Alchi, Rizong, and Lamayuru on the Way to Srinagar

  Kargil, India
Thursday, July 26, 2007

In a Leh internet cafe, a small posting on a door-cum-message board drew my attention: Surveyors Wanted for a New Trekking Route in Kashmir. I noted the e-mail address and wrote to Helen. She replied favorably and we met the next day. After a conversation, a handshake set the events of the next month into motion.

Helen was from German-Switzerland, but was now living in Srinigar and had also lived in Leh for many years. Over twenty years ago, she also lived in Tibet, with a forged residency permit for Lhasa. In those days, engraving a stamp was easy, but not much has changed. She explained the trek to me in a kind voice with a German accent.

Alchi Gonpa, part II

"You should arrive in Srinigar before the 29th, so we can leave on the 30th. The trek will take about three weeks, ending on August 20rd. It will go through some of the most unspoiled areas in Kashmir." She talked about how other places in Kashmir had seen large amounts of deforestation. We discussed the cooking arrangements (vegetarian, separate Indian and non-Indian team kitchens, plenty of food and trail mix), the trek style (slow, with usually two days in each main village area to collect information), and what I would do on the trip to earn my pay (very flexible, but focusing on the social aspects). Basically, she wanted the core team of five foreigners to be comfortable and to enjoy the work they did. This all sounded good to me, so I accepted.

I waited a couple of days for another core team member, Kathy from the U.S., to return then we headed together for Srinigar on the 23rd. Soon, it was apparent that the laws of physics apply to people as well as chemicals and particles: oil and water don't mix, two

Green Tara, Alchi Mural

charged particles cannot occupy the same space, Heisenburg's uncertainty principle applied to personality, Black Hole theories applied to ego. These laws and theories would apply for the entire trek to come, but this is all that I will say.

Mandala of the Diamond Sphere

Alchi Gonpa, a temple with a relatively unknown but ancient history, dating perhaps 1,000 years ago to the time of Rinchen Zangpo, the Great Translator who built Tabo, Toling, and other temples. As in other temples of the time, the art was Kashmiri Buddhist in influence, with large mandalas, Taras, Manjushri, Buddha covering the walls and statues of mandala deities looming over the temple floor. The three temple buildings were constructed of wood and earth, basic materials that survived time in a remote dry village.

Rizong Landscape

At Rizong Gonpa, I stayed in the monastery with a few other men from Australia and England and went hiking alone up to the top of a chocolate-colored mountain far behind the monastery, passing Chukars calling echoes along the way, hearing the silence in small side valleys that climbed higher over rocks. Silence.

Elder Woman Circumambulating Lamayuru's Stupas

Hiking back down to the main road from Rizong, I found a ride with a Border Roads Organization truck driver, then, after spinning a roadside prayer wheel, an Army truck stopped. I talked with two army men in the back until it completed the switchbacks above the Indus River to Lamayuru Gonpa. After a good sleep in the Shangri-la Guest House, I walked up to the perched monastery for morning puja, a cup of salty tea, and the opening of Naropa's cave.

Lamayuru at Sunset

Naropa, a mystic monk, one of the ancient lineage gurus of the Kagyu Tibetan Buddhists, came from Nalanda University to meditate, laying the foundation for this monastery. Naropa taught Marpa who taught Milarepa as guru. For me, the links between all the Buddhist sites I had visited began to solidify.

Soon, I was on the road again, with a Kashmiri named Abdul in his now-empty 4x4, a long day of driving all the way to Srinigar. Abdul had just driven a car full of Europeans to Leh and was returning home, happy for some company to listen to Kashmiri music together and talk in broken tongue.

Lamayuru Stupas

At dusk, we arrived at Nigeen Lake, where I met Rahim, the owner of three houseboats. We talked for a while over a cup of Kashmiri tea, flavored with cardamom, sitting in the dining room of the houseboat, surrounded by elegant furnishings. After a few days of relaxing on the houseboat and walking the town of Srinigar, the survey trek would begin.