Wolfgang's photos with the keyword: Lachu valley

Four rivers flowing from Kailash then flow to the four quarters of the world and divide the world into four regions. In fact the Indus, Brahmaputra, Sutlej (a major Indus tributary) and the Karnali (a major Ganges tributary) all rise near the mountain, making it the hydrographic nexus of South Asia. The Ganges River also formed in this mountain.

There are still some hours to walk along the Lhachu river changes which became to a bigger stream.

As well as the monastery at Zutulpuk, there are several meditation caves and another cave containing an image of Milarepa. Jetsun Milarepa is generally considered one of Tibet's most famous yogis and poets, a student of Marpa Lotsawa, and a major figure in the history of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.

After a nice break fro having lunch we had to walk down the steep trail to the Zutulpuk monastery (4790m), site of the cave of miracles where Milarepa meditated.

Pilgrims throng to Kailash: not just Tibetans, but Hindus and Buddhists from India to Japan, joined by Western and Chinese travellers. Some, like us, walk across the Himalaya along old trade or pilgrimage routes, gaining valuable acclimatisation to the potentially fatal altitude. This animals are a great help for many pilgrims who come from far away to the Holy Kailash.

Hindus and Buddhists believe Kailash to be the navel, or axis, of the world and the abode of Shiva, the destroyer and transformer, and of Samvara, a wrathful manifestation of the Buddha. Jains and followers of Bön, the ancient shamanistic religion of Tibet, also revere the mountain.

Some parts of the river are ice and snow covered during the summer season too. Normally this area hasn't much snow fall.

Our Sherpa is hiking along the river bank, which becomes a bit steeper as you reach the next destination, the Bage Grassland. Pasang is a real Sherpa coming from the Khumbu Himal in Nepal.

We crossed several streams and followed an impressive gorge on this trip. Along the way we once again had dreamlike vistas to magnificent views of Mt Kalaish.

A moderate path going the third part of the Kora.

After three hours, we entered the Lhachu valley on the western side of the Mount Kailash. Continueing trekking for 2 hours (about 6 km) we reached a Buddha tower called ChoSen Kang-nyi which is renowned as one of the symbols of this holy mountain. There is a saying that people would be blessed by crossing over the feet of the Buddha statue. Evil people, however, may not be able to cross over!

We passed many Marmots but most of these animals escaped in a moment. When creating a burrow, they use both their forepaws and hind feet to assist in the work - the forepaws scrape away the soil, which is then pushed out of the way by the hind feet.

From here it is still six to seven hours trekking to the day’s final destination with no shelters in between.