The Mystery of the Kailash Trail - Chapter 6 - Part 1

Book 2: Chapter 6: Part 1: The team waits the night at the entrance to the Beyul.

They were getting to be tired and desperate as the shadows of dusk started taking over the valley. The mountains surrounding this particular spot were quite high and dusk would probably be totally in control much before it would take over the Dirapuk or Choku areas, thought Sangye. He kept looking for the entrance and began to accept the fact that they may not be able to spot it in time before the darkness would prevent any further discovery. At a gesture from him, and knowing what he would be thinking, Yeshe and Norbu accompanied him to the animals and began to unload the supplies.

They would have to establish a shelter fast enough before it would be too cold to move around. There was sufficient shelter here to take support from the rock walls and the huge boulders that had fallen close enough. The shelter could come up within the spaces between the rock walls and the boulders and could also allow for the animals to rest inside. Dawa began to collect dry twigs, branches and material to get a fire going inside the group of boulders that they had chosen. The mastiffs were moving around quietly and seemed to be glad that a campfire was finally lit up.

They sat around the fire, having placed the animals deep within the hideout. Yeshe and Norbu had cut down some long poles and branches and had made a make-do shed. It made for quite a comfortable cave-like shed and they would need it, Sangye told Dawa, for the night in this higher valley looked like it would be fiercer than the Dirapuk area. They had walked out from the monastery for only about four hours and yet, it seemed like they had been climbing steadily, though they were in the floor of the valley.

Dawa looked up at the narrow distance between the walls of the valley at the location of the fallen boulders. He pointed out the gap at the top and said, “Old man from Qinhai, do look at that narrow valley that is blocked out by these boulders. This is indeed a strange valley. We have climbed quite a bit, and if these boulders have come down this valley, they could have spread out for quite a distance. We are only at the entrance. What if we do manage to get inside these boulders through any entrance? What if we get trapped within these maze of boulders?”

Yeshe and Norbu heard Dawa but did not respond. They were busy cooking dinner for everyone and were also separating the food supplies for the yaks and horses and the mastiffs. Sangye patted Bzanba, his favourite mastiff over the many years that he had been coming to the valley of the Kang Renpoche mountain, and replied, “Old man Dawa, I know. I have also been thinking of the same problem. It can be quite terrifying if we get stuck inside the maze and we are unable to get out of it before a rainstorm or a snowstorm hits us. The size of these boulders worries me. There may be larger ones behind them.”

“Larger boulders may not be a problem. They may provide space between them for us to walk through. What if there is a pile up and some boulders may have crashed through. We should be careful before we enter this area. We should scout ahead, and locate open land or caves before we enter. We should keep the return passage open for fast movement to get back to Dirapuk,” said Dawa, accepting the bowls of Tsampa and noodles. They could afford to indulge in eating well, for Norbu would travel to Dirapuk tomorrow and return with more people, supplies and animals.

Sangye added, “There must be some very distinct way. How could large animals such as the wild yaks have walked through? They are not known to climb sheer rock. I have seen some animals on steep slopes, but have never heard of them hopping from rock to rock. The passage could be narrow, and the yaks may have walked through in a single line. But they would have known about it. We do not know if the yaks returned to this valley. They could do so tonight. Remember, that the herd of those wild yaks was accompanied by wolves. The wolves could return earlier.”

Norbu looked up worried at the thought. What if the wolves entered this camp hideout of theirs? He would be safer if he slept nearer to the yaks and the mastiffs. The yaks could frighten of the wolves. He thought back to the story that he had heard from Brother Tameng and old man Dawa and the manner of behaviour of the wolves. Would he indeed be safe in this hideout? He thought back to his worries earlier in the evening. They seemed to be headed into a trap, with this valley that looked like a box filled up with stones.

Norbu placed his sleeping bag near his yaks, and accompanied by his mastiff, and made sure that they would be comfortable for the night. He had kept the huge tarpaulin sheet nearby to be ready if there would be a rainstorm or a snowstorm in the night, and he could cover up with his yaks and his mastiff. The other two yaks and Kangryi, the mastiff, had snuggled up against a rock wall that had been made warm with the cut-up bushes and brushwood that Yeshe had lined up. Dawa had set up three small campfires inside the hideout and had placed a pile of stone pebbles and small rocks within them to keep warm if the fires were to go down.

He was moving around, fire to fire, and adding dry wood and twigs and stoking them to make sure that the night in the hideout would be warm enough for the animals. He could sleep for short periods of time and could also wake up in a completely alert manner at the faintest disturbance. Norbu sat up and watched Dawa nearby, intent on relaxing at the fire, and said, “Old man Dawa, you are wise and you know this valley well. I have never stepped away from the kora around the Kang Renpoche Mountain or the big lakes. I look at you for guidance. But, I have one question that has been bothering me since the evening.”

Dawa and Sangye looked at Norbu, not surprised that the young boy was worried. This could happen to anybody. These mountains did that to many. You could go around these regions like you had the toughest personality, the best courage and strongest will, and suddenly, you could be hit by worries and panic. It had happened to both, Dawa and Sangye, in many a camping trip. You could get frightened, having to stay trapped inside your tent or inside a dark cave, through the night. People around the world did not know the colour of darkness, Sangye often said to Yeshe, untill they came to the upper Himalayas in Tibet, and looked at the night without any lights or fire. There could be no darker colour of black than the colour of night in these mountains.

“Stay in peace, boy, for you are with good friends in these mountains,” said Sangye, “Old man Dawa and I, we have many years of travel, camping and wandering about in these mountains. We know that it could get frightening to move into the higher areas, suddenly, without planning or discussing the trek forward. We do not know where we go. Perhaps, no man has ever entered this valley. Tomorrow you will turn back to Dirapuk and return with more people, supplies and food and animals. It will get better and better.”

Norbu nodded thankfully, and bowed, showing his gratitude, and said, “I thank you, for you are both well acquainted with these mountains. I am worried for another reason. We search for the path of the herd of the large wild yaks and we think that these animals came down from this valley. I have another question. What if these wild yaks walked up this valley, wanting to enter the region beyond, and came to this very same rock wall and stopped? What if they returned from this spot, unable to enter, in the rainstorm during the night? What if they went from here to go through Dirapuk and then walked through the Lhachu valley? What if they came from a different place, from a valley someplace else?”

Sangye looked at the young boy with new respect. This fellow was a thinker, no doubt. He wished that his grandson, Yeshe, would also use his brains like this young boy or like the courageous young monk from Choku. The old nomad from Qinhai replied, “Young man, you are correct. It could be possible. Anything is possible in this valley. We do not know. What we now know is that there is this valley that is unknown. The herd of large wild yaks was unknown. The aspect of wild wolves accompanying wild yaks in a rainstorm was unknown. There is only one known fact. The fact that the tracks of the wild yaks were seen only on the trail leading away from this valley is the only known aspect.”

“Let us enter this valley. Let us explore the unknown,” said Sangye, and added, “We have nothing else to do in our lives, me and old man Dawa. The kind Kang Renpoche Mountain has blessed us with this mystery, and allowed us to pursue it. Who knows what will happen? The wild yaks may not have come from here. But, an unknown valley is out there, waiting for us to enter it.”