ON TOP OF THE WORLD

I WAS FINALLY GOING TO Tibet- the land of Shangri-La, of magic and mystery. Eleven of us were to fly to Lhasa, then drive for five days across the West Tibetan plateau to Mansarover Lake. After a three day parikrama, or circumambulation by foot of Mt. Kailash, we would fly back to Kathmandu by helicopter. Shopping was hectic – warm jackets, thermals, wet wipes, torches, film roll, gloves, dry fruit, digestives, batteries, socks…..After all, we were to spend a fortnight on the Roof of the World! Soon after take off, the aircraft turns left and there’s Mt. Everest as if afloat on a bed of clouds. The Tibetan plateau lies below. This is one of the most isolated regions in the world, bound to the south by the Himalayan range, to the west by the Karakoram and to the north by the Kunlun and Altyn Tagh ranges, with an average altitude of more than 12,000ft.  As we drive into Lhasa, I am amazed- it’s a modern town like any other in the world- a double lane highway, modern buildings, shops, traffic, restaurants, beauty parlours and even nightclubs, thronged by young Chinese boys and girls in funky hairstyles and jeans! Lhasa, the heart and soul of Tibet, for centuries the adobe of the Dalai Lama-the Lhasa of my imagination- a quaint Tibetan town with old world flavour- is no more. For centuries, Tibet, the mysterious ‘hermit kingdom’ and Lhasa, the ‘Forbidden City’, fascinated the world. In 1950, a year after the Communist takeover of China, their troops attacked and took over Central Tibet. Between 1967-1970, during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, began the destruction of the ‘Four Olds’ - old thinking, old culture, old habits and old customs, with Buddhism as its main target. Monuments and monasteries were burnt, worship banned, monks sent to labour camps, the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and one lakh people driven into exile and 1.2 million Tibetans killed. In the past two decades, Chinese efforts at modernization and extensive immigration of the Han Chinese have changed Tibet indelibly. The Potala Palace dominates the Lhasa skyline with its vast white and ochre fortress and gold roofs soaring into cobalt blue skies on Marpo Ri Hill. The fifth Dalai Lama moved here in 1649, and since then, it has been the home of each successive Dalai Lama. The complex divides into the outer White Palace, which serves as the country’s administrative headquarters and the inner Red Palace, the center of worship. We wandered through three floors- a maze of hundreds of rooms containing chapels tombs, statues, thanka, butter lamps, lavish decoration and brilliant colours. Buddhism arrived in Tibet during the reign of Songtsen Gampo in the seventh century and was marked by its interaction with the native religion Bon, a Shamanistic faith. Today, Tibetans have won back many religious freedoms and Buddhism still permeates most facets of daily life. This deeply engrained faith is most evident in Barkhor, the Old Town, a quadrangle of streets crowded with prayer wheel-spinning pilgrims. There are stalls selling jewellery, cowboy hats, thankas, prayer flags and yak skulls. At the heart of Barkhor is the 7^th century Jokhang temple, the most revered religious structure in Tibet. This is the spiritual heart of the city with its prostrating pilgrims, rotating prayer wheels and wafting incense. Inside, the Jokhang are statues, chapels and images of pantheon of Tibetan deities. The Norbulingka Jewel Park, built in the late 18^th century and modeled on the palace gardens of the Chinese Emperor was the Summer Palace from where in 1959, the present Dalai Lama escaped disguised as a soldier. Today begins our five- day drive. We have packed ourselves into five cruisers with Tibetan drivers. We are joined by our tour leader and assistant, a Tibetan guide, a photographer, a pujari and even a masseur (at the insistence of some members of the group who found the idea of the parikrama daunting). As we leave Lhasa, the Tibetan landscape begins unfolding before us. It is raining and cold but the misty mountainscape is moist, green and romantic. Soon, the plateau begins broadening and the exhilaration begins. Late afternoon we are in Shigatse, Tibet’s second largest town and the traditional capital of Tsang. Its main attraction is the Tashilhunpo monastery, founded in the 15^th century by the first Dalai Lama, which later became the seat of the Panchen Lamas. The latter were often rivals to the Dalai Lama’s authority. We spend the nights at the Shigatse hotel- our