Day 1 of Mt Kailash Kora

Altitude: 4860 meters, Parmath Dirapuk Ashram, Dirapuk

A long day today...will sleep well tonight. We stayed in Darchen, where The Very Large Stray Dog Population outnumbers humans about 2:1 (Unofficial Sarah estimates. I'm pretty sure the Chinese government would say there were no stray dogs). After dinner last night we had to spend 25 kuai on a thermos because Galek suddenly remembered it was a necessity. Not a big deal cost-wise but irritating because it was 10 pm and we really wanted to get to bed (and more to the point, past The Very Large Stray Dog Population). We got it, got back to the hotel as quickly as possible, finished packing, washed our hair in the hand basin (since it had already been 2 days and we previously had been through a 5 hour dust storm), attempted to dry our undies washed the previous night using the heat from the basin, and did a joint 11:30pm toilet run across the carpark ('twas a new stage in my travelling relationship with Heather).

7:10 came very quickly (well, 6:30...6:40...6:50...) but our planned 7:30 breakfast/8:00 departure was marred by the gates to the hotel being locked. The purpose for them locking the gates is of course to keep out The Very Large Stray Dog Population. So the day started instead with 2 minute noodles.

Then we found that, rather than putting our luggage directly in the 4WD as expected we would be putting it in a cupboard under the stairsof the hotel and Megma would load up the car later. Why?? A problem for me because all my stuff was in bits and bags due to using my pack for the porter. We couldn't figure out why this was the case till we realised they needed room in the back of the 4WD for the porter himself. Why when the kora actually starts from Darchen would we all need to get into the 4WD?? Well we were being given a 5 km head start by the driver and being driven to the first prostration point instead of walking there. Heather was positively livid at the prospect of not actually walking the entire kora around the mountain. For me, it was also a bit odd/disappointing (the first 5 kms are the flat bit!! That's an hour's worth of manageable!).

100 m into our walk and we climb up with laboured breathing...well, me anyway... to a viewpoint to take some (in retrospect, really crap) photos. The strange thing about how difficult I found such a climb is that my legs and body were completely fine but I felt as though I was gasping for air. The quite easy, gently undulating path seemed like a huge achievement for me. So much for the 10 days wort of acclimatising we'd done up to this point.

We passed the western face of Mt Kailash. It was gorgeous - following a stream all the way to lunch in a nomad's tent. Galek had us taking frequent breaks and it really was manageable (despite what my gasping for air may have indicated). I'm convinced he thought I was going to die, as he kept looking at me and offering to carry my day pack - no, no, really, I just have very small lung capacity!

The nomad's tent had pot noodles, pepsi, tea and those horrible faux meat sausage things that the Chinese love (look like raw hotdogs in individual wrapping). No question the 'I told you so' song was ringing through my head since Kai thought it necessary to fill up the 4WD and therefore Galek's seat with food for the trek. After lunch of pot noodles and tea (something we'd get used to over the next few days) we watched in horror as our host picked up the rubbish and promptly threw it into what used to be a pristine stream. After 2 months in China we were used to sad sights of litter everywhere, but this was just too much and Heather & I resolved to carry any trash with us for the rest of the journey.

The rest of the walk was only an hour from the nomad's tent but we took our time. The scenery was incredible...we followed a stream walking through a valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains as the occasional pigrim, yak or horse (or all 3!) passed. This hike - or kora (a circumambulation of the mountain) is extremely sacred to both Buddhists and Hindus...most particularly Hindus actually as it's known as the birthplace/home of Shiva. Every Hindu is supposed to try to make this pilgrimage once in their lifetime, so in that respect it's a bit like Mecca to Muslims. Due to the dual factors of being outside pilgrimage season and the Chinese government limiting visas to 800 Indians per year (go China!!) traffic on the trail was minimal.

A single lap around the mountain is said to erase a lifetime's of sins. Or in our case 80% of them since we're only doing 42 kms of the 52 km track..I figured the 20% I'll miss out on is the first 7 years of my life (sorry for giving you a broken tooth that resulted in that root canal, Ames). Also, given my thoughts towards Kai at this point, I made a mental note to look up the treatment of sins you commit as you're walking the trek.

