Kailash Mansarovar Yatra: Chitra Ilangovan

Om Sri Sairam

Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra

(Sep 4 to 20, 2011)

Personal experience by Chitra Ilangovan

After having completed darshan of the 12 Jyothirlingas, my next ambition was to have a dip in the holy Mansarover Lake, experience the darshan of Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva, and perform a Parikrama.  However, I had never imagined that this desire of mine would be fulfilled so soon in my life!

On 4^th September 2011, accompanied by my husband Ilangovan, our family friends, Sabanayagam and his wife Malati, Sekar and his wife Shrimati, we undertook our Kailash Yatra.  In this blog, I have chronicled my experiences of the Kailash-Manasarovar Yatra that I had documented in my diary during the trip.

Day 1 (4^th September)

Departure from Delhi – We took the 1.30 pm Spice Jet flight from Terminal 3 at Indira Gandhi International Airport.

• 10.15 am – Took a taxi from our home near Noida for the Delhi airport
• 11 am – Reached Indira Gandhi International airport
• 11.00-12.00 pm – Went through the boarding / immigration formalities
• 12.00-1.15 pm – Whiled away time with friends
• 1.30 - 3.15 pm – In the flight, gazing at the majestic Himalayas
•  3.30 pm – Arrived at Tribuvan Airport, Kathmandu, welcomed by our travel agent, Mr. Joshi (of Samrat Travels).  After a 5 minutes car journey, reached hotel Airport, a comfortable 3 Star hotel.
• Evening – Visited the Pashupathinath temple.  Here we were lucky to receive aarti of the four faces of Bhagwan Pashupatinath, followed by aarti at the adjoining Bagmathi River, which is similar to the Ganga Arthi at Haridwar. The Pashupathinath template at Kathmandu one of the most sacred temples of Lord Shiva. 
• Night – Had a delicious dinner at the hotel.

 Day 2 (5^th September)

• 8.00 am – After a good breakfast at the hotel, left for Manakamana temple with our group.  Manakamana is located in the Gorkha district, about 100 kilometers from Kathmandu.  It is a 4 hours drive from Kathmandu.  From Manakamana, cable cars or winches ferry passengers to the temple.  As the name suggests, this temple is the abode of the Manakamana or the “wish fulfilling” Goddess, Devi Mahalakshmi.
• 12.00 pm – Arrived at Manakamana and rushed to get into the last winch before they shut down for lunch.  The winch crosses 7 hills in about 15 minutes to get to the Manakamana temple.  The view is breathtaking.
• 12.30 pm – Had peaceful darshan of the Goddess.  A ‘Chunahari’ sent by my daughter, Meera was given as our offering to the Devi.  Returned to Kathmandu, lunched at a local restaurant in Kathmandu.
• 7.00 pm – Reached hotel.
• 8.30 pm – Had a sumptuous dinner at the hotel.

 Manakamana Temple – Nepal

 Day 3 (6^th Sep)

• 8.00 am – The group met for breakfast at the hotel restaurant.
• 9.00 am – 6.00 pm – Drove to the Guhyeshwari Kali temple in Kathmandu.  This temple is dedicated to Goddess Parvati, and is worshipped for the Shakti peetam.  From here, we went to the Jal Narayan or the Buddha Neelkanth temple.  This is where one can worship Lord Vishnu as the Adisesha (resting on the Sesha or snake on the waterbed).  After the darshans, we went shopping for Rudraksh beads, crystal, coral necklaces etc. at Vishal Bazaar.  Lunch was in a local restaurant, followed by more shopping, this time for some essentials the long trip ahead, at the once popular Bhat Bhateni Supermarket.  By this time, it had started raining heavily.
• 7.30 pm – There was a briefing by the trip organizer, about our onward journey (He also got us our visas from the Chinese embassy, thankfully.  We had been waiting for the visas for over a month, and had embarked on this journey, without the visas, but with full faith on the Lord.)
• 8.30 pm – We had dinner at the hotel, which unfortunately was not so good this time.
• 9.00 pm – 11.00 pm – We got our Indian money exchanged to the Chinese Yuan (at Rs.15, 000 for 2000 Yuan per head, it is expensive indeed!).  We also got busy packing for the 10 days Yatra and hence got hardly any sleep for the rest of night.  Or maybe it was the excitement of finally fulfilling our ambition.

