Kailash Maansarovar from my view

Hello Readers

I am writing this blog to share my experience of my Journey to Kailash Maansarovar, with some Dos & Don’ts, the second Life changing Journey of my Life after 4 Dham

First of all let me clear I went through Helicopter route of Nepal, so my experience sharing will be accordingly.
I am not physically fit types..infact I was 10kg+. But I started preparing my self 20-25 days before I started for Heaven.

I started 1 hour walking ,lot of stretching and spinning (believe me this is not enough). One should do more of cardio, Yog, Breathing exercises etc. So finally the day came of departure, we were group of 8 Boys( Avg age 34) Mumbai to Kathmandu.

Our Route:

Mumbai -> Kathmandu -> NepalGanj -> Simmikot -> Hilsa -> Burang -> Mansarovar -> Darchen -> Kailash

We reached Kathmandu one day prior of our date, to relax and enjoy. But unfortunately one more day was delayed as new Visa rules came in amendment.

We visited Pashupatinath Mandir, Sleeping Vishnu and few more temples. At night enjoyed local Thukpa soup and casino.

Here in Kathmandu you will be given Huge Bag from Travel agency, please please remember, this is not ordinary bag , it is having colour code and numbering , so make sure you use this bag only. Also writedown all bag numbers of your group in your cellphone. And keep it handy , You will require this list frequently to check wether your luggage is loaded or not.

After two nights we departed for Nepalganj via 27 seater aircraft, Again due to accomodation and visa issues we were directly sent to Birendranagar surkhet , around 7Hours horrible drive . After one night stay here we were sent to simikot from Surkhet airport.

Note: From Simikot i started 2 Diamox daily + Giloy Ghanvati (Patanjali)

Simikot, for me the best halt of whole tour. Beautiful weather , nice scenic beauty. Unfortunately again delay so we were made to stay for 2 nights. But this in a way helped us in aclametization . As simikot is 2910 m from sea level.

It is very handy to keep small Oxymeter with you in group. From here you should check your oxygen level. It helps in motivating yourself. As in Tibet, guide will be checking it in regular intervals to decide wether you can proceed further or not.

Simikot was worth a stay, we stayed in Sunny valley which has best view ,we also went for trek from there ,we also visited Mahadev Mandir . The scenic beauty of this small village was beyond imagination.

We had best time here , we also went for trekking to nearby places ,thanks to my friend Vishal who motivated me..I would have missed the scenic view.

From Simikot we left for HILSA Via chopper. Hilsa is last stop before Tibet( China) . Its on border. Hilsa is 3640m .

Hilsa has very minimum facilities , it’s very cold and breezy. Make sure your head, ears, neck , nose is covered. Also please get used to Indian style toilets, though I was lucky enough to always get western toilet. If you walk around this small village, you will find one very very small restaurant run by two young couple in their house . They make super tasty Maggi soup, Thukpa and Tibetan Tea. As you have whole one night and day to kill. You can enjoy suspension bridge walk or enjoy spending time at river bank. Hilsa is very windy and freezing so please be prepared. Accomodation will be on sharing basis , say 8-10 in one small room. From Hilsa , Nepali guide will be accompanied by Tibetin guide. He will take you to cross the border. You have to go through Nepal checkpost ,then they will make u sit in Bus and take you to China border and enter Burang . Before you enter Burang you have to pass immigration and customs.

Note: Please be careful , China woñt accept you if you have even a picture of Respected Dalai Lama ji. Now that is really weird but that is their rule.

Officers check each and every picture , pamplet, newspaper ,memory cards everything of every individual.

Even if something found which is kept unintentionally, you will be sent back , at times whole group and not just individual.

We stayed in Hotel Puran , Building was nice nearby area is good , decent market , good food joints (Nonveg). But toilets were horrible, terrific smell, dirty bedsheets. It is at great altitude and both times we got room on 4th floor, I wonder what if such rooms are alotted to senior citizens. Once u climb up u need 30 mins break 🙂

Thankfully food was served by travel agent so it was good, as they themselves make Indian food. Instead Try Himalaya hotel it looked much better(though I guess it’s not in your hand, but if you insist while booking, it might help). Again one night extra stay here , next day we left for Mansarovar parikrama in Bus,

Please note: The day you leave for Mansarovar parikrama, please put one pair of clothes and towel in your handbag ,also water container if you are planning to bring back some JAL for family at home.

Before reaching Mansarovar we got first View of Mahadev’s Kailash ..that moment was priceless..Also we got down at Rakshastal .

My interpretation: As Kailash is at the origin of Earth..infact Shiv himself is symbol of origin Mansarovar and Rakshastal represents positive and negative poles Just before the Mansarovar parikrama , we were made to sit outside and wait for eco friendly bus.

