Mt. Kailash - Manasarovar Sojourn - 5

THE NYALAM - SAGA DRIVE

On the morn of August 26th we left Nyalam for Saga - a military town that was situated at a distance of   240 km from Nyalam and would take a drive of 6 to 7 hours. We started our journey at 8:30 a.m. after breakfast and Guru pooja. We were advised to repack some of the material from our duffle bags to our backpacks - the bare essential items required for the night at Saga, as it was thought unlikely that we would have access to our duffle bags.

The drive for roughly two hours from Nyalam is on an excellent road - the highway that leads from Zhangmu to Lhasa (800 km) and further on, to the ultimate destination of Beijing (over 5000 km away). On the way we pass an attractive Tibetan village that goes by the name Changan and has the famed Milarepa cave down in the valley to the right of the road. The valley river terraces have been cultivated and hence presents a pretty picture (Photo Left)

The famed Milarepa cave is situated below the main village and there are steps leading to the cave that has been  enclosed by a later superstructure with rooms and meditation halls. The cave itself is pitch dark and one cannot discern anything within, but on clicking a camera with a flash one sees a host of picture frames and brass articles and lamps in the cave. (See photo on right)

Left: A Hallway at Milarepa.

A yellow-ochre superstructure over the Millarepa cave.

Left: Changan village with Tibetan style dwellings.

After some two hours of driving, the convoy of eight Toyota land cruisers suddenly veered off to the left and left the smooth tar road and got on to a roughshod muddy track that was to form the bulk of the way right up to Manasarovar. The road is really muddy, dusty and bumpy and quite a few times the vehicles have to ford across rivers, as bridges are absent in many places, and at other places, they are still under construction. Quite often, even these muddy tracks are obstructed by road construction and maintenance authorities and the vehicles end up manoeuvring ad hoc trails over the countryside for long stretches. Quite often there is the real and present danger of the vehicles getting stuck in a quagmire of slush and wet mud when even the four-wheel drive cannot help extricate the vehicle. In a few instances, one of the other vehicles of the convoy took a detour and somehow got ahead of the stranded vehicle and tugged at the stuck car using a strong steel wire cable and managed to extricate the stranded car.

The drive is over the extremely scenic Tibetan plateau that forms a very wide plain tract and are bordered on either side by snow-capped peaks and mountains. We arrived at the Sisha Pangma Conservatory (photo left) at around 11:45 a.m. One gets a magnificent view of the Sisha Pangma peak to the left of the road in the great distance as one heads towards Saga.

(Right: Shisha Pangma peaks)

We also pass the Piegutso Lake -  a medium sized body of fresh turquoise blue water that renders the spot quite scenic. The altimeter reading gives a value of 4400 m or 14,520 feet.

The road skirts the lake at some distance and we stopped here for a brief respite.

As we drive on we come to the Lalang La (Lalang Pass) which is at 5050 m or 16,665 ft. One gets an exhilarating view of the Tibetan plains on either side from the top of this pass.

(Photo left: Lalang La)

A further drive of about two hours takes us to the Brahmaputra valley where the river is quite swift-flowing and hence rather muddy and brownish as it carries a heavy load of sediments.

Unfortunately tourists are prevented from taking photographs in the vicinity of Saga town as it is a military base and we were given strict instructions never to dare defying the Chinese authorities.

We reached Saga around 3:30 p.m. local time and lodged at the Saga Hotel. The room was quite spacious and comfortable but had three beds in it. There is a severe problem of water shortage at the hotel and it took quite a bit of persuasion to get even a bucket of cold water to flush the toilets, the cisterns being empty. For quite a while there was no water in the bathroom sink, and it was only after 8:00 p.m. that we got hot water in the bathroom for a shower.

Saga is at 4450 m or 14,685 ft and one feels a clear shortness of breath as one takes a few steps even on plain ground. We were advised to take slow steps and refrain from exerting ourselves. Our rooms were on the second floor and we found it quite strenuous to make the climb.

In the evening the group made its way to the banks of the Brahmaputra and we were made to shout 'Om Namah Shivaya' by exerting and forcing our breath as we uttered it. This was followed by a few other yogic practices.

Later in the evening we scouted around to see if we could make an international call to India. We found that the shops charged 4 Yuans per minute for a call to India. Later after dining, we retired for the night.