN

PROLOGUE

The Himalayas attract and inspire people from all over the world, though for different reasons.  For Hindus and Buddhists, Himalayas are full of many pilgrim centres such as Kedarnath, Badarinath, Amarnath; Haridwar and Hrishikesh; Dev Prayag, Rudra Prayag, Karna Prayag etc.; and above all Mount Kailash and Manasa Sarovar. 

Himalayas protect India from the cold winds from North. They also obstruct the monsoon winds to ensure adequate rainfall in India. They are source of many perennial rivers which sustain life in most parts of Northern India.  No wonder Hindus treat Himalayas as a god.

For the Westerners and people belonging to other faiths, Himalayas is a source of many beautiful, natural scenic spots as well as source of adventure sports.  More than 70% of the highest peaks in the world are located in Himalayas.   People come from all over the world to scale them for personal achievement. For whatever is the reason, people get lot of pleasure and peace by visiting Himalayas.

In the past, I visited some tourist resorts located in the lower Himalayas such as Mussouri (near Dehradun) and Kausani (near Almora). These are places of scenic beauties. The special attraction at these places is to watch the snow clad peaks of Himalayas from a distance. One can have a grand view of Himalayas only if one is lucky and there are no clouds.  I used to think that instead of all this trouble, why not one goes deep into Himalayas and feel them directly. 

 

It has been a common belief that Manasa Sarovar and Mount Kailash are inaccessible to ordinary people like us. One day, we happened to watch a CD covering the pilgrimage of Sri  Tridandi Chinna Srimannarayana Ramanuja Jeeyar Swamiji to Manasa Sarovar and Mount Kailash by  road.  This gave us inspiration and confidence that one day, we can also make this tour. From then on, it has become our life ambition to visit Manasa Sarovar and Mt. Kailash, one day or the other. I firmly believe that such things can happen only if they are in our destiny.

One day, we saw an advertisement of SGL Tours and Travels regarding package tours to Mount Kailash and Manasa Sarovar.  We immediately made a booking for myself and my wife for a package tour of 16 days duration, starting from 21^st May. 

TOUR HIGH LIGHTS

a)      Total duration of the tour: 16 days, out of which for 2 days are spent for  onward journey to Tibetan border via Khatmandu and 2 days for return journey; balance 12 days are spent for traveling by road on Tibet plateau.

b)     Mode of transport: 

·         Hyderabad to Khatmandu:  via Delhi by Air.  

·         Khatmandu to Tibet Border: by mini bus.

·         Entire journey within Tibet: by Toyota’s Land Cruiser (This is an amazing vehicle; very sturdy and powerful and literally it makes its own road.  It can travel on any kind of land.  It looks these are the only vehicles which can be used in Tibet, as there are practically no roads in the path we traveled).

c)      Altitude: Most of the parts we traveled in Tibet were at around 16,000 ft. altitude above MSL.

d)     Temperature: Khatmandu was somewhat warm and sultry. In Tibet, the temperature was near zero degrees Centigrade.

e)      Composition of tourists in our group: 6 from Hyderabad, 24 from Bangalore, 10 from Pune and 4 from Bangkok (Total: 44 tourists)

f)       Timings: Nepal time is 15 minutes ahead of IST.

Though Tibet is of same longitude as India, Chinese time is followed there, which is 2½ hours ahead of India.  This caused lot of inconvenience for waking up, breakfast and supper.  

TOUR DETAILS

Day 1:

On 21^st May, 2007, we left Hyderabad at 6.30 am by Air and reached Delhi by 8.30 am.  We had to wait in the airport upto 10.30 for the arrival of Bangalore party comprising of 24 pilgrims.  From there, we were transported to Indira Gandhi International Airport by bus and caught the flight for Khatmandu at 2.00 pm. Though there were six to eight x-ray baggage checking machines, only two of them were operating, which resulted into  long queues; typical Indian style.   Our people are experts in creating Queues.

We reached Khatmandu by 3.30 pm. Nepal time is 15 minutes ahead of IST.  Khatmandu is like any other typical north Indian city. The standard of living is similar to what we had in India some 50 years ago. The heart of Khatmandu is with narrow streets and very congested traffic.  The vehicle drivers deserve awards for managing to drive without any dents or scratches.  I was pleased to find that most of the taxis in Khatmandu were Maruthi 800s; in my opinion these are best suited for Khatmandu’s narrow streets.

Our accommodation is arranged in Hotel Vaisali which is supposed to be a 4 star hotel.  Due to narrow approach road, our bus could not reach the hotel; we were dropped 200 yards away from the hotel from where we had to walk with our hand luggages. We were all accommodated in the fifth floor; perhaps specially arranged for the package tourists  with concessional rates.  The AC never worked.

