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Day 9 Hangkar to Nimaling 4720m
We will gain quite a bit of height today and can expect it to be cool tonight. As we left Hangkar we got our first sight of the snowy peak of Kang Yatze, (6400m) which we will see for the next couple of days and view much closer from the plains of Nimaling. A slow steady climb past lots of Mani walls, some new and some in disrepair, brought us to a parachute tent that had a sign outside saying, 'Hotel'. Next to the tent was a solar panel which our guide assured us would be working. Distribution of these solar panels for producing electricity was an ongoing government initiative in rural areas. We stopped for black tea and I asked the girls making it if I could take their photo. They said I could with much giggling. Next to the tent was a little lake which our guide said would have shown a lovely reflection of Kang Yatze, except the sun had gone behind some clouds. As we set off again there were some strange eroded columns with big tops, I took a picture of Carole standing in front of them. |
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I talked to our guide Uden about the Mani stones, which we have been seeing in huge numbers, often piled high in walls, sometimes just lining the sides of the tracks. He told me that they were made by the monks as a meditation and devotional exercise. They were then cast away, no matter how beautifully carved, an act which symbolised impermanence. As we walked I thought of all the thousands and thousands of man hours making these beautiful carvings just to discard them. It seemed very sad. I would like to have picked a smaller Mani stone up to carry home but we had been warned not to do that. We eventually reached Nimaling and after a mug of orange Carole and I decided to climb up towards Kang Yatze Base Camp. We got quite a way up and I could really feel the altitude taking my breath away. Looking down at the bleak plain our tents were dots below us and starting to feel very cold we decided to make our way back.
As we arrived a huge herd of goats and Yaks came down the plain towards our tents, I couldn't see anyone with them. They milled about for half an hour and then a yak herder wandered along and suddenly all the goats and yaks, and there must have been hundreds, made for a tiny bridge across the river. They piled onto the bridge, and onto it's walls and supports until the bridge was completely invisible and then across to the pens on the other side. Amazingly no goats fell into the water but what a spectacle, it looked very funny. Dinner was a complete surprise, fried eggs and chips. Steve, one of our trekkers, had a significant birthday today and the cook baked a big chocolate cake which we all scoffed for deserts. How can they cook such a lovely cake on a paraffin stove?! It was cold in bed. Steve had a fancy watch that told the temperature and he told us it was -3 in the tents overnight. I had to get up to go to the toilet tent as usual but when I got outside I quite forgot the cold. I've never seen a sky like it, the Milky Way in all it's glory, a beautiful white cloud of stars. I stared until I couldn't stand the cold any longer. I had to go again much later in the night (it's the Diamox you know!) but the moon was up and the sky nothing like as spectacular.
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