Go! To Mount Kailash!

The decision to go to Mount Kailash was an impulsive one. A month ago, I felt anxious due to the uncertainty of my job. Modern people's anxiety is terrifying; it can make one feel indecisive and lose confidence, like floating on a boundless and dark sea, unable to reach the shore, helpless and terrified.

Just then, that mountain appeared like a lighthouse. Go! To Mount Kailash!

This loud and firm voice made the hot blood in my aging body boil again with a capricious and wild destination.

Most of the time, reason won’t win out over passion, even though there are rational voices constantly reminding me: I have never hiked more than 20 kilometers in a single day, never spent the night at an altitude of 5200 meters, and never climbed a pass at 5600 meters!

But I booked this journey decisively with the unknown. The mountain was calling me, and the voice was becoming clearer and clearer in my mind.

I'm thankful that in my 40s, I still have the physical strength to be capricious and a determination to go when I say I will.

"Paths of the Soul" is more than just a movie.

When the movie "Paths of the Soul" was released in 2017, I was in my 30s, but I still couldn’t understand the simple, pure, desireless, and non-competitive life of the pilgrims in the movie. I didn't understand what they believed in, why they would take a 10-year-old girl on a journey to Mount Kailash, why a pregnant woman close to giving birth would be part of the team, why they would trust strangers unconditionally, and why they could continue their pilgrimage calmly in the face of car accidents, childbirth, lack of money, death, and other such issues.

Paths of the Soul: a movie about the Kailash pilgrimage

What I couldn’t understand the most was why so many people loved this movie and traveled thousands of miles to the sacred mountain. Just like children will never understand the plain marriages, tedious jobs, heavy financial pressures, and the relationships they despise but can't escape in the adult world.

The night before heading to Mount Kailash, I watched the movie again. When Pu Shu's voice, filled with a sense of fragmentation, repeatedly sang, "What are you running away from, what are you trying to hold on to, who are you trying to please,” it seemed to sing to the core of my heart.

I want to escape from this anxious reality, I want to retain those people and things that are important to me but have already left me, and I don't want to please anyone. If there must be one person, it is myself. And this is not just a movie; it is the life of the pilgrims, who live and die on the road, and who accept and face everything as if they have never been eroded by the secular world.

From my 30s to my 40s, 7 years is enough time to shape a person's spiritual world. The girl who was full of fairy tales and desires in her heart can now empathize and perceive the value of real life and the pure hearts of the Tibetan people after 7 years of real-life trials.

So, I was heading to Mount Kailash like a pilgrim.

Where the heart leads, there is faith.

From Chongqing to Mount Kailash, it's 3500 kilometers.

First, we flew to Lhasa, and then from Lhasa to Mount Kailash, a distance of 2000 kilometers, passing through Shigatse, Everest Base Camp, Saga County, and finally to Darchen in Pulan County. On the flight from Chongqing to Lhasa, from the airplane porthole, I saw the north slope of Gongga and Namcha Barwa. Seeing the mountain peaks emerging from the clouds was like seeing tenacious life growing in places where it should not exist.

I had no faith and wasn’t sure what this journey would bring me, just out of a calling to the sacred mountain. The team leader told me that this was an excellent angle that cannot be photographed on land, but I would rather believe that this is a special gift given to me by this journey.

I believe that a good start is a projection of destiny. The sacred mountain has such magic that it makes people yearn for it. Where the heart leads, there is faith, which makes the pursuit of the unknown also full of sanctity.

On the plane, I took photos of the north slope of Gongga and Namjagbarwa.

I had no obvious altitude sickness, which was an important reason for my happiness double in the Tibetan area. But my friend said wittily: because of the lack of oxygen on the plateau, people become silly, so it's easier to be happy.

Mount Kailash, I saw you.

At 9 a.m. on Oct. 19th, we finally arrived at the entrance of Mount Kailash Scenic Area and bought tickets in turn. For believers, Mount Kailash is their sacred mountain, and for most ordinary people, coming to Mount Kailash is just a special journey in life.

The first day's hiking route was 26 kilometers, and the destination was the accommodation point at the sky burial platform at an altitude of 5200 meters, with an overall climb of 500 meters. It was not very difficult to hike. You could choose to take an eco-bus to the Prayer Flag Square for the first 7 kilometers, but I still chose to walk. I wanted to get close to the sacred mountain in my own pure way.

Everyone gets close to Mount Kailash in their own way.

At this time, the altitude was 4700 meters. It was still a bit breathless though walking on a flat road. Hiking is actually a very private thing. Most of the time, you walk by yourself. You can't expect your companions to be at the same speed as you. But because of this, there are more encounters and possibilities.

The Tibetan people were very friendly, and their kindness and sincerity gave this land of Tibet a footnote of truth, goodness, and beauty. As I walked slowly forward, many Tibetan people passed by me. When they heard my rough breathing, they either said "Tashi Delek" (which means “good luck and happiness to you” in Tibetan) to me, or said "Come on" simply, and even the shy Tibetan aunt gave an encouraging smile. So, although I was walking alone on this journey, I was reaping the benefits of kindness and blessings.