After dinner, we took rest in the hotel that day.

Day 2:

We got up early in the morning and went for Himalayan mountain view by a plane operated by YETI airlines.  We had to pay Rs.4,500 per person extra, for this tour.  We had a very nice view of many of the Himalayan peaks like Mount Everest, Mount Gowri Shankar, Mt. Pindar, etc. After returning, we had breakfast and were taken around Khatmandu for local sight seeing by a bus. We visited Brunda Neelakanta Temple where there is a large idol of Vishnu in lying pose on Adi Seshu (Seshatalpasai).  This idol is very attractive.  Subsequently, we visited Guheswari temple where the Devi is also in lying pose.  Afterwards, we went to the main pilgrim attraction at Khatmandu, the Pasupathinath temple.  Here, five faces of Lord Shiva are carved out on Shivalinga.  We purchased some special items like Rudraaksha garlands, Siva lingams made of mercury etc., and returned to the hotel.

After ere, five face lunch, there was  briefing by the tour operators. The briefing was mostly meant to prepare us mentally about the hardships we would be facing during the tour. We came to know that the SGL’s role was only up to Khatmandu.  From there, the tour was handled by  local tour operator ‘Samrat Treks and Expedition Pvt. Ltd’.  Another 10 pilgrims joined us from Pune and four from Bangkok. Our group comprised 44 pilgrims in total. 

Day 3:

We woke up at 3.15 am and started our journey towards Tibetan border, by bus.  On the way, we stopped on a river bank and had breakfast of sandwiches, cutlets and fruit juice. The entire route up to the border was picturesque with tall trees on sloping mountains, swiftly flowing rivers and waterfalls.

Somewhere midway to the Tibetan border, all vehicles were stopped.  First we thought that it was a traffic jam.  Afterwards, we came to know that it was a road block set up by local villagers due to some tiff with the police.  We were stranded there for nearly 4 hours.  After the 4 hours wait, our tour guide got  a brain wave. He asked us to walk with our hand luggage calmly bypassing the road block.  At other end of the road block, we got into some local buses, which were also stranded on the other side and finally reached the Tibetan border around 3.00 pm.  But all these efforts went in vain, as all our passports were left with the persons held up near the road block.  We had to wait for another hour until the passports came.  By the time we were ready, the immigration officials left for the day, as they follow Chinese time that is 2½ hours ahead of IST.  As a saving grace, our passports were collected and we were allowed to stay on the Tibetan side at Zhangmu where some accommodation was available. Six persons were accommodated in a small room. Somehow, we caught some sleep and managed to pass the night.

The delay en-route to Tibetan border cost us heavily. Due to this delay, we were deprived of one day of acclimatization at Nyalam (at an intermediate altitude). 

Day 4:

Got up early in the morning, at 5 am.  After breakfast we had to once again go through the Chinese immigration, collected our passports and left for Nyalam by road.  Four passengers were grouped and accommodated in a Toyota ‘Land Cruiser’. The road was very bad with lot of repair work going on. After two hours of bumpy ride, during which we might have climbed 3000 to 4000 ft, we reached Nyalam by afternoon.  The Nyalam was at an altitude of 12000 ft. Four pilgrims were grouped together and accommodated in a single four-bedded room.  In the evening, we walked around to get a full view of the town and also to get acclimatized. We purchased a portable oxygen cylinder for emergency purposes and a thermos flask. We realized later that both were totally non-functional. One lady in our group developed high altitude sickness and returned home. 

Unfortunately, as Tibet is under the control of China, they follow Chinese timing, which is 2½ hours ahead of IST.  Due to this, the tour guide woke us up at 3.30 AM itself,  and also arranged break-fast. They also used to serve supper at 5.00 pm though nobody felt hungry.  The biggest problem we faced during our entire journey was the lack of proper toilet facilities. There was no water for flushing, though water was abundantly available at these places.   

Day 5:

After breakfast, we left for Saga.  Practically, there were no roads in Tibet. The land cruiser made it own road.  Most of the area traveled by us in Tibet was either plain ground or desert.  In some places, there was no road at all.  The best road was mud road on gravel.  The vehicle was designed to travel on any kind of land even without road.

On the way to Saga, we stopped on a bank of a lake and had some lunch. We reached Saga by evening.  Saga is on the bank of river Brahmaputra. By the time we reached Saga (16000 ft altitude), most of the people developed high altitude sickness with headache, heaviness in the head, nausea and feverishness.  Most of us skipped dinner and slept. Due to scarcity of oxygen at these altitudes, walking five paces is felt as running twenty yards!