 Day 4 (7^th Sep)

• 8.00 am – We had a hearty breakfast of Chole bhature, a variety of breads, cakes and fresh juice.
• 9.00 am – Endured a 5 hours bus journey to Kodari, which is at the Nepal-Tibet border.  Our bus reached Totapani at 11:00pm, a place not very far from Kodari, but one of our groups’ buses got stuck in a traffic jam due to a road accident, and hence the entire group got delayed by two hours.  However, we had a good lunch at the Manasarovar guest house in Totapani, something that we would miss for the next 15 days.  Because of the delay, we had to stay overnight at Kodari.  We stayed at the New Family guest house.  3 people had to share a room, but the rooms were in good condition, with attached bathrooms, water and electricity.  Near this guest house a natural hot spring is maintained by a private group.  Some of our group members had a bath in the hot spring, something that is believed to cure many diseases.
• 8.00 pm – We sang bhajans at the dinner table.  Dinner was okay.

Far away from city life, at a serene, peaceful and quiet night in the lap of our Mother Nature, yes, our Kailash journey finally begins!

 Totapani – near Kodari, Nepal/Tibet border

Day 5 (8^th September)

• 7.30 am – no bath, good breakfast, 10 minutes bus journey to Kodari – Nepal/Tibet border-  Zang mu - China -occupied Tibet border.  A connecting bridge between the two borders on the river Koshi is called Friend’s Bridge, through which we had to cross the border; just a 10 minutes long walk to cross the Nepal border.
• In the next couple of hours, we crossed the China border, and completed the immigration formalities etc.  The area was very congested.
• Our actual journey started here in a Land Cruiser, which is the only means of transport available; but is a comfortable and safe mode of transport for the rough weather ahead. We had engaged 13 vehicles.  All the drivers were Tibetans; none of them could speak or understand any other language other than Tibetan. So throughout our journey we travelled with human robots!
• Our tour organizers had also arranged a truck to carry our luggage, lots of vegetables, water, etc as well as cooks and bearers, to take care of our requirements for the entire journey to Kailash and back to Kathmandu.
• After one and a half hours of journey, we came to our first halt Nyalam, (12,000 ft height) stayed at She Sha Bang Ma Hotel, a two story building with water and electricity facilities. Six people had to share one room.  The weather was good, just like our Delhi’s peak winter.
• Cooks made simple but tasty food, but because of altitude sickness our appetite was gone. In the evening, we used to have tea, coffee or horlicks followed by hot soup and dinner.
• Many of our group members became sick because of altitude pressure – they experienced headache, short of breath, vomiting, and so on.

 

 Inside view of She Sha Bang Ma Hotel - Nyalam

 In front of the hill top which we had to climb as practice

Day 6 (9^th Sep)

• Today was a rest day, to acclimatize ourselves to the air pressure -  it was a lazy morning with good breakfast. No bath. Hot water only for brushing and face wash.
• Today we had to trek nearly 2000 ft height, (means till 14,000 ft altitude) and our guide announced that only those who could climb up to the top of the mountain would be selected for the Kailash Parikrama,. Nobody wanted to miss the precious opportunity; and everybody began to climb enthusiastically. Very few of us backed out, most of us successfully finished the trek. The morning weather was very hot and sunny.
• We were all so happy and felt triumphant as if we had climbed up the Mount Everest.
•  Return to hotel, good lunch and rest.
•  Evening walk was tiring but good; however sudden rain disrupted our walking and forced us back to our hotel. No other time pass, curled inside the blankets, until dinner was announced.

 

 Half way of practice done successfully

 7^th day (10^th Sep)

• 7.30 am – breakfast, no bath.
•  8.00 am – onward journey to next halt – Saga or Sanga (14000 ft.)  Lunch served at midway.
• 12.00 pm – reached ‘Hotel Saga’. Chinese military base area. Good hotel, shared bedroom between 4 members; attached bathroom and water, electricity facility available.  Heavy rains outside, no activity but forced to stay inside our rooms.
• Photographs and mobile phones are not allowed here, because of it being a military base.
• Evening - set out to buy water cans for filling Manasarovar water.
• 6.30 pm – coffee followed by hot soup and dinner.