When I walked to the 3km mark, a small white hill suddenly appeared at the end of the downhill road, and Mount Kailash, this was how I saw you.

the peak of Kailash

At 2 p.m., I arrived at the supply point, Matou Mingwang Station. My partners who had left me far behind had already prepared instant noodles for me in advance, which warmed my heart a lot. The map on the wall of the station motivated me to finish the remaining 10 kilometers today.

The rest of the journey was a serious walk. To be honest, my body was exhausted, but the spirit was very relaxed. When I walked to the 19km mark, I rested quietly against a large rock. Looking around, three other people were resting here too, and the posture of us four resting was surprisingly consistent, leaning against the rock, holding a hiking stick, and panting in a daze. Just like our life, it's not just you who is experiencing something on this journey, many people are also panting heavily.

With the last 100 meters of climbing, I exhausted the last bit of strength of the day and finally arrived at the accommodation point of the first day, at 6:30 in the afternoon. At this time, Kailash was just a stone's throw away.

Kailash means the treasure of the mountain in Tibetan.

5648 meters, a new height in life

At an altitude of 5200 meters, the night at the sky burial platform was very cold. I added $21 to stay in the public restaurant with a charcoal fire. My only altitude sickness symptom was that I couldn't sleep well at night. To have a better condition for crossing the Zhuoma La Pass the next day, I asked the couple from Shanghai who were traveling with me for a sleeping pill. The young lady repeatedly told me that I could only take half a pill, fearing that the effect would be too strong. However, after tossing and turning for three hours, I got up, took the remaining half, and finally fell asleep. However, I didn't expect that the first wave of Tibetan guests would come on before 6 a.m. In addition to being a post station for trekkers, it was also a restaurant for local Tibetans around.

When I woke up before the sleeping pill had worn off, I got up on the wrong side of the bed, but when the cheerful Tibetan songs rang in the restaurant and the locals started to eat Zanba with butter tea, I was in a completely better mood. After all, I hadn't experienced such a joyful scene for a long time. In the early morning, this small restaurant was filled with cheerful Tibetan songs and the chatter of local people, and I was willing to become one of them, submerged in this daily joy.

The weather was very good. At around 8 o'clock, Kailash showed us its golden sunlit peaks, and then I set off on the second day's journey around the mountain.

Make a wish under the sunlit mountains of Mount Kailash

The journey was still 26 kilometers, and the most difficult part was to cross the Zhuoma La Pass at an altitude of 5648 meters. It’s already challenging to hike long distances at an average altitude of 5200 meters, not to mention to hike over the pass, which was a double test of physiology and psychology.

When I came out of the sky burial platform, I was not in a good condition. The effect of the sleeping pill had not subsided, making my legs heavy and my head dizzy. The climb made me exhausted and helpless. I have had poor cardiopulmonary function since I was young, and the narrowing of the small airways makes my breathing more difficult than ordinary people when I encounter climbing. So climbing was a process of breaking myself.

I took big mouthfuls of the thin air and heavily spat out the waste gas after exchange. The breathing action that people can't perceive in daily life was like a set of prescribed actions that need to be completed with strength at the foot of Zhuoma La Pass. But climbing is also the process of getting rid of the gravitational pull of the earth, and it is the process of pulling oneself out of the swamp. In the struggle, I could strongly feel the stubborn vitality in my body.

As the altitude rose, I felt that the backpack was becoming heavier and heavier. In fact, in such an extreme environment, we didn't need much. To make ourselves as light as possible, we need to learn to give up unnecessary things. This is the same in our lives: we carry a lot of things that seem to need but don't need. At this moment, what I needed was just food, water, courage, and my determination not to give up.

My physical strength is consuming at a visible speed. I feel that I can't bear it anymore. I repeatedly asked the team leader Mr. Tseten, when we’d arrive at the pass. He always comforted me and said, it's almost there, it's almost there.

A passing elder sister saw my embarrassment. She handed me her oxygen and said, "Girl, if you can't make it, take a breath of oxygen." I politely refused. I would feel that with every heavy breath I took, the sacred mountain could hear my voice more clearly. But I will always remember her kindness. In this place closer to the sky, there was once a kind elder sister who offered help without asking for anything in return.

5648 meters, a new height in life

At 11:40, after more than three hours of effort, I finally stood at the Zhuoma La Pass, 5648 meters above sea level, which was also a new height in my life. What's particularly magical was that the uncertainty of that work, which had been troubling me for so long, came to me at this very moment with a definite message. I would rather think that this is the divine power of Kailash and the power of belief and persistence.

Kailash is like a spiritual fortress, continuously nourishing those who believe in it. And to the Compassion Lake under the pass, my understanding of her is that the compassion of the sacred mountain will accept every devout person, no matter what kind of past you have.

We are heroes.

These days of experience are like a movie that keeps replaying in my mind, including the simple happiness brought by people and things along the way, and my own inner insights, healing, and reshaping. Perhaps this is like the old saying goes, "seeing the world, seeing all beings, and seeing oneself."

I don't know if the Mount Kailash Kora can wash away sins, but what makes the journey meaningful is what we define and believe in ourselves. Life is vast, and compared to the past, the future is much more worth looking forward to.

As the movie "Paths to the Soul" says, there is no deadly correct way of life in this world, and the sacred mountains and lakes are not the endpoint. Accepting the ordinary self, but not giving up the pursuit of beauty.

You will come to Kailash in any way, and if you have not arrived in person, it must be the place you look forward to most in your dream.