Day 6:

Next day morning, we woke up early and felt somewhat better.  We did not have bath after leaving Nyalam. After breakfast, we left for Paryang.  The entire route was almost like a desert with sand dunes on either side of the road.  On the way, we had lunch near a hotel and reached Paryang by evening.  Paryang was a small settlement with mostly mud houses. Most of our journey was along the river Brahmaputra.  Our health condition slightly improved.  After dinner, we slept.

Day 7:

After breakfast, we took to road. Our next halt was going to be Manasa Sarovar. Everyone was eager. The road was as usual a dusty track. There was snowfall.  We could see snow accumulating and becoming ice on the road edges.  The snowfall continued for 3 to 4 hours.  Around midday, we had to pass through a Chinese check post, where they checked the documents of the Drivers.  It took nearly one hour for that.  After another one hour of drive, we stopped for lunch. Some people skipped lunch due to sickness.  On the way, we saw Hanuman Sarovar.  It was a long narrow lake flanked by snow clad mountains and was very beautiful.  We further drove for another two hours and had a glimpse of Manasa Sarovar.  Within minutes we were on the bank of the great lake.  It was really a breath-taking sight of the dark blue lake surrounded by snow clad mountains.  There was heavy wind. We felt very cold though sun was shining.  We slowly walked to the lake which is 200 yards away and filled a few bottles with lake water.  Meanwhile, our organizers erected Igloo like tents, each to accommodate two persons.  We had a light dinner and settled in the tents.  We were given sleeping bags but in-spite of many layers of heavy dress, we felt very cold during night.  We had very disturbed sleep and woke up early in the morning.

Day 8:

Some of us attempted to take bath in the lake and found top layer frozen.  A few people ventured and got into the lake.  One person got frozen. He had to be carried to the kitchen and placed near the fire. He recovered at last. Around 8 AM, we performed Rudra yaaga for 2 to 3 hours.  Afterwards we had lunch and left for Parikrama (circumscribing) of Manasa Sarovar.  Beside Manasa Sarovar, we saw Raakshasa Sarovar, which was also a big fresh water lake.  After a two hour drive, we reached a place called Darchen which is a base camp for  Mount Kailash. We were all accommodated in double bedded rooms, in a reasonably good hotel. But the maintenance was very poor.

The Parikrama of Kailash involves three-day trekking of around 50 kms.  The first day of the trek is not difficult as it is on a plain ground.  However, on the second day, one has to trek 22 kms  which involves climbing up and down of more than 3000 feet. This is very tough at that altitude and weather conditions. As the conditions were not conducive, most of us decided to skip Parikrama of Mount Kailash.  Only twelve from our batch decided to proceed for Parikrama. 

yDay 9:

We could not take bath as water was ice cold and no hot water was available.  After breakfast, we all drove for about 10 kms to see off the pilgrims proceeding for Parikrama.  From this point, we had a nice view of Mount Kailash. From here, Mount Kailash was exactly looking like Lord Shiva. A few of us tried to climb a small hillock and touch the base of the mountain, but after climbing for one hour, we found it tough to go further and returned.  We thought that we did a wise thing by not proceeding for Parikrama.  We did ‘Atma Pradikshana’ looking at Kailashgiri.  We returned to the base camp at Darchen, had lunch and did some shopping.  To pass time, six of us from Hyderabad met in a room and chatted for 2 to 3 hours on various issues ranging from politics to films.  After that, we had dinner and slept.

Day 10:

After breakfast, some of us drove to a place called Nandi Hill.  It was a very tough road passing through frozen streams and undulating ground.  After a 6 km drive, we reached a sloping hill.  We trekked on this hill for 2 kms and climbed  300 feet, with lot of  difficulty. But it was worth the trouble.  From there, we had a close view of Mount Kailash.  We sat there for a few minutes with peace and tranquility.  On the way back, we met a gentleman who was singing devotional songs very melodiously.  We enjoyed his songs for 15 to 20 minutes and returned to the hotel. We came to know that the batch which went the previous day for Parikrama had returned as they could not proceed further due to heavy snowfall.  Our group decided to return without spending one more day there, doing nothing.

Day 11:

We woke up early, had breakfast, packed and moved for Manasa Sarovar; reached Manasa Sarovar by 11.00 am.  This time, we were accommodated in mud houses on the bank of the lake. Around 10 to 12 people were accommodated in each room.  Around 3 pm, I decided to have bath in Manasa Sarovar. Fortunately the wind was less. The lake was very shallow near the bank.  I had to lie down to fully get immersed.  With great difficulty, I could stay immersed for 2 to 3 minutes.  As soon as I came out, my entire body was numb. I had to quickly dry up and bask in the sun. It was a nice experience. 

