Kailash

Mount Kailash...home to Shiva, home to Demchok (the Buddha of supreme bliss), the place where the founder of Jainism attained liberation, and the seat of all spiritual power, according to the Bon religion. So that's 4 different religions who consider it sacred. As such, it's not permitted to climb it. Ok, so walking round it is the only alternative, which sounds easy in itself...except that you have to take in to account that it is not at sea level. In fact when you start at the beginning of the 3 days walk round it, the altitude is 15,000 ft, going up to a glorious (!) 18,000ft (5,600m) at Dolma Pass on day 2.

And on July 24th, me, my brother Rik, and 2 of his sons, Tim and Tom, are heading to Mt. Kailash. Why? Good question. I've wanted to go there for ages, but every time I was in Tibet I either didn't have enough money or enough time. So I decided to arrange it from over here and make the time, otherwise life would flow too quickly by and I'd miss the opportunity. And bizarrely, Rik, Tim and Tom wanted to come too! So it's a Fox family outing and will be the first time we've travelled together (unless you count the weekend in the Lake District a couple of weeks ago). This will be interesting!


The Fox family up a mountain in the Lakes, having a rest

Hope Rik doesn't take a step forward absent mindedly!

Someone very kindly put some steps into this mountain for us- wonder if they'll have done the same in Tibet?