Here we got more proper view of Kailash Ji…It is like a miracle..from every angle it looks different..every second it looks different. I sat alone and enjoyed the view and did some chanting. Best time …with HIM

Our Bus came and we started for parikrama but after some time one incident happend

Incident: I was wearing some extra layers of clothes, also the travel pouch I carried was too tight from waist, and worst I tried to control my pressure.
This all lead to dizzyness and I was completely balackout, Tibetin guide and my friends rushed to me and gave oxygen also one of my friend (Balkrishna)gave me some sweet energy bars. So please don’t repeat above mistakes.

I was shifted to some nice 4*4 car along with my guide and my friend Mr Dipesh

We reached Mansarovar and all started having a holy dip..it is believed that Brahma Ji has given responsibility to shiv Ji to take care of the Divine most Kalpvruksh tree ,which is inside Mansarovar..which makes it more holy and sacred. It is also believed on every Poonam Night(Full moon) it is believed that Shivji and Maa Parvati come here to have holy dip.

Don’t forget ,after dip, once you are out of Mansarovar lake , immediately dry yourself and change clothes. Mansarovar is very Breezy and cold. Please don’t challenge your body unnecessarily. Your travel agent will setup small tiny changing room for women

After the parikrama of 56 Kms in bus we came to our lodge in Mansarovar ..

There are handful of small lodges which are Horizontal in shape ( Sitting chawl types of Mumbai) . All lodges had room sharing of 4-5 people but here you have beds, unlike Hilsa . As usual other lodges were much better than ours. The Mansarovar lake was hardly 200 MTRS walk.

From Mansarovar all toilets will be like a big room , in which small small partitions will be there (only from three sides) and a small hole will be there , and down there will be PIT of around 20ft. You have to sit in Indian style and clear your body waste.

Also your travel agents will setup a small tent and install Potty seat , if you are lucky enough you will get chance to sit. It’s always better to practice and come for Indian style..don’t make mistake of controlling your pressure , we read what are the consequences.

Mansarovar night was most chilling and breezy, you can say it was worst night of all, hence we didn’t dare to go outside to see the famous star show..though it was very close to our Lodge.

If u r on Full moon day , you will definitely see the star show.

I was shattered morally after that incident, was taking baby steps to walk, was not sure wether I will go further or not.

My friend Sameer came to me in my room and said ,it’s ok let’s go till YamDwar tommorow and then if you don’t feel ,return back. Everyone was scared in a way, may be because it was super breezy , and main problem what i relaise now is , the stories of death incidents and other things makes you more scary. And some travel agents scare you a lot..DONT LISTEN TO THEMM..BUT ALSO LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

Next day we departed for Darchen !I thought the more we move forward , less will be facilities ,surprisingly Darchen is well planned city , with shopping shops, late night restaurants ,even the lodge had Western Toilet, infact in few of beds electric heater was there. Again accomadation of 4 sharing a room.

From Darchen we got more proper view , say about 65% of Kailash Ji.

Weather was super chilling , very breezy, we were out for walk and some shopping.by now i was gaining confidence again.this is the perfect place to buy Ur trekking sticks and oxygen cylinders, as, if u buy before, you have to carry . We were out till 10:30 at night. Surprisingly many restaurants were open . It was a different city than what we expected.

We had nice Hot soup..keep having lots of hot fluid ..it helps a lot..and lots of water.( Only your Doctor is your best guide)

Note: Darchen like any typical religious destination, every single person here will try to make some money..If you opt for Horse + Potter , wat u expect is that you will get one Horse (with assistant) and one potter..but NO the assistant himself is your potter.

They will not even carry a small camera bag ,if you have not opted for potter.

Also your own local travel agency will try to make some extra money ,

They will become your potter and register you only for horse..but your horse or you won’t be walking at their speed..

So please be clear, your potter should walk with you full time. Also keep your bag very light.

( Some energy bars, dryfruits , oxygen cylinder, Tissues ,wetwipes, your Diamox and necessary medicines, take small box in which u keep ur medicines only required for two days not whole pouch of medical kit, your sweaters etc.) You will also get packed food everyday so that will be enough.

Before we see what happend to me, let’s have short brief about parikrama

Kailash Ji parikrama is completed in 3 days

Day 1: Darchen to therapuk Approx 13kms, easy wide roads, some difficult patches (moderate ) most of very easy.Go very very slow , drink water.

Day 2: Therapuk to ___ via Dolama pass and Gauri Kund. The most difficult, more freezy, Approx 24 Kms.

Day3: Super easy , hardly 2 hours walk.

Parikrama Day

we were all set charged up with our oxygen cylinders trekking bag etc and waiting in our lodge in Darchen..the bus driver was late by 3 hours..killing our mood pathetically.