We reached the hotel, Dirapuk, where there was a monastery and a newly built guesthouse...we only knew it was newly built because the Lonely Planet dated 2008 references a new guest house in construction here. Given the mouldy, salt damped walls with peeling paint and and outside toilet you'd think it was a good 15-20 years (at least!) but hey...that's what 60 kuai per person ($10) buys you in Western Tibet.

The hotel was surrounded by a couple of nomad camps and had a perfectly framed view of the northwestern face of Mt Kailash. The mountain is almost a cookie-cutter pyramid with 4 faces but this would be the last we'd see of it for a while, since it disappears from view for days 2 and 3 of the kora. There was a cluster of prayer flags overlooking the valley and as it was only 2pm we decided to climb up to it - serving the dual purposes of a nice photo opportunity but perhaps more importantly assisting in acclimatising to the higher altitude in preparation for our big ascent over the Drom-la pass tomorrow. The first plateau wasn't too hard - maybe a 75-100 meter climb overlooking the hotel (still no easy feat when you're talking about 4900 meters). Then there was the next climb, a good 200m and steep with a view of Kailash and the glacier next to it.

I made it.

It was hard.

The last 1/3 I was counting each step. Then I would make myself walk 20 steps before a rest. It got down to 5 steps. But I made it. Probably 40 steps from the top I got a bit of a second wind as snow began to fall and I could see I was nearly there. Heather reached the top well ahead of me and had started to descend but came back up with me for some photos & a quick video of the top.

OK so I know what 5200 meters (more or less) feels like...bring on Drom-la (5630m).

On the descent, just before reaching the guest house, we met an Indian man who greeted us with 'namaste' and asked us to take his photo in front of Mt Kailash. He proceeded to become overwhelemed with the moment and the sight of Kailash, tearing up as he told us how important this journey was to him and that it was his lifelong dream realised. He blessed us after that and said something to the effect of 'may your find your God here too'. By this point I had tears streaming down my face and left him with my hands in prayer position and 'namaste'. If you've never taken a yoga class, namaste is a greeting in both India and Nepal and is Sanskrit for what is translated as the god within me honours the god within you.

We hung out with the guides & porters in the main room that night. Mostly because it was the only place with any form of heat source. With every piece of clothing I had brought along on me, we sipped hot water (I must have had at least 3 litres) and ate choc chip biscuits, dried yak and dried banana. The Tibetan guides came in and out and the owner of the hotel sat on the bench thumbing his prayer beads. Our hot water cup was filled every time it was ½ empty by one of the guides. The evening wound down and after noodles - bed. Kai & Aaro went up to the room first and shortly returned - ummmm did you notice there's no window?. "Yeah" (thinking, what were you expecting now, a view???) "I mean that the front window pane is missing"

Ohhhhhhhhhh. No, didn't see that

Faced with the prospect of a room with an open window in sub-zero temps we asked to switch rooms and got 2 doubles, the only rooms they had left. Very kindly the owner gave it to us for the same price as the quad too.

Carrying myself downstairs to the new room I was stopped by a bright pink reflection off Kailash as the sun set. An Indian couple were excitedly looking and it and insisted I take a picture. Not a problem, was already rummaging for the SLR. Teams of yaks were also being tethered outside the hotel so it made for quite a commotion. Back in the room, hurriedly trying to ditch the polarising filter, Kai's asking me to open the backpack (me thinking, it's a goddamn ZIPPER now you expect me to open this for you??) At the same time my camera lens completely broke - the filter came off but so did the actual glass and dropped on the floor. I was so upset and frantically checked the glass for scratches (none in the dim light, amazingly) and managed to figure out how it all went together. Amazingly my autofocus problem which had been getting worse for the past 3 weeks had been solved. Just in time for Everest!!

Tucked in bed, after Heather's improvised hot water bottle warmed my sleep sheet, with every piece of clothing on save my soft shell. Tomorrow will kick my ass but I'm reminded

1. my boots are Scarpa 'Kaliash' so it's meant to be

2. it's just a walk...