Mt Kailash day 3 / Lake Manasovar

We woke to quite the sight outside our camp - overnight the mountains and campsites had acquired a dusting of snow. Though it bode unpredictable walking conditions it was incredibly beautiful to watch the nomads prepare their horses and pack up their tents for the rest of the hike. We had quite a late start because it was such a short distance to walk (around 7 km total). Our nutritious breakfast of yak jerky, peanuts, and chips ahoy got us going. Kai asked to borrow my lens pen, which I didn't have on me at the time but it did give me the opportunity to resolve that at the next request I shall introduce him to the English word 'please'. (I assume he must not know it because in the 2 weeks we've been travelling together, to this point I've not heard him use it once).

We set off about the same time as the large Indian contingent so I got caught behind them and spoke briefly with a gentleman from Illinois - unfortunately my conversation brain wasn't yet firing on all cylinders so it was a rather dull discussion.

It was a 90 minute walk through mostly flat and mostly clear pathways. The mountains and valley looked incredible as the snow melted - a mixture of white, green and brown. About 45 minutes into the trip I met an Indian man named Rakesh from Delhi. He had come across from the Indian border over a high pass, trekking for 8 days, then crossing into China for the kora. For the 28 day trip the entire group (about 100 of them) were abstaining from meat, alcohol, tobacco, sex and shaving in order to focus on the spirituality of the trip. (The shaving rule had both spiritual and practical aspects). One man in the group was walking the kora barefoot.

He was a lovely man and very interesting to chat to as we finished the experience. We found out that the Chinese government only grants 800 visas each year to Indians to complete the kora. Imagine the Mecca pilgrimage being restricted to only 800 Muslims! We also learned that the Indians who complete the walk start it from the first prostration point and end it where we were as well - which made Heather feel much better about missing out on 10 kilometers and a complete circuit. We decided then that it 100% of our sins had been erased not the 80% we were expecting. Rakesh exchanged contact details with us and he was very insistent that we contact him with a proposed itinerary for India so that he could advise us.

We reached the end where Megma was waiting next to the 4WD, sweet milk tea in hand for us to celebrate before heading to Lake Manasovar about an hour's drive (over paved roads!) away. We were given the option of going to the lake, seeing the monastery, or hot springs.

BATH PLEASE!!

There were two options for hot springs, one described by Galek as 'cheaper, good for washing clothes' and the other described as 'more expensive'. I jumped in with 'give us the hottest, nicest springs you got' before anyone else in our group could voice an opinion. Expectations were low - we were, after all, in western Tibet - but it was actually both sanitary and reasonably warm. I washed my hair! Under running water! Attempted to scrub 2 weeks worth of dead skin off my body! Bliss...

After that a trip to the monastery and the lake, neither very far away but the hopes for spectacular views were somewhat dampened by the clouds covering Mt Kailash and dulling the lake's colour to just an average shade of blue (instead of the eye-popping shades of bright turquoise we had come to expect from our Tibetan bodies of holy water).

When we arrived at this very lovely teahouse, prior to the bathing opportunity, we had lunch served by the very kind and hospitable family that ran the hostel. The others ordered yak & potato curry but I thought I'd try my luck with the veggies & rice option...not knowing what exactly 'vegetables' grew around here. Turns out veggies and rice = cabbage with yak meat but it was still really good and the first decent meal since the start of the kora.

A man sat in the middle of the room, next to the stove, with a number of vials. Heather & I quickly worked out that he was preparing an IV drip for a girl who we saw was clearly very sick. Her breathing was laboured, she was fairly pale and her movements were very weak. After 20 minutes of mixing different medicines, the man attached the drip to the girl as she sat on the bench for some time.

What happened next had me shaking with such fury that I have not felt in a long time, if ever.

Kai.

Took.

A.

Photo.

Of.

Her.

I just couldn't believe my eyes and had to leave the room as I shook my head and flexed my hands in anger. I had met Heather outside the room, who missed it, told her what happened but my voice had such tension in it I'm not sure if she heard me properly. We both returned to the room and I saw He. Was. Doing. It. Again.

She saw it this time and looked at me with incredulity, then calmly asked if he took a photo of the girl in the room.

He said yes.

She asked, again calmly, if he had asked her permission first - which is Polite Travelling Rule #1 about taking photos of anyone anyway.

He said no.

She calmly said that that was offensive and asked why he didn't ask permission first.

He.

Said.

Asking.

Permission.

Ruins.

The.

Photo.

Heather's seething with anger and has to leave the room. I leave the room again horrified, embarrassed and furious at Kai's behaviour. We both remark to each other just how incredibly uncomfortable the sick girl looked at having her photo taken in this position. Up to this point I found him off-putting, unfriendly, tedious, rude, arrogant, precious and just generally not someone I'd choose to spend 3 weeks in a 4WD with given the opportunity to reorganise this trip. And I'll admit, it's possible that on the kora when he was taking photos of himself pretending to fall off a short, stable bridge, there was a part of me that hoped he actually did fall off and break his camera in the process.

But never in my life have I been so angry as that moment right there. Heather had to go for a walk to calm down, I returned to the room composing speeches to him in my head that just got louder and more angry. And longer. With more adjectives. They all ended with the fact that he was the biggest a****** I'd ever met in my entire life and given I worked in banking for 8 years and have an ex-husband that's really saying something.

All throughout my (blissfully Snickers, Chinese pot noodle and biscuit-free) lunch my hands were shaking so much I could hardly hold food on my chopsticks (and know my way around a set of chopsticks). A few hours later the hot springs and the walk around the area had calmed me down but if I didn't like his company before, that incident meant I had well and truly written Kai off and barely tolerating him was the order for the next week.