 Lunch at midway

 Saga city

8^th Day (11^th Sep)

• 6.00 am – had hot water bath.
• 7.30 am – had breakfast and got ready for the day’s schedule.
• 8.00 am – onward journey to Paryas.  Meals at midway.
• 12.00 pm – reached Paryas.
• Our stay –  Mud house - sharing bedrooms by 6 members.
• Solar electricity is available from 8.00 – 10.00 pm.
• Chinese have very good knowledge in use of solar energy power.
• Weather – rain and very cold.
• No hot water, no bathroom, toilet pathetic.
• Because of the biting cold outside, dinner served at our rooms. Really the cooks and the helpers did wonderful job. God bless them.

 Mud House

Inside the mud house

9^th Day (12^th Sep)

• Weather was very cold - no water, no bath.
• 8.00 am – breakfast – oats porridge
• Today is our prayers fulfilling day. Yes. Our next journey is towards Manasarovar.
• 12.00 pm – midway meals and reached Manasarovar Lake.
• What a wonderful breathtaking landscape; untouched by humans and a virgin divine land on earth.
• We did namaskaram before the Lake; from here Mt Kailash is also visible. Read Thiruvachakam and spent 30 minutes here.
• Did Parikrama of Mansarover Lake in our cars; half way of Parikrama our land cruisers stopped, and we got down to take a dip in the holy Manasarovar Lake and said prayers facing Kailash Mount. 
• Weather – sunny.  Water was ice cold. Crystal clear water, one can see clearly the bottom of the lake scattered with Salagramams. We spent an hour collecting Salagramam and holy water.
• Here also we stayed in a mud house, sharing a room with 4 people.  The mud house was very close to Manasarovar and we could see Mt Kailash from our rooms. Night became very cold. Dinner served at our rooms.
• Today is also full moon day, and the sun finally set at 8.00 pm
• We were asked to wake up at 1.30 am to watch the celestials take bath in the Manasarovar Lake.
• We were all seated before 1.30 am on the banks of the Lake daring the biting cold. One by one many (tennis ball size) bright stars began to slide down from the mountains on the other side of the Lake into the Sarovar. We counted 40-50 stars, but because of the severe cold we came back to our rooms leaving the stars to their privacy.

 Our first sight of Manasarovar – Kailash

Mount Kailash

 

Reading Thiruvachakam

Crystal clear water – full of salagramam

Collecting Salagramam

Gurulu Mandada range – 1000m higher than Mt Kailash

Rakshash Tal

 Legend is that Ravana did Tapas here after his failed attempt to lift the Kailash. The story is not in the Ramayana, but Shiva Puranam tells that when Ravana’s mother had fallen ill, as they were great devotees of Lord Shiva, he attempted to carry the Kailash mountain on his back to Lanka for his mother’s prayers.

It is believed that the water in this lake tastes of salt, because the lake is created from the tears of Ravana, while he was doing penance for his mistakes. (from Wikipedia)

We were asked not to touch the water as it was considered inauspicious.

River Brahmaputra

10^th day (13^th Sep)

• Morning coffee, no breakfast but we were asked to get ready for a Havan to be conducted on the banks of Manasarovar lake.  Before this, Mrs. and Mr. Saba, Govan and I went to the other side of the bank and gave Pindam to our demised elders.
• Havan was conducted by all the devotees with shraddha and devotion. At Poornaahudi, the fire God consumed all our offerings with His raised flames even though the atmosphere had less oxygen at that time.  
• Our cooks made special meals for this occasion. After the lunch, we proceeded to Ashtapath in our cars. A closer darshan of Kalishpathi from south face is had here. Roads were very rough, no proper link road but next couple of hours our cars juggled all the way on the river Brahmaputra to reach Ashtapath.
• Few feet away from here, behold, we were in front of our Lord.  Oh Sairam! What a mighty form of formless one.
• One  km walk up to the hill, one can have close darshan of the Lord. Nandi on the right side and Dwarpalaks on each side. Small rivulet coming down from Kailash which takes mighty form as Brahmaputra looks like Ganga emerging from His Jada.
• We did Gayatri Japam and meditation for some time.
• Climate was very good, no clouds but passing clouds, we spent nearly 2 hours there.
• What a wonderful experience, wish our souls always rest there
• Took another route to go to Darchen, our next halt. Good accommodation with solar electricity, but no hot water, no bathroom, toilet pathetic.

