Alan and Jonna's trekking trip to Tibet

Jonna and Alan took a three week trip to China this August, primarily to go trekking in Tibet. Jonna then spent an additional two weeks going to India afterwards. We both flew to Beijing together and then spent a rainy day playing tourist there. We then flew to Lhasa in Tibet. We spent three days in Lhasa, then left for a 12 day trip into Far Western Tibet. We drove from Lhasa to Shigatse to Lhartse to Saga to Puryang to Darchen. We stopped at the Tashilingo and Sakye monasteries on the way out. We then spent three days at Mt. Kailash and Lake Manasarovar, including visiting the Chiu monastery. We then drove back from Darchen to Puryang to Saga to Lhartse to Lhasa. We then spent five more days in Lhasa, including visiting the Samye monastery. From there we flew back to Beijing where we had a day to to a bicycle trip to the Great Wall. Then Alan flew back to the US. Jonna spent two more days in Beijing doing a bicycle tour through the hutongs and visiting the Temple of Heaven. She then flew to Delhi, where she had day exploring Old Delhi, the Gandhi Museum and wandering around the new part of the city. Then she took the train to Dharamsala in northern India. She spent one week there, before taking the train back to Delhi and then flying back to the US.

Here are some of our photos from the trip. (Because of the length of this trip, I am breaking the photos up into several different pages. This fourth section is from our trek around Mount Kailash.)

1) The kora, or circumambulation, of the sacred mountain Mt. Kailash is about 50 km (32 miles) long and is normally done by westerners over a three days hike (Tibetan pilgrims do the whole thing in one day). At the mouth of the entrance canyon is the Tarboche or Sagadawa Pole. This pole is replaced each year on the date of the Buddha's birthday and then covered with prayer flags throughout the year. Jonna and I added a string of flags and then sang Happy Birthday for my Mother since it was her birthday back in the US.

2) One step into this canyon will help you realize why Mt. Kailash is considered sacred. This valley is about 16 km (10 miles) long, has 2,000 ft high mountain ridges on either side and a sizable river flowing down the middle. Cascading down from the ridges on both sides are spectacular waterfalls, so numerous that you can see probably 15 or 20 at any given time. It looks too incredible to be real and I kept expecting hobbits or unicorns to come walking into sight like it was a digital animation. Just walking into this valley was one of the most amazing hiking experiences I will probably ever have.

3) This panorama photo was Alan's attempt to capture the scale of the entrance canyon of the Mt. Kailash kora.

4) Here is a photo of one of the innumerable waterfalls which flow down from the peak of Mt. Kailash. The Tibetan woman, with her child on her back, is one of the native pilgrims who do the entire kora in one day. The entrance to the canyon is around 4876m (16,000 ft) high and the Drolma La (the highest pass) is around 5640m (18,500 ft).

5) At about the halfway point of the day's trek, we stopped in this tea tent to warm up. It was intermittently raining and I was already struggling from the lack of oxygen. These are three of the four porters who carried all our trekking equipment, about 75 lbs for each porter, to our camping site up at 5180m (17,000 ft). Three of the porters were over 50 years old and there was one young 17 year old kid. Amazing people!

6) We camped just uphill from this tea tent up at the DeraPuk monastery. The 22 km (14 mile) hike up to this point was tough for me. My muscles just weren't getting enough oxygen and were cramping up. Even my fingers cramped into fists. What was amazing to me, after hiking up a river bed for 14 miles, was to find a little 125cc motorcycle parked up at the tea tent. The Tibetan riders do some pretty astounding things on these cheap little Chinese street bikes.

7) During the night, some Tibetan porters that were escorting a large group of Hindu pilgrims brought their pack yaks up to pasture around our tent. All during the night, we could hear little bells ringing on the horses and yaks. In the morning we woke to fresh snow and large animals all around our tent.

In Tibetan 'hood
Laughter comes from tent like smoke
Yaks are protectors

8) The first day's trek made it obvious it wouldn't be smart for me to attempt the Drolma La so I turned back. However, Jonna did fine on day one so she went continued with just the guide and one porter. She completed the rest of the kora, 24km (15 miles), in just one day. This photo was taken by her just over the top, where the porter is putting a piece of her clothing on a rock as an offering.

9) This is the crew that successfully completed the kora of Mount Kailash on our trip. Tsewang our guide, the 17 year old porter (whose name I'm ashamed to say I've forgotten) and Jonna. Jonna gave the porter her down jacket (which he'd carried all day for her) to give to his mother or sister, a Swiss army knife and a tip. He was deeply thankful for the gifts which were a rich bounty in that part of Tibet. However, he gave far more than that back to us by helping Jonna complete the kora and we still feel endebted to him.

Go back to the third '06 Tibet Photo Page.

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Alan Fleming