I marked yesterday's program in red on the terrain map. We left at 6 am and arrived at 1:30 pm after covering 45 km at the DziDüPu church, although there was a sign saying Zuntrol Church. I have never heard this name written on the sign from anyone. There were still 12 km left for the second day, which I marked in yellow, we did it today and by noon I was already in Darchen at the hotel. So now I have time to rest and tomorrow the same round will come...
The first day we started at 6 am, without any rests or stops we went to the Derakpu teahouse, we reached it in about 5.5 hours and then an hour of rest, tea, food... From here the road rises strongly, at a leisurely pace we reached the last rest house of the Dolma La Pass in about 1.5 hours and then up the pass which is another about 3.5 hours... descending on the other side to the first teahouse is another 1 hour.
There was a strong wind on the Dolma La Pass, but this wind could have come from above from the upper mountains, it was very cold and had much less oxygen content than what is usually typical on the pass. I had a hard time trudging across the pass, much harder than before, I had a strong thirst for oxygen.
Surprisingly many people have suffered like me. Such a crossing looks like 3-5 steps and then deep breathing... deep breathing means I suck deeply into my stomach, then into my chest, filling myself with air from the bottom up, we learned this back in the days of Kyokushin karate breathing exercises. It takes 30-40 seconds, in and out, many times, for the dizziness to go away, then 3-5 steps again. If there is no wind, you can continue to go with deep breathing.
Right before reaching the pass, a young Tibetan girl handed me the oxygen bottle's suction cup because she saw that my mouth was turning blue... I took 3 sips and then continued. The air is very dry, it's hard to breathe through my nose because the mucus dries up and clogs it quickly... breathing through my mouth dries out my throat to such an extent that I can't swallow... I collect saliva in this case, but by the time I moisten my throat with it and swallow it, I can't breathe for many seconds... so I start breathing frantically as soon as I swallow the moistening saliva... small sips of water are the best, but even then it takes about 1 minute for my breathing to slow down... It's hard to describe it like this... but what's scary is that all this happened to me during my 3rd period, because it didn't happen with the first two...
Once we got over the pass, going down is not easy either, but at least the oxygen content in the air increases somewhat.
As we described, we ate something at the first teahouse and then walked for 3 hours to the DziDüPu temple. Kalsang got a plastic can because we had eaten fantastic Yak yogurt in a Tibetan yurt earlier, so we were now prepared with a larger bottle. Then we started the 3-hour walk, got the yogurt on the way and arrived at the inn at 10:30 in the evening.
For dinner, of course, yogurt with some biscuits. The generator was turned off at midnight, so all that was left was sleep. This accommodation is at 4,850 meters, again I struggled with my dry nose and parched throat, I had to take small sips of water every 15-20 minutes.
We arranged to meet at 8 in the morning. Milarepa meditated in this temple. Kalsan and I went up to the temple and I went into Milarepa's meditation cave for half an hour. It was an interesting experience. After meditation, I gave a donation to the temple and then had breakfast in the teahouse, which was nothing but yak yogurt with biscuits.
Kalsan must have gotten off on the wrong foot because he had a fight with Ms. Wan... so Kalsan and his younger brother ran away and Ms. Wang and I finished the last part of the 3rd stage in 3 hours. In the meantime, I called my wife on a video call to take care of things with the organizing office.
By the time we got to the hotel in Darchen, Kalsan said he wouldn't be nervous anymore. Let's just say this is interesting... let's talk a little about him. There is a Tibetan leader who, according to him, is a strong Buddhist... yet how is it that he gets angry about something on a daily basis and attacks Ms. Wang with very harsh words and gestures... I understand, the Chinese and everything. Ms. Wang, however, has worked as a law enforcement officer in China all her life, she is now 63 years old and also a strong Buddhist... she has been coming to Kailash regularly for twenty years.
I have told Kalsan many times that I am here to let go of all that is bad... primarily anger. I don't want to be nervous about anything or anyone. Everything is fine as it is, I have to overcome everything that would influence or put me under pressure... But a Tibetan who has now walked around the mountain 36 times... I remember the words of the nun from Anhui province at the first koran who asked Kalsan how many korans he had done as a leader so far... at that time only 33... how does he feel after so many korans? Kalsan replied nothing. Well, I don't know. Maybe it's good like this... then in the next life.
Now that I have finished the 3rd koran, I feel different... I can't say what it is, but something is not the same, of course it could be some placebo or the exertion... but it's still different somehow.
Today is half a day of rest and tomorrow at 6 am we leave for the 4th koran.
