Kailash Pilgrimage Journal

The southern (or "sapphire") face of Mt. Kailash.

View Photos (1) Image © 2002 Jeff Greenwald

16 May - 2 June 2002

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Day 1: 16 May 2002 / Nepalganj
When the Journey Begins

The pilgrimage begins when you pack up the computer; when you go off line . . . [ more ]

Day 2: 17 May 2002 / Nepalganj
Closer to Fine

I think it's safe to say that the last place any of us wanted to be this afternoon was back at the Batika, but here we are . . . [ more ]

Day 3: 18 May 2002
Hotel Batika, Nepalganj

If this is to be a journey beyond preferences, I am sorry. For I would truly prefer to be elsewhere . . . [ more ]

Day 4: 19 May 2002 / 1st pass, after Simikot

We flew from sea level to Simikot at 9,500 feet, and started walking -- up. Amazing, how quickly it all comes back: the agony, first . . . [ more ]

Day 5: 20 May 2002 / en route to Kirmi

The Karnali is the color of elephant hide, a churning river that looks fully capable of cutting the gorge it flows through . . . [ more ]

Day 6: 21 May 2002 / Tumkot Meadows

The cook staff, at least, is super-solicitous, attending to my every comfort . . . [ more ]

Day 7: 22 May 2002 / After 2 hours walking

The albedo of the trail is as bright as moondust. It looks like stratified clay; the bed of an ancient sea . . . [ more ]

Day 8: 23 May 2002 / Purang (Taklakot), Tibet

It was a relentless uphill walk from camp, up through the dry low grass punctuated with scrubby wildflowers, into the blue again. It wasn't Tibet yet, but it sure felt like it . . . [ more ]

Day 9: 24 May 2002 / Lake Manasarovar, Tibet
15,000'

Kailash through the tent door. It is impressive, even in the haze . . . [ more ]

Day 10: 25 May 2002

The only thing I know how to compare it to, really, is Burning Man . . . [ more ]

Day 11: 26 May 2002 / Meadow, before Dririphuk Mountain Weather

Last night the wind pounded on the tent, making it shake like a palsied cow . . . [ more ]

Day 12: 27 May 2002
A knobby meadow between Drolma La and the gompa

It was a gorgeous clear blue morning, the sun up early, and I set out after a modest breakfast of hot chocolate and a two-egg omelet. There was a point to this day, and I knew it well . . . [ more ]

Day 13: 28 May 2002 / Darchen, Tibet
In Like a Lion

A knock on my tent door last night; it was the indomitable Gili, returned from his mysterious sojourn in the wilderness . . . [ more ]

Day 14: 29 May 2002 / A plain near Horqua

From my notebook: (Inner Kora, about an hour above Serlung Gompa) -- I think this is as far as I'm going to go . . . [ more ]

Day 15: 30 May 2002

Five elements of the day: the sky; the clouds; the hills; the road; the vehicle.

The sky a boundless cadmium blue, a color that would be illegal to sell today . . . [ more ]

Day 16: 31 May 2002 / Somewhere between Saga and Zhangmou

Today's drive seemed a fair approximation of Purgatory, of the Bardo, or any insufferable intermediate state you choose . . . [ more ]

Day 18: 2 June 2002 / Tangal, Kathmandu

. . . And then our passports were stamped and we were in Nepal, back in the filth and funk, the cruelty and humanity of the world's saddest and most beautiful kingdom . . . [ more ]

. . . What to make of it all, I wondered. The mountain giveth, the mountain taketh away. The man burns. Kailash took everything from me, pulled out my anger like a bad tooth, showed me love and beauty and dust and rage. Gave me a pocketful of rocks, and maybe some photographs. And all this, of course. A story with no beginning, no middle, no end.

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Published on 5/27/03