November 23rd, 2002
"Sinless, Yet Stranded, in Ngari"
I'm exhausted. Physically and mentally. 3 weeks in Ngari
(western
Until yesterday, I had one shower in the previous 3 weeks. Stayed in hotels, mud
huts, and monasteries. None heated. Instant noodles have comprised 75% of my
meals. Hitching here is tough.
So how did I get here?
I left off in
The trip into
After going to the police station and paying a fine so that I was "legal" in
Zhada was a little hole. A one-street town. I stayed in the basement of a
restaurant. My bed was a blanket covering a few wooden boards that spanned a bed
frame. No electricity. Anyway, my reason for that destination is that this area
is the former seat of the Guge pronounced "goo-geh") Kingdom. Back in the 10th
century, this was an important trade center between
But anyway, I spent a day climbing around in the hills above Zhada. Cave
dwellings in cliffs and rock outcroppings. Buddhist chortens. Some remains of
buildings. All a few km out of town. All in ruin of course. The whole day I
barely saw a human footprint. I felt like an important archaeologist making big
discoveries! I was, I guess, in my little world.
The next day, I went to the site of the
From Zhada, I decided to go to Darchen, a village near the base of
Well, Day 1: I hitched my way back to Ali, where I figured it would be easy to
find a ride to Darchen. Ha. Ha. Day 2: I sat at the gas station at the south
edge of town all day. Day 3: I sat at the gas station at the south edge of town
half the day, then said screw it and bought a bus ticket to
After some arguing, got my bus ticket to
Day 5: Got up early to try to hitch with passing trucks. Ha. Traffic was sparse.
While waiting, we each found our own way to pass time. Erlend, the Norwegian,
started a bonfire. I overturned an old truck cab, and played make-believe. Found
a large gear to serve as a steering wheel, pieces of rubber for the mirrors, a
wicker basket for the seat, even made a functional door out of a piece of sheet
metal. Fastened everything with wire. I was quite proud of my little truck that
was going nowhere. Late in the day, we found a real truck going a couple hours
further. Hopped on.
A good time to describe these trucks. They are all blue. They are like big dump
trucks. And if they're not packed with goods or people, they are not going
anywhere. Usually, you ride in back. It's dusty, it's bumpy, it's uncomfortable.
But most importantly, it's a way of connecting points A and B.
Day 6: Woke up who knows where. Asked driver of yesterday's truck to drive us to
Darchen. Agreed. 5 more hours in truck. Arrive. Stock up on food for tomorrow's
trek. Sleep in a dumpy hut with our own stove. Burn a lot of sheep and yak shit
to warm the place up, but the broken windows don't do a lot to keep the heat in.
Day 7: Finally, the trek can begin. A little about it... The trek is a "kora"
which is a circling of the holy mountain,
Day 8: Finally, the trek can begin, for real this time! The starting point is
Darchen, 4560m/15000ft. First day was tough because breathing was like sucking
through a straw. En route, we visited a sky-burial site, where bodies are left
for the birds, literally. That night we stayed in Dira-Puk Monastery, with great
views of
Day 2 of the trek was an ascent to Drolma-La pass, 5630m/18500ft! That's the
highest I've ever been. When we started in the morning it was 2 deg F (-17 deg
C)! The trek then returned to a valley floor and we spent the night at the
Zutul-Puk, another monastery. Day 3 was a fairly level return to Darchen. When
finished, we spent the rest of that day sitting in the sun outside a mud hut,
enjoying some beers, reflecting on our now-sinless lives. We wondered if the
erasing the "sins of a lifetime" applied only to past sins, or to future ones as
well. Hopefully the latter.
Next day, the quartet hired a ride to Lhatse, a town en route to
I decided to begin the kora again tomorrow.
And to do it in a day.
Tibetans do it, why can't I? Length 52km/32.5mi, elevation varies from
4560m-5630m/15000ft-18500ft. I've never walked that far in a day, certainly not
at that elevation, not out in the sticks, alone, in those cold temperatures,
most of it through snow. Seemed like a good idea.
Began at 3:15am. I only allowed myself breaks at the 2 monasteries where we
nighted on the 3-day trek. Walked pretty fast. Very eerie, a dirt and snow path
(when I could find it), past
Anyway, so I've done 26 koras now. I think that's enough to erase future sins as
well. And I'm almost 1/4 of the way to instant nirvana (108 koras). Not bad.
Hitched a ride back to Ali. Two days. Blue truck. Day 1, bent left-rear axle.
Luckily we were 10km/6mi from a town. 6 hrs to fix. Day 2, disassembled
driveshaft. Twice. Got stuck several times late at night. Stopped once for a
break. Driver whipped out a 5kg/10lb sheep thigh he was storing behind his seat,
unwrapped. Uncooked, of course. Insisted I eat about a half a pounds' worth. Got
to Ali at 3am.
And here I am. Still searching for a ride to
Western Tibet is: dirt roads, mud huts, eating raw sheep, Tibetan tea (black tea
with butter), tsampa (flour, tea, and moldy butter mixed together), instant
noodles, dirty children, people with rosy cheeks, no heat, tough hitchhiking
(both to find, and to endure), stores with only the basics, shit-burning stoves
(I can say with authority that sheep shit burns hotter and longer than yak shit,
with its fault being that it sits so low in the stove that it's tough to boil
water with it), cold yet sunny weather, mountains, gravelly plains.
I'm sunburnt. I'm tired. My clothes are dirty, and worn (ie. one pair of pants
has two patches, the other has 4 patches and 2 repaired seams). My daypack is
falling apart. My left shoe is on the verge of splitting in two. I'm limping
from my last kora.
And when I finally do secure a ride back to
Ah, vacation...
"It's not really an adventure unless, at some point during the trip, I say to
myself, 'What the fuck am I doing here?'" (-David Noland)
Away Awhile is hosted by Josh Trutwin.