I was over dressed unnecessary stress didn’t manage my stuff properly ,like you should have very small bag with you ,which has one bottle of water, one oxygen Can, and one or two energy bars, so that even if your potter is here and there you are good on your own.

Three hours plus and still driver didn’t turned up , and all started discussing , how will we reach Therapuk, it will be evening more chilling. We should cancel, let’s plan for next day etc etc..

Finally Bus came , it took us to Yamdwar. We did Darshan..and continued to Horse lottery point .

From here I got my Horse and potter..she was a young girl..but I had read some Blogs ,so was confident that she is capable of saving me in bad situation.

From here I will share all mistakes I did.

I started walking with my over loaded gears( I wanted to do parikrama on own, horse was plan b), and as my porter was same person assisting Horse. She was walking at horse’s speed..

So I started walking faster to match their speed..Breathlessly I was pushing myself so that I match her..because my bottle was with her. I was scared( god knows of what)

Finally after 45 mins she met me at a point where they make horse drink water..

I had a sip of water, some dryfruits and instead of resting I rushed again, as I have to be ahead of her..so that even she comes from back I will be able to match her speed.

Surprisingly I was so good, I caught my friends who were already ahead of me 15 mins..they had left early ,because they didn’t opt for horse.

But then one point I gave up..she told 50% is over..you can sit..I thot I will sit on horse for some time and again start walking .

Hardly in 10 mins lunch area came. People here took halt had lunch, got fresh..But I gulped my food and again started walking..Again same reason to be ahead of my horse..as I didn’t have water with me.

But after walking for barely 10 mins I gave up ..I thought again, I will better sit for some time and then walk..

While on horse , I started chanting, enjoying the scenic beauty of Kailash and other mountains, Nandi pravat etc. Suddenly I realised in the first 50% i didnt interact with shiv Ji, I didn’t even chaant any mantras..I was so obsessed about trek that I didn’t focus on HIM.

So I decided to continue on horse…Soon I reached Therapuk…OMG The best view you will get of Kailash Ji throughout your parikrama . The rooms were in repair so we got one huge tent ,which was actually a small restaurant, were I guess around 22-25 ppl can sleep on the sides and in between the restaurant area..

It was snowing…I was feeling as if my lungs will come out..little walk also was a task. Common toilet was horribly bad. I really feel China govt is least interested in giving good facilities.

But sleeping under Kailash was like sleeping on my father’s lap. Won’t forget that night. Wile sleeping our guide came to check everyone’s oxygen. He told me YES you can go further tmrw morning.

Next morning my potter came, she asked me in actions, Up or down…I don’t know y, I was scared or I was not well… Actually I was not sure..and I shown my thumbs down… 😦

Wile getting down , back from Therapuk to Darchen, I sat on horse only…because I HAD GIVEN UP..I felt bad..ohh I didn’t go for second day..ohh I had challenged some idiots that I will..I had promised myself that I will..but soon I realised , I was breathing normally, I was not tired , Infact it started snowing litter heavier , but still I was fine.

We reached down and started back to Darchen. Only one among us, Balkrishna Shetty went ahead for second and third day parikrama.

When we reached Darchen , I started feeling hot, yes , may be it was sunny day, but still I was not feeling altitude sickness also.

I came to know the whole game, it was nothing but stress, overthinking , mental barriers of life (lol in my case Indian style toilets).

When we went back to Hilsa , there was huge waiting for helicopter, and we were not in mood to have one extra night in place like Hilsa. Thanks to some contacts or skills of OM Inaya Tours , we got our Helicopter within minutes.

When we went back to Hilsa I started enjoying more , was chanting his name . It was somuch fun.

Believe me readers I could have written this blog or motivated you all without writing my mistakes. But I wanted you to exactly relaise what I went through.

Believe me if you are little also physically fit, do exercise two months before you come, pack bags properly , Carry limited but essential accessories and if you take Horse and potter..it is not at all difficult..

‘May be my father, my shivji wanted me to learn a good lesson, that Life is not just to to think about reaching to HIM…life is about enjoying the journey, without stress ,while you reach to HIM

I would have loved to write this blog more on spiritual and facts of Kailash Ji , but I thought, that you will experience on your own, and this blog will hopefully help you in experiencing the Divine most journey of your life with more ease.

I sincerely thank Dipesh Thakkar & Uday Rawal for motivating me and inviting me to come for this trip.

Also thankful to Sameer Shah,Prashant Shetty, Balkrishna Shetty, Vishal Jain for sharing the best 15 days of my life and helping me throught journey.

Thankful to Ravi Modi of Om Inaya journeys for wonderfully arrangements.

Most importantly thankful to my parents for allowing me to go .

And above all my wife , who was the biggest support as she allowed me to go while she was 5 months pregnant. We are blessed with baby boy and as we had decided we named him ‘SHIVANSH’

Please feel free to ask questions and contact me for any further details .