KAILASA MAANASA SAROVARA YATRA:
KAILASA MANASA SAROVAR YATRA BY-B M MOHAN
PROLO...: KAILASA MANASA SAROVAR YATRA BY-B M MOHAN PROLOGUE The Himalayas attract and inspire people from all over the world, though ...
Saturday, April 21, 2012
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 21st 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 21st
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 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.
Day 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.
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