Silk Road Summary

The protagonist wanted to go to Mount Kailash to complete the kora.

He hired Tsetan to drive him up to Mount Kailash. As a farewell gift,
Lhamo gave him a long-sleeved sheepskin coat. He took Daniel as his
companion till Darchen.
When they started the journey, Tsetan took a short cut to the south-
west which was a direct route to Mount Kailash. They had to cross
high mountain passes to reach their destination. Tsetan assured him
that it would be no problem if there would be no snow. They crossed
through few gazelles, a herd of wild asses and shepherds tending the
flocks.
When they reached the hill, they passed dark tents which were home
for nomads. He saw a Tibetan mastiff standing outside the tent as a
guard. These mastiffs ran after his car as he reached near the tents.
These dogs had large jaws.
As soon as they entered the valley, they witnessed snow capped
mountains with rivers flowing which were blocked with ice. When
they were riding through the hill, the turns became sharper and
roads became bumpier. Tsetan was driving in third gear. The
protagonist could feel the pressure in his ears. He held his nose,
snorted to clear the congestion. He checked his wristwatch, they
were at 5210 meters above sea level.
They reached their first hurdle which was a road filled with snow.
Tsetan threw dirt on the snow and drove carefully on that road. They
resumed their journey. The protagonist felt his head was hurting. He
took a few sips of water from his water bottle. They were still
climbing up the hill. They reached at 5515 meters above sea level.
They stopped again and this time the fuel tank hissed when Testan
unscrewed the top. As the petrol was expanding due to low
atmospheric pressure, Tsetan told them not to smoke around it.
Soon in the afternoon around two o clock, they stopped for lunch.
The protagonist’s headache was gone by now. By late afternoon, they
reached a small town called ‘Hor’. They reached the east-west
highway again. It was the old route from Lhasa to Kashmir. Daniel
got off the car and took a lift to Lhasa. Their car had a few punctures
which worried Tsetan. He got them fixed and the protagonist waited
at a local café of Hor while having a glass of tea. He found Hor a
miserable place. After a while, Tsetan reached to him and they
resumed their journey again.
At night around 10.30 pm, they stopped at a guest house in Darchen
to spend the night. The protagonist got ill and suffered from nose-
congestion due to the change in altitude and cold weather. He stayed
awake all night. Next morning, Tsetan took him to Tibetan medical
college where a he consulted a Tibetan Doctor who gave him a five-
day course medicines in a brown envelope.
After taking a full day of medicine, the protagonist was feeling good.
Tsetan left him thereafter assuring his health condition. The
protagonist was staying at Darchen. That place had a general store
where Chinese cigarettes, soap, and other things were available. In
the afternoon, the men gathered at a shabby table to play pool every
day. Women would wash their hair in the narrow stream. Darchen
had one problem, it had no pilgrims. According to the local people, in
the peak season of pilgrimage the place would be filled with
travellers. He met a person in the Darchen’s only café. His name was
Norbu who was a Tibetan working in Beijing at the Institute of Ethnic
Literature of Chinese Academy of Social Science. He came to
Darchen to complete the kora just like the protagonist. He was fat
and found it difficult to walk. The protagonist decided to go on the
pilgrimage with him. They hired yaks to carry their luggage. Norbu
finally said it is not possible for him while he collapsed across the
table and laughed hilariously. His tummy was also too big.