Mount Kailas is a 6600M peak in the Tibetan Himalayas and the source of 4 of Asia's longest rivers. It is renowned in Tibet and throughout Asia as a holy mountain, considered sacred by followers of Bon, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.
Pilgrims from all over Asia make the journey out to Kailas, so they can perform the ancient holy ritual of trekking around the mountain on foot. Called a "kora" in Buddhist terminology, the 32 mile trek at altitudes as high as 6000M is believed to cleanse a person of his or her sins.
The small village of Darchen, at the base of the mountain, serves as somewhat of a basecamp for pilgrims and hikers alike. Arriving there in the early afternoon, we had the rest of the day to mingle with the locals and make preparations before setting off on the kora the next morning.
Since arriving in Tibet, I had been spending a lot of time alone or with my travel mate Naz, a fellow Californian, hanging out in local eateries or guesthouses. English, for the most part, is not spoken outside of Lhasa so I had been relying on my broken Chinese to get by. I had improved considerably since my last trip to the mainland and could now make a bit of smalltalk with the locals, even acting as translator for my non-Chinese speaking friend.
In Darchen, I sat and chatted for a while with the proprietor of a Chinese restaurant that hailed from Shenyang in the Northeastern part of China.
Han Chinese settlers in Tibet get somewhat of a bad rap. But for the most part they are ordinary people from poor rural backgrounds and move to Tibet in search of opportunity and a better life, having nothing to do with their government's politics.
I had always wondered what would compel a person to move out to the middle of nowhere, setting up shop in a place as seemingly foreign and primitive as Tibet. But she seemed to have carved out a comfortable niche for herself, serving up Northeastern Chinese cuisine for tourists and local Chinese. And as cold as it was here, it was at least warmer than back home in Dongbei. She outlined some advice for me on our upcoming hike and furthermore served up the best cucumber salad I've ever had.
At night, I went to the common area of our guesthouse. Though our guest house again lacked running water and indoor toilets, it did have solar panels that provided electricity. The caveat being that electricity was provided only in the common room and only between the hours of 7PM til midnight.
Arriving at 8PM, the room was packed with Tibetan men... warming themselves around the furnace, drinking beer, playing some kind of local gambling game. As the only non-Tibetan in the room, I felt a bit out of place, sitting in the corner sipping tea and charging my IPhone.
A group of Tibetan truck drivers graciously invited me to their table, to drink beer and chat with them.
I wish I could say that I had a profound discussion with them on Tibetan Buddhism and on the state of Tibet under the Chinese Communist Party, but in reality we talked about whatever it is guys talk about in bars. We talked about women. I showed them some travel photos on my Ipad as they asked me questions about the outside world. And they poured me beer after beer until the lights went out at midnight.
At some point, before my judgment became impaired, I had to make the conscious decision on whether to go to bed early and rest up for the three day hike that I was about to undertake or whether to stay up drinking all night with a bunch of Tibetan truck drivers and likely be hungover the next morning.
The choice was a relatively easy one. As even though I don't have any amazing photos or spectacular tales of adventure to show for it, I've found in my travels that nights like these are the ones I look back fondly on and remember best.
I staggered to bed drunk and nauseous, and would awaken several times during the night to go to the outdoor toilet in the frigid nighttime air, the freezing wind biting at me and stray dogs barking as I took a leak.
The next morning, tired and hungover, I would begin my trek around Kailas.
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