Havan

Way to Ashtapad

Our first view – Kailash – South face – Astapad

Nandi and dwarpalak

Closer view

Panoramic view of Darchen city

11^th day (14^th Sep)

• 7.00 am – coffee and breakfast, no bath
• 7.30 am – left for Yamadhwar.  Yamadhwar is on the way to Kailash parikrama.  Here, the legend says that whoever crossed the entrance of this gate, will be fearless when their end comes.
• 8.00 am - After half an hour ride by the car, we reached the base of mountain called ‘Tarpoche’ (means flagpole).  From here our parikrama started.  We had to select either a horse or by trekking for 3 days parikrama. At first we thought of trekking the 8 km of first day’s parikrama on foot. We engaged a porter to carry our bag.
• 9.00 am – began to walk along with other pilgrims. It was not easy as we thought; climbing to higher altitude with less oxygen made us very tired. In half way, we totally exhausted, luckily our Tibetan guide arranged horses for our group. After taking 30mts rest, we mounted on horseback to go to ‘Dirabuk Gompa’ - our first day’s halt.
• Very sunny day, even a single passing clouds were not seen, remembering our peak summer day at Delhi. Along this route, we can see the west side face of Kailash, very close to our path.  It looks like very close to us, just above our head, but it is not. 
• From the outer kora, only three faces are visible for darshan. For the east side of darshan, one should undertake the inner kora parikrama which is very tough and the Chinese army already closed the path, as per their annual closure.
• 12.00 pm – reached Dirabuk. A close darshan of north view of our Lord. What a powerful mightiness! Is this Shiva’s Nataraja form? Or a form of Ananda thandawam?
• We were all very tired and felt altitude sickness. Our room was on the first floor, but no attached bathroom or water.  Took rest for some time. We were so lucky that there was no crowd (not more than 100 pilgrims), had good darshan from our balcony to our heart fill. Evening became very cold, and at night rain also made it worse.
• Dinner served at our room. Good sleep. Morning – return to Darchen or going further to Parikrama?
• The locals here are very poor.  We were told to carry small gifts for people here, and a lot of us had brought along items like warm clothes, clips, shampoos, lotions etc. to give to the children.

• Yamadwar – legend says that whoever passes through the steps will attain fearless death at the time of their end.
• Offerings: old cloths anything like kerchief, hair, drop of blood. (dropping one’s body is most auspicious).
• Ashtapad – south face of Lord Kailash.  The Jains call it Ashtapada, and believe it to be their holy place, where their first Thirthankara Rishabhadeva, founder of Jainism attained Nirvana.  Legend says that He was the only person to climb the holy mountain, leaving his sandal behind. He was seen by his followers till He climbed 7 steps and disappeared.
• Climbing the Mt Kailash is forbidden - only a pure soul entirely free of sin could climb. Following the political and border disturbances across the Chinese-Indian boundary pilgrimage was stopped from 1954 to 1978. Thereafter a limited number of Indian pilgrims have been allowed to visit the place under strict vigilance from both the governments.
• Before 2001, the Chinese government gave permission to various mountaineers to climb the peak, but none of them could make it successfully. (Some critics are saying that they would climb something harder peaks than Kailash).  Because of the international disapproval, the Chinese government decided to ban all attempt to climb the mountain thereafter. (From Wikipedia)

Enroute to Derabuk  - along the mountain is Brahmaputra

 West side face – looks like very near our reach

With my porter (a 60+ old lady, poverty makes them work hard)

Our guest house at Dirabuk Gomba

North side face

• 2^nd day’s parikrama is very tough, 23km long trekking. Even horse riding made us very tired, because we had to climb further to a higher altitude. All the way up we had to face many difficulties like; there is very less oxygen, rain and chilly wind, climbing up on icy cliff …… Om Namah Shivaya!  
• On this way, after Dolma Pass, 3 km down the path is ‘Gouri Kund’ where the legend says Mother Parvati baths.
• 6-7 hours trekking and night halt at Zongzerbu.
• 3^rd day’s parikrama is very easy. 6 km walk then vehicle picks up to reach Darchen Hotel.

