Photos and videos at the end.
After breakfast, we visited Zutulpuk monastery, next to our guesthouse. The monastery was originally built in the 13th century before being destroyed by the Chinese and rebuilt in 1983.
At the center of Zutulpuk Monastery is the Milarepa meditation cave, where you can apparently see the footprint and hand prints of Milarepa, born in 1032 and generally considered one of Tibet's most famous yogis and spiritual poets. According to legend, Mount Kailash is where Milarepa, a Buddhist, and Naro Bonging, a Bon practitioner, fought for religious supremacy.
We set off at an easy pace, the first time our now group of nine walked together. We only had 12 km or so to walk back to Darchen. It was a fine morning, if a little cool. The track was broad and fairly level, and we made good pace.
Eventually, we reached the official end of the kora (also the start of the kora for the Bon people, who do it counter clockwise) with the 7,694m (26,000ft) Gurla Mandhata coming into view.
After a stop at the teahouse, we continued west with fine views of the plain. On into Darchen, across dug up streets and past half built hotels. It seems the Chinese are hellbent on rampant development and “progress” at all costs, immune to the destruction of character or anything traditional.
After completing the Kailash trek in the morning, we drove out to the shores of Lake Manasarovar, sacred to Hindu, Buddhist and Bon religions. We lingered for a while by the shore. Some of the religious among our group stepped into the clear waters for merit. It was serene and peaceful.
We stopped to visit the Chiu Gompa monastery before driving on to the saline Lake Rakshastal. In Buddhism, Lake Manasarovar, which is round like the sun, and Rakshastal, shaped as a crescent, are respectively regarded as "brightness" and "darkness". Rakshastal was still like a millpond, brilliantly reflecting the snowy peaks of Gurla Mandhata. A nice drive back to Darchen in the evening sunlight followed by dinner at a local restaurant. Stayed overnight at Darchen.
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