INTRODUCTION

The story is written by Nick Middleton. This

chapter is about the narrator’s journey from

slopes of Ravu to Mount Kailash to complete the

kora. To bid him farewell, Lhamo gave him a long

sleeve sheepskin coat. He hired Tsetan’s car for

his journey and took Daniel along to escort him

to Darchen..
 THE FIRST BIG
HINDERANCE
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.

ABOVE 5515 METERS AND THE CAIRN

The snow continued blocking their way. They finally reached 5515

meters above the sea level, It was marked by a large cairn of rocks

festooned with white silk scarves and ragged prayer flags. Due to

the atmospheric pressure there was a loud hiss if noise as the

pressure was making the the fuel expand.Tsetanopened the hid of

the petrof tank to release the evaporated fuel. The author

experienced severe headache

 HOR
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.

 DARCHEN

By 10.30 p.m., they reached a

guesthouse in Darchen. The author

had a very troubled might. His

sinus were blocked and he was not

able to get enough oxygen and

finding it difficult to sleep. Most of

the night he sat up and was not

able to sleep.

Narrator is falling sick

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.
 Arrival of Norbu
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.
CONCLUSION
•The author faced many hurdles during his

journey but he didn’t stop. He faced all of

them and continues his journey through the

silk road with the same determination. It

gives us all the message that we need to

face and overcome all the challenges and

never give up until we reach our

destination.