Kailas Mansarovar Trek

If truth be told, i signed up for this yatra (pilgrimmage), more for it being a challenging 18day trek rather than a spiritual journey for most Hindus! This was the same year that saw one of the worst tragedies on the yatra route..wherein we lost an entire 9th batch to a massive landslide at Malpa. Amongst other unfortunate who lost their lives, was celebrity Protima Bedi. I was in the sixth batch.
The trek on the Indian side thru KMVN campsites at Pangu, Sirkha, Gala, Malpa, Budhi, Gunji, Navidang & finally over Lipulekh Pass (17000ft) where yatris get into the Chinese Occupied Tibet for onward to Purang (now Taklakot) and finally commence the parikrama(circumambulance) of the sacred Mt. Kailash(54kms @ 18500ft) & Lake Manasarovar (90kms @ 15000ft). Interstingly, even the local Tibetans (Bonpas) revere the lake & mountain & undertake 'parikrama' albeit in the anti-clockwise direction.
The grandeur of the 22000ft high peak of Mt. Kailash is to be seen to be believed! The only night black rock face standing tallest amongst other morraine hillocks, Manjushree (Bodhisattva of Wisdom) & Avlokiteshwara (Bodhisattva of Compassion) in Tibetan Budhhism. And curiously resembling the open hood of a cobra, closely associated with Lord Shiva!
To make mention of Lake Manasarovar, believed to have been created from the mind of Lord Brahma (hence the name), would be to see a psychedelic light show! The colours of the waters take the hues of the changing light patters with clouds playing filters! Emerald, Turquoise, Forest Green, Peacock Blue, Coral Blue, Gold are some that came to my pupils. Surely, inspiration for present day colour palette of 2.6 million colours in computers & cellphones must have been drawn from here!
(bottom pic shows yours truly at the base of Mt. Kailash (North face) on day 1 of parikrama, pic on top shows the mountain's South face (resemblance to the famed 3rd eye of Lord Shiva?)