MR555 Start of the journey

Located in the far west of Tibet, one of the most sacred mountains to both Buddhists and Hindus is Mount Kailash (literally 'the Silver Mountain'), known to the Tibetans as Kangkar Tise or 'the White Mountain of Snow'. To make a complete circuit of the mountain, Tibetan pilgrims leave at 3a.m. and finish the 65-kilometer journey by nightfall. At 5,860 meters altitude (19,221 feet), they go through a mountain pass. Some pilgrims take twenty days to make the journey, prostrating themselves along the route. Foreign visitors take a more relaxing three days. Here are the guides who drove our little group's fifteen yaks, on the morning of the first day. 1998. Buy on-line a fine art photographic print, signed by the hand of Matthieu Ricard, buddhist monk, photographer and author. He has also been the French interpreter of His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama since 1989. Some of the photographs in his collection are printed in limited edition, signed, numbered and delivered with a certificate of authenticity.