Kailash Manasarovar along with Everest Base Camp (EBC), Mukthinath, Pokhra, Mankamna Temple, Chitwan Gardens, V(B)almiki Ashram, Janakpur – Inclusive of two days trekking at Kathmandu valleys – 24 Night/24 Days
By Earthbound Expeditions (P) Ltd.; Chaksibari Marga Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal;PO Box 5801, Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal
From August 12th to September 05th 2012
(Trip from New York started on August 10th and Returned on September 15th 2012)
OM NAMA SHIVAYAH! OM NAMA SHIVAYAH! OM NAMA SHIVAYAH!
Trip Link
Paragliding Link
[The above link has 558 pictures of above trip. I also have provided detailed captions to have a better idea.]
Background
I had in mind about Manasarovar -Kailash Yatra for the last few years, especially after my most memorable third trip to Badrinath in 2010 August – September in a car with my brother, Gopikkochattan. And from December 2011 I actively pursued to find travel agents who have successfully conducted trips and Parikrama (Circumambulation).
Let me at the very beginning apologize to my readers that this may seem to contain a lot of extraneous matters as I think that my true feelings and emotions and the satisfaction of completing this trip cannot be brought out without providing those details.
Family Support and Encouragement
I hade all moral and physical support provided with proper advices about food and exercises, support from Thanky (my wife), Anand (my son) and Asha (my daughter) by providing proper advices about food and exercises. Anand searched various agents and recommended Earthbound. And once he finalized his plan for trekking to Everest Base Camp/Madagascar, etc. and confirmed that he will be back by August 1st and will be home until October 1st I decided to arrange the trip during the time period of August – October 2012with the consent of Thanky.
Other Preparations
Physical fitness is one of the primary factors in completing the trip successfully. Kailash is located above 22,000 feet high altitude and we will be trekking at a height of about 19,500 feet in order to complete the circumambulation. As per the old saying “if there is a will there is a way”. Will power can make you physically fit as well. I was walking for about half an hour every day even during the winter. It was interesting to note that when I used to walk daily evening after work from 47th Street Park Avenue to 14th Street, Union Square through Park Avenue it will automatically turn out to be brisk walk as most of the time you will be running to beat the signal lights. I do not remember having stopped with red light for more than five times of the thirty plus lights on any of those days.
Drink a lot of water. What Travel Agents suggest is to drink more than three liters of water daily. As I normally drink more than two liters of water daily this was also not an issue. Six or seven cups of tea and more than two liters of water was more than enough and I had no problems on that side as well.
We need to have medical fitness certificate. My Primary Physician, Jitendra Patel, being an Indian familiar with Kailash Parikram did a thorough check up and gave me a certificate. He also indicated to me that one of his friends could not complete the Parikram due to altitude sickness in the previous year and cautioned me to take all precautions.
Most travel agency may require you to take travel insurance. If we do not have our own policy they will take one for you but could be costlier. When you take the policy please note to have coverage for additional few days on both sides. I had the policy taken from World Nomads Travel Insurance.
Employer Support and Vacation Arrangement
I also had discussion with my office, specifically with my boss Anita Waters, about this trip from the last quarter of 2011. My boss was so supportive that she was willing to accommodate me by approving entire five weeks annual vacation I am eligible for at a stretch. I requested and arranged for five weeks vacation with an understanding that I will train a back-up and would ensure that he/she would be trained thoroughly to discharge all responsibilities independently before I start my vacation.
Ticket and Travel Agents
When I notified of my interest about the trip to my brother, Gopikkochattan, he not only supported me but also expressed his interest to join the trip. After a few months of discussions/negotiations with Earthbound (earthbound@wlink.com.np and/or earthbound@wlink.com.np), they agreed to customize the trip inclusive of Lhasa – Guge for two of us. As my passport was expiring in October ’12, Shree Rajan Simkhada of Earthbound suggested that I renew the passport and contact him with updated data/information as Chinese government would not issue visa unless passport has validity of at least nine months. I notified that passport will be renewed by June/July and would provide details.
In the meantime (i.e. from March/April to June/July) I got in touch with many other India/Nepal/Tibet based travel agencies like Karnali/Vaishali group (Vaishali Patel Shah) [karnali.trekking@gmail.com, vaishali@shreekailashyatra.com, pvaishu@hotmail.com ], Tibet CTrip Service-Online brand of Tibet Niwei Internationl Travel Service (Tony) [tibetctrip@gmail.com] , Himalayan Glacier Trekking (Lina Patel), [linapatel@fuse.net and/or www.kailash.himalayanglacier.com] etc. At one point we almost finalized the trip with Vaishali group. But later on I found out that no visa can be obtained to Lhasa, as a matter of fact Ramnath Mahadevan (Raju) of UN indicated so when I talked to him of my proposed trip, and even for Kailash Mansarovar as the Chinese government will issue visa only to a group for a minimum of five members with same citizenship and same itinerary. It seems Vaishali did not have enough US Citizens as all of a sudden they stopped responding to my emails and/or calls.
By April/May with advice of Karnali Travels I booked the air tickets from August 23rd to September 26th 2012. Omana and Reghu of Meena Travels (www.meenatravels.com and/or reghu@meenatravels.com) were so helpful in reserving the tickets by Air India. Omana did book my tickets – New York - New Delhi – Kathmandu – New Delhi – Kochi – Thiruvananthapuram – Mumbai – New Delhi – New York. Leaving NY on August 23rd and returning to NY on September 27th. Reghu, per directions from Omana, immediately booked the tickets and send confirmation. It seems Karnali Excursions Pvt Ltd. did not get enough yatris and they become non-responsive to my queries from June.
As mandated by Earthbound I renewed my passport and notified them. By the end of June ’12/beginning of July ’12 Rajan/Kedar of Earthbound confirmed that they have a group of eighteen US Nationals going to Kailash Manasarovar and I would be able to join them. In the meantime my brother had to back out primarily due to health reasons. And I decided to undertake the trip with Earthbound Expedition. But now this group was scheduled to start the trip on August 12th. So I had to reschedule the tickets. Reghu of Meena Travels immediately rescheduled my tickets leaving NY on August 10th and returning on September 15th. Also Reghu was prompt in re-booking the tickets according to schedule changes and notifying me on time.
I read this last night. This is very informative message which I will save. Thank you Bro.
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