Mt. Kailash Tour

Walk into the mountains, a day at a time…& make your peace with the gods amidst heavenly nature, so purely divine…

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On the wild far north west of Nepal, a less frequented region, blessed with dramatic vistas, traditional villages, untouched by modern civilization, on the least accessible route to the holiest Mt.Kailash and the immaculate sacred holy Lake Mansarovar, complemented with views of Mt.Kailash from different angles (south-west-north & east)…we trek on to make a sacred appointment with the gods, holed up on the rugged mountains…in Elysium.
 

Seek…and you will find:

Mount Kailash is situated within Tibet to the Northern part of the Himalaya.
This is the spiritual center for four great religions:  Tibetan Buddhism, Hinduism, the Jain religion and the pre-Buddhist animistic religion - the Bonpo. And strangely enough, four major rivers i.e. the Karnali, Sutlej, Indus and the longest one - Brahmaputra, originate from near Kailash Mountain. For the Tibetans it is a particularly special place, the poet saint - Milarepa, spent several years here meditating in a cave. For the Hindus, Mount Kailash is the earthly manifestation of their spiritual center of the universe, ‘world pillar’ around which all else revolves, its roots in the lowest hell and its summit kissing the heavens, and on top lives their most revered God Shiva. The governments of Nepal and China reached an accord 3 years ago, that allowed the first treks across the border between the two countries. While it had been a route for Nepalese pilgrims for years, foreign trekkers were never allowed to trek from Nepal to Tibet.

Mt. Kailash, at 6,714m /22,028ft, is the perfect mountain with awesome beauty; the four great faces are mythological & known as follows: the eastern face is believed to be crystal, the western, ruby, the southern, sapphire and the northern gold. To Tibetans, it is known as Ghang Rimpoche (Precious Jewel of Snow) and they see it as the navel of the world. It is said that a stream from the mountain pours into a nearby lake and from here rivers flow in the four cardinal directions.

The river of the Lion Mouth to the North, the River of the Horse Mouth to the East, the River of the Peacock Mouth to the south and the River of the Elephant Mouth to the West. It is really fascinating to know that the four major river systems of the Indian Sub-Continent originate near Kailash, the Indus, the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra), the Karnali and the Sutlej. Tibetans believe that it is the residence of Demchog, a fierce looking tantric deity who lives there with his consort, Dorje Phagmo. From the early days up till now, for the Tibetans and Buddhism it is more than a holy place, as their great poet, tantric saint Milarepa spent several years meditating in a cave around the Mt. Kailash area.

For the Hindus...their spiritual centre of the universe, described as a fantastic ‘world pillar’ 84,000 miles high, around which all else revolves, its root in the lowest hell and its summit reaching the heavens and the abode of their revered God Shiva and his consort Goddess Parvati.

For the pre-ancient religion Bon, it is the site where its founder Shanrab is said to have descended from heaven and it was formerly the spiritual centre of Zhang Zung, the ancient Bon Empire that once included all western Tibet. Bon people circumambulate this holy mountain in an anti-clockwise manner; unlike the other religions that do it clockwise. Over the centuries, pilgrims from all corners of the world have constantly journeyed immense distances to achieve enlightenment or cleanse themselves from sins, braving enormous distances, particularly harsh weather and bandit attacks; for some of them, it was Elysium before meeting the gods.

HUMLA - Nepal’s Wild West.
Humla was once part of the great Malla Empire administrated from Sinja near Jumla. Until 1787, this empire extended as far as Purang (Taklakot) and the ‘Lost’ great villages of Toling (Zanda) and Tsaparang located in a remote south western Tibet, and to the north of Nanda Devi and Kamet Himal. Taklakot is an extraordinary melting pot with traders and merchants from the nearby countries, Indian, Chinese, Tibetan and Muslim traders from Kashgar, Nepalese entrepreneurs trading wool, salt and Indian goods along with Chinese Government officials and a huge army contingent.

In Humla, the traditional salt / grain trade with Tibet continues as it has for centuries.
This trade has ceased in most of Nepal today, because of the import of Indian salt and the other reason is that China has eliminated many border trading posts in remote regions.

THE NGARI- in Tibet.
Kailash and Mansarovar are in the Ngari region of Tibet, perhaps the most inaccessible place on earth. This region is mostly populated by Dokpas, nomads who herd sheep, goats and yaks on these arid desolate plains, Most Dokpas do not have houses and they wander endlessly across the vast Tibetan windswept plains, living in yak hair tents. Ngari is the last frontier of Tibet: On this trip, after leaving Kathmandu and other cities en-route, you get the feeling that you are suddenly living history all over again… you have transported yourself back to the very early times of Marco-Polo himself, who walked the paths then you are hiking through today.