| My path to purification began in the home of Shiva the | | | | she relieved me of my burden, a backpack filled with |
| Destroyer - or perhaps it was just his rubbish bin. The | | | | 'non-essentials' - laptop, camera, food, clothes and |
| shantytown of Darchen at the foot of Mt Kailash in | | | | water. |
| western Tibet is populated with half-naked, | | | | Embarrassing as it was, a lovely Tibetan woman, eight |
| red-cheeked children playing in trash heaps. Teahouses | | | | years my junior, carried my pack the rest of the way |
| running on car battery power, with dirt floors lined with | | | | around Mount Kailash, simply because I could not. (At |
| old pillows, serve as bedding for road-weary pilgrims | | | | the end of our kora, Yang Jing not only refused |
| and backpackers before they start on their kora | | | | payment for her help, but offered me a gift - her |
| around Asia's most sacred mountain. | | | | decades-old yak bone prayer beads; the only |
| The word kora means 'pilgrimage circuit', or simply, 'big | | | | recompense I can now offer her is this story). |
| circle'. It describes the clockwise path followed by | | | | Though weighed down with my belongings, Yang Jin |
| devout followers of Buddhism and Hinduism in their | | | | soon outdistanced me, while I struggled along at the |
| effort to attain spiritual absolution for the sin of being | | | | rear, making my way up the bleak Drolma-La, passing |
| alive. Throughout Tibet one can see the faithful making | | | | the glacial brooks of Shiva-Tsal and the clothing-littered |
| koras around temples and other holy places, though | | | | stones and macabre shanks of hair that pilgrims leave |
| none as consecrated as the 52-kilometer | | | | to symbolize the expulsion of their old sins. With a light |
| circumambulation of Mt Kailash (known in Tibetan as | | | | snow frosting the terrain, I finally caught up with Yang |
| Kang Rinpoche and in Mandarin as Shen Shan). | | | | Jing atop the scenic pass where she recited her |
| I began my pilgrimage at dawn (after hesitantly | | | | prayers. |
| downing a cup of salty yak butter tea for strength) | | | | Then with the frozen jade waters of Gauri Kund lake |
| guided by a trail of prayer flags up the misty southern | | | | below, we carefully began our descent. As we |
| ridge to the Gyangdrak and Selung monasteries, and | | | | reached the lower level, I was able to breathe again |
| then following the few stone cairns back down to the | | | | and the remainder of the kora was a delight. We |
| kora. At one point the kora branched off, leading to a | | | | crossed snow banks and passed venerable elders |
| sky burial site, the place where Buddhists bid farewell | | | | prostrated in verdant meadows fed by small streams |
| to the dead by dismembering corpses and leaving the | | | | trickling down from the mountain's horizontally-banded |
| remains for the birds of prey that form koras of their | | | | crystal face. Later, we arrived at a smoky |
| own far above. The proximity of a burial site is | | | | encampment, with chanting pilgrims sitting around |
| disturbingly announced in advance by the shredded | | | | yak-dung fires. |
| clothes in the vicinity, and more abruptly, by the | | | | We continued past fields of boulders blanketed in thick |
| occasional human bone dropped from the sky by said | | | | green moss before taking a rest in a tea tent |
| birds. | | | | crowded with jovial Tibetans. Instant noodles and soft |
| I continued my journey, passing a number of | | | | drinks were available, but I boldly choose the traditional |
| resplendently dressed pilgrims watering their horses in | | | | Tibetan staples of yak butter tea and tsampa, an |
| a shaded canyon. Before long, I arrived at the Chuku | | | | 'instant' bread made from barley flour kneaded with |
| monastery, which hugs the western hillside above the | | | | the tea. Like most Tibetan pilgrims, this was all Yang |
| Lha-Chu River, in clear sight of the enigmatic Mt | | | | Jing carried in her small satchel during her multiple |
| Kailash. Aside from being the most holy Buddhist site in | | | | koras. Tsampa may be flavorless, though it smells |
| Asia, it is also the source of four great rivers: the | | | | unwashed, but it seems to provide sustenance and |
| Sutlej, which flows to India; the Indus, to Pakistan; the | | | | energy aplenty for Tibetans to complete 13 circuits. |
| Karnali, which feeds the Ganges; and Tibet's own | | | | After our rest, we pressed on through the lush hillsides, |
| Yarlung Tsangpo. | | | | tracing the Dzong-Chu river until we came to the |
| I arrived at Mt Kalish at dusk, which in summertime | | | | Zutul-Puk monastery where most of the Hindus from |
| comes at about 10pm; Mt Kailash was bathed in | | | | India had set up camp. I, too, might have spent the night |
| ruby-red hues, a spectacular site, though one soon | | | | there, but in spite of the searing pain in my legs, I was |
| obscured by drizzling rain clouds. Exhausted, I turned in | | | | determined to follow the steely Yang Jing back to |
| for the night at a nearby yurt on the grassy banks of | | | | Darchen to complete the kora on my second day. My |
| Damding Donkhang and soon after I set my head on | | | | resolve was rewarded when we finally rounded the |
| the filthy pillows, I fell asleep. | | | | last bend and met with a stunning vista overlooking the |
| I'd been cautioned by a number of experienced pilgrims | | | | Barkha plains: the Himalayas to the south, aglow under |
| that the second half of the Mt Kailash kora was the | | | | the evening sky. |
| most difficult. And, sure enough, as soon as I passed | | | | We walked by a series of mani prayer walls and |
| Dirapuk monastery and crossed the Lha-Chu river the | | | | inscribed yak skulls, together, into the setting sun. It |
| following morning, the route became increasingly | | | | seemed a fitting way to end this epic tale, with the |
| treacherous. The steep path eventually thinned out - | | | | southern sapphire face of Kailash behind us - along |
| as did the air - and then disappeared altogether among | | | | with our sins. |
| the large boulders strewn about the Drolma-Chu valley. | | | | Travel Pack |
| I am in my early 30s, but in no time was moving slower | | | | A number of travel agencies and hotels around Lhasa |
| than an old woman. Indeed, 80-year-old Tibetans | | | | can arrange week-long Land Cruiser expeditions along |
| spinning their hand-held prayer wheels quickly | | | | Tibet's southern route past Lake Manasarovar to Mt |
| out-paced me. Before I had ascended but one-third of | | | | Kailash for approximately RMB 4,000 per person. |
| the way up the 5,600-meters of evil that is the | | | | Alternatively, budget travelers can take a three-day |
| Drolma-La Pass, I was doubled over with exhaustion. It | | | | sleeper along the northern route, departing from |
| was then, during this moment of truth beneath the | | | | Lhasa's north bus station every couple days to the |
| luminously golden face of Mt. Kailash, there appeared | | | | outpost town of Ali for RMB 700. Water, food and a |
| before me a vision. Her name was Yang Jing, my own | | | | window seat in the front of the bus is strongly |
| Tibetan goddess of mercy. | | | | recommended. From Ali's north junction you can hitch |
| One day prior, I had met Yang Jing, a Ngari local, in the | | | | a ride on a 'gypsy' jeep to Darchen/Mt Kailash, or |
| company of her grandmother. At the time, both of | | | | catch a lift on one of the trucks from nearby |
| them were on their third kora in just three days. When | | | | construction sites, or the occasional rogue bus. Permits |
| she spotted me draped over a large boulder, they | | | | are no longer required for travel in Tibet and as such |
| were already halfway through their fourth. Carrying | | | | no agency should charge you for one. |
| only prayer beads and a small pouch of necessities, | | | | |