last in hotel, so we make the best of it (our last hot showers and proper bathrooms on this trip!) The drive is spectacular. We cross several passes, each honoured with prayer flags printed with auspicious prayers and a image of the ‘Wind Horse’ that grants all wishes. The vastness of the scale is awe-inspiring; open vistas of green plains and purple-blue mountains textured and shaded by shadows of fleecy clouds sailing overhead. We stop for lunch at a village rest-house, set within a Tibetan home, where we sampled ginke, roasted barley flour kneaded with butter into cakes and eaten with buttered tea. This typically Tibetan tea is made by boiling brick tea until it is thick, adding butter and salt and then churning it in long cylindrical churns (definitely an acquired taste!) The room is colourful and no the wall is a huge poster of Shah Rukh Khan. The two young Tibetan hostesses giggle and confess to being madly in love with him. While we wolf down cup noodles, they entertain us with a song from Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Ghum. Cheers to our film stars- our modern day Indian ambassadors! Following lunch, we drive past the village of Ngamring and camp by the side of its stream. Our trucks, two typical Chinese Dong Feng, blue vehicles carrying five sherpas, cooks, tents and foodstuff have arrived from Kathmandu. Our tents are cozy and the toilet tent with the Swiss portable toilet is the big attraction! Dinner is served in the dinning room tent. We all squeeze in- tables joined together, folding chairs, kerosene heater and lamps, tin plates and mugs, noodle soup, rice, dal and vegetables and the thrill of adventure- of a world of open spaces, frosty stars and tents pitched in the shadow of great mountains. Today the sun is out strong- the Tibetan plateau simmers in earthy colours. We drive by groups of Tibetan nomads, Drogpa’s (people of the high pastures) with yak and sheep, and stop to looking at nomad’s hut. Their summer months are spent gazing livestock on these highlands with constant movement to find fresh pasture and camping out in the open.  With the onset of winter, they move to urban markets for trading. Our next campsite, Saga, has a few shops and telephones which we used to call home as we will not be near another phone line for four days. Of course, our tour leader from Kathmandu has a satellite phone for emergencies. It is cold tonight, about 2 degrees Celsius, but the wind chill factor makes it much colder. Layering is important and I am wearing three layers of everything –socks, pants, tops and headgear! But through these layers and shivering in the icy wind, I thank the million stars shining bright overhead for being here tonight. I can see hundreds of kilometers across a clear horizon. The rarefied, unpolluted air and the sheer clarity of light makes everything stand out with a sharpness that cause perspective to lose it meaning. From the spares grass underfoot to undulating peaks on the horizon, all shine like crystals in the dazzling light. Paryang is written about in guidebooks as being the dirtiest town on the route. However, I find it quaint and quite clean compared to the others that has garbage and litter accumulated from travelers passing through. Our trucks had lagged behind, so we decide to stay at the lodge that night. The Sherpas put up a shower tent with buckets of hot water. Ah! A bath after three dusty days on the road! It is a complicated effort but feels wonderful, especially when followed by hot soup, dinner, idle chatter, loo jokes, massages and lots of loud snoring. As we drive towards the Mansarover, we pass a few blue Dong Feng trucks loaded to the hilt with Tibetans from Kham, also making their way to Mt. Kailash Enroute Mansarover. The women are gorgeous, colourfully dressed with long wraparound dresses, brightly patterned blouses and striped woollen aprons; coloured tassels woven in braids; silver, coral and turquoise jewellery, fantastic headgear, hats of fox skin, lambswool or fruit trimmed caps of gold brocade. Today, we are all feeling the effect of our bone rattling and dusty drive. Suddenly, our drive halts on top of a ridge and points ahead. Finally, Mapham Yum Tso, the precious lake said to be created in the mind, the manas, of Brahma – Lake Mansarover. The sheer beauty of this natural wonder takes my breath away and instantly energises me. Perched on an outcrop of red rock, overlooking Mapham Tso is Chiu Gompa, the Sparrow Monastery, and beside it is the lodge, where we all spend the next two nights.