Photos and videos at the end.
A wet and dreary start to the day leaving Saga. Low clouds hung to the hills. Cooler today. We have been very lucky with the weather so far. This is the first rainy start. A 500km drive to Darchen today, along the Saga Valley between the Himalayan Range and the Gangdise Range.
The terrain reminded me a bit of the Scottish highlands, though here we are at 4800m. We also witnessed our first car crash, a low speed head on, but looked like no injuries as we sped past. Am somewhat surprised but thankful we didn’t see more crashes. Our driver is very good. You can’t be too timid on Tibetan roads.
By mid morning it has started to brighten up. We passed the great Annapurna range somewhere to the south, obscured by cloud. Another passport check, second of the day late afternoon, as we entered Kailash privince. We crossed a few passes at 5200m (17,500 ft), green lakes under snow capped peaks and through largely empty lands, except for wild yaks and wild donkeys.
Eventually we reached the sacred Lake Manasarovar. We stopped for a while to peruse the roadside vendors, who sell desiccated fish washed up on the shore along with stones from the shore. All considered holy and used for a variety of purposes, including medical.
Driving along the lake, we eventually reached Darchen and our first views of Mount Kailash, the ultimate destination for this trip. Tonight we stayed at Darchen. Tomorrow we begin the 3 day Mount Kailash kora, considered to be the worlds most difficult pilgrimages, reaching 5,600m (nearly 19,000ft) at the Dolma La pass. Another member of our group succumbed to altitude sickness and made it back to the hotel before fainting. Fortunately, the hotel has large bottles of oxygen in the lobby and every room has piped oxygen above the bed.
Double click on an image to enlarge and scroll.
Comments