Journey to a sacred Tibetan waterfall
Brett Jenks, Rare’s CEO, blogs about his trip to Asia, where he visited Pride campaigns taking place in China and Indonesia. Follow Brett’s adventures as he witnesses local conservation efforts to protect endangered species in Asia and shares how the Pride campaign model can support lasting conservation impact in this part of the world.
Nov. 9th was literally the coldest night of my entire life.
It was 20 degrees in my room, and for 90 minutes before falling asleep, I was under the covers, wearing as many of my clothes as I could gather without actually getting out of bed to do so: wool socks, capilene long johns, wool undershirt, wool sweater, wool cap. And still I couldn’t get warm. We all laughed about it the next day, but it was cruel until everyone fell asleep.
We began hiking up to the waterfall on the 10th.
the view of our hike route early in the morning. Nowhere to go but past the temple and up the mountain.
while my party works laboriously to get up the final few kilometers to the sacred waterfall, stopping to take deep breaths and rest our legs, inexplicably, whole families of elderly Tibetan men and women, and some children, hike next to us, singing, chanting, smoking cigarettes as they breeze up the mountain.
Lei under the sacred waterfall after what felt more like a “summit” than a hike. We’re now at 4100m.
While Mr. Ma pays tribute to the waterfall, bathing in the mist falling from 1000 ft above, I pose for my birthday photo, complete with a lucky rainbow, Tibetan offering to future generations, and prayer flags. (photo by Nigel Sizer)
Mr. Ma assured us that this was a 45-minute hike to the top and that we’d be back for lunch at noon and ready to pack our bags for the trek to Lower Yebong Village, where we had meetings with local villagers. Mr. Ma has a “unique” sense of time.
Several times during our multi-hour hikes and drives he said, “Just 10 minutes more,” only for us to find that we had hours to go. In fact, we regularly turned his 10 minutes into 60 at a minimum, and Ken at one point decided to give Mr. Ma a nice watch he’d purchased in Singapore.
Maybe the next party Mr. Ma guides will benefit from Mr. Ma’s new timepiece.
Before dinner, Nigel and I sat down with Ruth to discuss her thoughts on supporting Rare’s Asia program. Overlooking the glacier-topped valley, Ruth talked of her Chinese heritage and a new desire to support Rare’s work there, in part to honor her grandfather, who started YTL, the Malaysian conglomerate her father now runs, and for which she is a chief investment officer.
Our host, who doubles as the lodge’s chef, has just returned from New York City. He was the first community member to travel to the United States, where he was interviewed by The New York Times for his work on PhotoVoice, an indigenous photography contest in which local villagers photograph their surroundings for a traveling exhibit. He may be a good photographer, but he’s also a very good chef. And with the cold air and all the hiking, we savored every bit of stir fry, hot pot and our first cold beer in over a week.
>>A few notes on eating meals together in China I picked up on the internet
>>View more photos from this hike