 16^th Sept

• Return journey from Darchen. First halt at Di Guan near Saga, and the second day’s long journey halted at Nyalam on 17^th Sep.

18^th Sept  

• 7.00am - departure to Kodari-Nepal border.
• 8.30 am - just before 3 km of Tibet/Nepal border, suddenly our vehicles stopped – reason: there was a big land slide just in front of our cars. The Chinese army immediately put into action two cranes to clear the way. It took nearly 3 hours to clear, but by then our cars left us stranded there. We had to trek down to Zang Mu border all the way carrying our bags (terrible); completed our immigration and reached Kodari border.
• Bus was waiting to take us to Kathmandu. It was raining all day, the roads were muddy and slippery and the heavy mist made it extremely difficult for the driver. Thanks to his driving skills, we made it safely to our hotel in Kathmandu.
• As we landed at our hotel a major incident occured. Yes the very moment we stepped inside the lobby, people from inside the hotel began to rush outside. We experienced a powerful earthquake, which rocked the entire eastern Himalayas. One wall of the hotel even had cracks. It took another half an hour for everything to settle, later we learnt that the damages were severe.
• In the evening the organizers arranged a meeting during which the devotees exchanged their rich experiences. This was followed by giving Certificates of successful completion of Kailash Yatra by the organizers.

19^th Sept

• Today was rest day, we had enough time to go shopping at Vishal Bazar, Pashupathinath temple etc. 
• At around 10.30 am we were roaming around the old Palace, where many ancient temples are situated, some local people asked us to go inside one of the temples where the Nepal’s Living God gives darshan. We praised our stars to have glimpse of Her Holiness.

20^th Sept

• Return journey to Delhi. At 8.30 am we reached airport, after immigration and all, our flight touched Delhi around 12.00 noon and reached home by 1.30 pm.

What a thrilling experience it was. We couldn’t believe ourselves that we were so fortunate to undertake the holiest Yatra of all for us, Hindus – the Holy Kailash Mansarover Yatra. It was a life’s ambition fulfilled.  

Thank you Sairam!  Without you we could not have imagined this mammoth journey.

Avan Arulale Avan Thal Vananghi vanthom.

Sairam

Chitra Ilangovan

Edited to add: To view our other yatras, please click the links below:
Yamunotri, Gangotri, Gaumukh Yatra
Amaranath Yatra

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA:

Sairam to all. I am very thankful to all my blog viewers; many of my friends have asked me more about my experiences/tips for this Kailash Yatra. Inspiration itself is the big labour which one has to explore through.

About my collection of Salagramam:

After taking bath in the Manasarovar Lake, I collected salagramams at random, I think 12 or 15 in number and kept them carefully in my carry bag. Next day we proceeded towards Kailash Parikrama. First our halt was near Ashtapad, south face of lord Kailash. Here we spent nearly 2 hours. Without wasting a single minute I began to chant Gayatri Mantra sitting near a small rivulet offering water after each Swahah: while chanting each mantra I mentioned the Swaha: by naming all my relatives, friends and my demised elders.

  

My mind was totally in a composed stage; my fingers became numb because of the icy water. Some consciousness asked me to chant Hanuman Chalisa. Unconsciously I picked up a small stone near the rivulet. Holding it in my hand, I began to chant the Chalisa. Soon our group members were asked to return to our cars, and with heavy hearts we moved ahead. It was then that I noticed the stone.. no- salagramam, which looked like sakshat Hanumanji Himself.  

1.      

1.  Some time before my journey I received a forwarded mail with a photograph of Hanumanji reading Ramayana, and the story of how it was photographed by a devotee, which I have attached here. To my utter surprise, I recognized the stone that resembled the same photo.
2. After I returned to Delhi  I leisurely placed the other salagramams collected from Manasarovar Lake in my shrine. Few days later I noticed some forms manifested on 7 or 8 stones which I wanted to share with you all.

In this salagramam Lord Ganesha taking rest under a tree.  See the eyes … how beautifully He is looking.

Pranava mantra OM                                                  

Nag Deva

Nearly an inch in size, this tiny salagramam looks like an angelic face lovingly watching you.

My collection of salagramams