Guge Kingdom to Darchen via Rutok Monestery & Pangong-Tso

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Guge Kingdom to Darchen via Rutok Monastery

Day 8 - Tholing Zanda to Ali (4280m)

Packed racked and ready to go after another portion of pork dumplings for breakfast, we began the 6 hour, 200km drive to Ali. Following the Sutlij river past the Guge kingdom and turned north back into the clay canyons. The canyons and valleys were broken with the odd village. The road zig-zagged up and over 3 high passes. Ayi-La (5167m), Zongchung-La (5076m) and Lalung -La (5300m). From the passes we could see Nandi Devi, Indias highest mountain. We entered the Gar valley flat as can be and passed the newly constructed airport. (Soon this will be a far easier way to access the far reaches of western Tibet). Once in the valley we joined the tarred road, a compete result for the last 70km to Ali.
One more checkpost just before Ali and we entered a bustling town.

A strong Muslim influence in the town made for interesting food and resturant names. Ali is the capital of the region and another major military stronghold. We struggled to find a room as the hotels and guest houses need a permit to allow foreigners to stay. With only a few tourists making it out this far not many of them have bothered so there are only a handfull with holding a valid permit. Dhondup eventually found us a comfy room, where we crashed for a few hours. Dhondup went off to register our presence in the town with the PSB - a must if staying here overnight.
Not a lot of people make it to Ali, this was apparent by the continual staring we received wherever we went. Tibetans lined the streets waiting to be picked up for manual work, reminding me of many south african cities. With a strong military presence, the roads are subject to continual closures everytime a 'general' decides we wants to drive down the street- seriously!
Liff and I found a resturant with a picture menu, making dinner easy to get our hands on. I passed out for a few hours exahusted from yesterdays exploration.
We met a few local schoolgirls from the town who barged into our room intrigued by our stuff and books. Liff in teacher mode spent hours communicating by various means. A great way to learn local customs and traditions and just about local life in general. Girls removed we passed out watching CCTV News the only chinese channel broadcast in English.


Day 9 - Ali out to visit Pangong-Tso Lake (4241m) & Rutok Monestery

Breakfast was rushed as a 'general' decided he wanted to come down the main street half way through and the main street was being shut down. Leaving Ali in the warm morning light we ascended the La-me-La pass (4875m) and descended into a beautifull valley turned green by the river running through it. The greenery bought with it Cranes, Geese, sheep, Yaks, Marmots and even some sort of seagul.
One more checkpost, and we found the majestic Pangong-Tso Lake. A 110km lake that is half in Tibet and half in Ladakh in India. Unfortunately due to a boating accident a week earlier, and partly responsible for the current stong military presence, the boats we were hoping to catch were not running.
We sat for hours watching small isolated storms traverse the length of the lake. We stopped at Rutok-Xian for lunch in a typical cozy tibetan Cafe.
After lunch we made the decision not to stay at Rutok-Xian overnight, as there is not much more there than in Ali, and headed off to find Rutok Monastery. Like the Guge Kingdom the monastary was built into a conical hill. 3 Monasteries used to occupy the mount, however during the cultural revolution they were destroyed with only one being re-built in the 1980's. 6 young energetic monks showed us around, Liff intruiged with the kitchen and cooking practices smoking out the small busy kitchen.
Lots of the original murals, still visible, painted by artists from Kashmir.
The views from the hill allowed us to look over the plains to Pangong-tso in the distance and the ruined Rutok fort nearby. Saying a funky goodbye to the 6 monks and exchanging a few pictures we set off back to Ali.
Stopping for a minor mechanical repair, I set off across the marshes to get a picture of the large cranes. One thing with this terrain is that things generally look closer than they are. Needless to say I walked a long way with the birds laughing at me as they wandered in the opposite direction.
Back in Ali, we chilled and chatted to the schoolgirls excited at our return.


Day 10 - Ali to Darchen (4560m) via Tirthapuri Hot Springs

The following days 330km (6 hour) journey was made a pleasure by the presence of TAR. We made a brief detour to the Tirthapuri hot springs, getting severly lost twice on the 8km off road detour. Disapointed by the way they had built a concrete bath house over the healing waters we left in a cloud of dust. The life giving waters we were hoping for have been channeled into a dodgy concrete building where wooden calcium encrusted tubs charge money to climb into them - No thanks.

Moving swiftly on to Darchen (the starting point for the Kailash Kora) we found a room and begun preparations for tomorrows walk around the sacred mountain. Packing and re-packing our gear to a size the porters were happy with (around 10kg's) Packed we passed out feeling the altitude, not a good sign.

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