Located on the west bank of the “Sacred Lake” Manasarovar, Jiwu Temple stands high on a oval-shaped hill. The temple, surrounded with green and abundant vegetation, boasts magnificent buildings and enchanting scenery. It is said that Guru Rinpoche once meditated in the cave in the temple. The temple is said to be the best place to appreciate Lake Manasarovar, the clear water maintaining peace and mystery.
The size of the temple is small, and there are only several Tibetan Buddhist houses, the layout of which imitates that of the Potala Palace. Jiwu Temple is about 30 kilometers from Darchen and it takes about an hour driving there. During the peak season, there are a great number of vehicles traveling to Lake Manasaovar and Mt. Kailash.
Lake Manasarovar is fed by water originating from Mount Kailash. It is said that after Guru Padmasambhava completed the Kailash Kora, he searched for a place to meditate and found a cave in a small rocky hill on the shore of Manasarovar, where he meditated for a long time. The rock cave still exists today and is the main attraction of the temple. It even contains the handprint of Guru Padmasambhava. The temple monk welcomed us warmly, and we selected the appropriate butter lamps, which we lit inside the cave.
We placed the Hungarian flag of Grabensia in Padmasambhava’s cave at the spots where, according to the monk, the energies are most powerful. Then, I said my prayers in the smoke of the butter lamps. The cave is so small that only one person can pray while lying prostrate. Afterwards, we walked through the temple. On the upper terrace, I unfolded the Hungarian flag of Grabensia, and we took some photos with Lake Manasarovar in the background.
Next to the temple, there is a spring with healing water that is said to cure many kinds of illnesses. We drove around the lake, even went down to the shore. Despite the cold, the water was pleasantly warm. I had seen many photos of meditating Hindus and hermits—but there was no one around, the lakeside was completely deserted. Only a few Chinese tourists were driving around like us, trying to find the best photo spots. The landscape is breathtakingly beautiful. I can’t find words for the contrast of the clouds in the sky, the deep blue of the lake, and the distant snowy mountain ranges that dazzle white on the horizon… Unfortunately, an iPhone camera doesn’t quite capture what the human eye experiences.
After not finding anything else of interest, we returned to Darchen, and I had a latte made at the small restaurant in front of the hotel… the Hunan Restaurant, run by people from China’s Hunan Province—also the birthplace of China’s Great Helmsman, Mao. I couldn’t resist the joke: “Do you know when the Great Helmsman was born?” Of course, none of them knew, they just guessed… they didn’t even know what a coffee latte was. But I saw they had a real espresso machine that used whole beans—very good coffee from Yunnan Province. After I told them Mao’s birthdate, I explained how to make a latte… and they immediately ran off to get yak milk. Here, the cattle are yak—or as it’s said in Chinese, the “hairy cow.” The machine brewed the coffee, and we poured in boiled yak milk. It’s quite thick and has a slightly sweet base flavor (of course, there was no way to steam it here)… but I must admit, the latte turned out amazing.
In such a small place, a foreigner—who isn’t really a foreigner—is quite a sensation. The restaurant was run by young people who all gathered around us, and we had a great conversation about all sorts of things. I haven’t mentioned how we got a car… While I was on an IV, a woman sat down next to me and heard me speaking Chinese with the nurses. She joined the conversation. It turned out that Ms. Wang had driven all the way from Shenzhen—which is at least 6,000 km away. She’s 63 years old, retired, and has been traveling around China alone for 10 months. Long live freedom! We became friends, and that’s how today’s road trip happened. Then came the food and coffee at the Hunan restaurant, and long discussions about everything.
Since we planned to begin our second Kailash Kora at 5 a.m. the next morning, we didn’t go to bed too late.