We were surprised to meet five Germans on the bank of the lake, who came to take bath after performing Parikrama of Mount Kailash.

It is generally believed that gods come from the sky to take bath in Manas Sarovar and they appear as meteors. After midnight, some of us came out to see if we can find gods, in spite of severe chill.  It was a full moon day.  After waiting for 15 minutes unsuccessfully, we returned to the beds.

Day 12:

All of us decided to cut short our stay in the high altitude area and requested the tour guide to directly drive us from Manasa Sarovar to Saga skipping Paryang.  As we would reach Khatmandu one day earlier, we agreed to pay the hotel bill for the extra day.  As we planned to cover two legs (500 kms) in one day, we had to wake up early at 3.30 am itself and start the journey before 6.00 am.  We had a long and tiring journey and finally reached Saga by 7.00 pm.  We were accommodated in the same hotel where we stayed during the onward journey. Probably because of the tiresomeness, we slept well that day.

Day 13:

As usual, we woke up early, had breakfast and left for Zhangmu, skipping Nyalam.    During part of the journey, they drove through a river basin and through deep valleys.  As the route was different and picturesque, we enjoyed the journey.  In the evening, we had to stop three times for half-an-hour each due to road repair works.  We reached Zhangmu at 7.00 pm.  But there was a very big traffic jam as many trucks and cars were passing through Zhangmu in both directions.  We had to walk down with our hand luggage to the hotel as the car was unable to move.  There was a lot of confusion in the hotel.  Whoever came first, they occupied whatever accommodation was available.  We had to struggle for two hours to get some accommodation.  Finally, six of us were accommodated in one room and we had to sleep on the floor.  The dinner was served at 11.00 pm. 

Day 14:

Next morning, we passed through the emmigration and finally got into the bus at 2.00 pm.  The return journey to Khatmandu was very nice.  Most of the journey was along a river bank.  We had very good view of the water falls and forests on the bank of the river.

We reached Khatmandu by the evening.  As the bus could not reach the hotel due to narrow approach road, we had to walk down the hotel, which is about 200 yards away.  After lot of persuasion, finally, we got accommodation in the hotel and settled down. 

Day 15:

Next day, we roamed in the market area of Khatmandu.  We also visited Durbar Square where a number of temples are located.

Day 16:

We exchanged back the Chinese Yuan left with us.  Around 12.00 pm, we left for airport.  There was usual confusion.  We were made to move up and down and finally could board a bus.  On the way, we were stopped for lunch and finally reached the airport late.  No trolleys were available at the air port.  I somehow managed to get one trolley and had to run to the counter.  They were already inviting wait-listed passengers.  I was told to pay the travel tax at a bank.  Again I had to run to the bank to pay the travel tax (Rs.1700 for two persons).  They do not accept high denomination Indian currency (500 and 1000 rupee notes).  Fortunately, I had seventeen 100 Rupee notes and managed to pay the travel tax and ran back to the check-in counter.  Our other co-passengers reached very late just before boarding announcement.  After arriving at Delhi, one representative of SGL tours received us and transported us from international airport to domestic airport.  Inspite of my repeated cautioning, he dropped us near the arrival terminal.  There was very little time left for departure from Delhi to Hyderabad / Bangalore.  All of us had to run with our luggage to the departure terminal, which is some 200 meters away and somehow managed to check-in into the  Airlines.  Finally, we reached Hyderabad at around midnight.

We both lost some weight and became thin and weak. It took nearly two months for us to recover to normal state. Though tedious and tiring, it was a great experience, which we will remember for life time.

EPILOGUE

Journey to Manasa Sarovar and Mount Kailash is not a pleasure trip.  It is very tedious and tiring.  For people suffering with breathing problems like Asthma, it may be dangerous also. 

Though lower Himalayas are very beautiful with tall trees, rapid streams, hills and valleys, the Tibet plateau is bland.  It is mostly like a desert and some locations are devoid of even grass.  Of course, when there is snow, the mountain peaks look beautiful.

In view of the above, one should undertake this journey only if they are very keen to visit Manasa Sarovar and Mount Kailash.  One cannot undertake this tour casually and try to mix pilgrimage with pleasure.

In spite of the hardship, it is a life time experience which can be remembered forever.  In particular, religious minded people will definitely get a feeling of great achievement and enlightenment by visiting Kailash and Manasa Sarovar.

                                                                  OM NAMAH SIVAYAH: