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The Silk Road

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About The Author, Nick Middleton is an award-winning geographer, writer, TV presenter, environmental scientist and university lecturer. His curiosity about how planet Earth works and how people interact with it was fuelled from an early age by his family’s world atlas, Herge’s Adventures of Tintin and an endless flow of Willard Price novels. Now he works and communicates on a wide variety of environmental issues and travel topics for a broad range of audiences, from government policy-makers to primary-school children. He also teaches at the University of Oxford where he is a Fellow of St Anne’s College., Nick is the author of seven travel books, including the bestseller, Going to Extremes, which accompanied a television series he wrote and presented for Channel 4 and the National Geographic Channel on extreme environments and the people who live in them. His TV documentaries have been broadcast all over the world and his books translated into more than a dozen languages.

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Introduction to the lesson, 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.

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Silk Road Lesson and ExplanationPage no 74,75,76 & 77, A FLAWLESS half-moon floated in a perfect blue sky in the morning we said our goodbyes. Extended banks of cloud-like long French loaves glowed pink as the sun emerged to splash the distant mountain tops with a rose-tinted blush. Now that we were leaving Ravu, Lhamo said she wanted to give me a farewell present. One evening I’d told her through Daniel that I was heading towards Mount Kailash to complete the kora, and she’d said that I ought to get some warmer clothes. After ducking back into her tent, she emerged carrying one of the long-sleeved sheepskin coats that all the men wore. Tsetan sized me up as we clambered into his car. “Ah, yes,” he declared, “drokba, sir.”, We took a short cut to get off the Changtang. Tsetan knew a route that would take us south-west, almost directly towards Mount Kailash. It involved crossing several fairly high mountain passes, he said. “But no problem, sir”, he assured us, “if there is no snow.” What was the likelihood of that I asked. “Not knowing, sir, until we get there, Loaves – bread shaped and baked in one piece which is usually sliced before being eaten, Kora – meditation performed by Buddhist believers, Ducking Back – going inside and then coming out, Size me up – to look at someone attentively, Clambered – move or climb in an awkward way, Drokba – Shepherd

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From the gently rolling hills of Ravu, the short cut took us across vast open plains with nothing in them except a few gazelles that would look up from nibbling the arid pastures and frown before bounding away into the void. Further on, where the plains became more stony than grassy, a great herd of wild ass came into view. Tsetan told us we were approaching them long before they appeared. “Kyang,” he said, pointing towards a far-off pall of dust. When we drew near, I could see the herd galloping en masse, wheeling and turning in tight formation as if they were practising manoeuvres on some predetermined course. Plumes of dust billowed into the crisp, clean air., New Words, Gazelles – an African or Asian mammal with large eyes that moves quickly and hoofs, Nibbling – take a small bite from, Arid – having little or no rain, Pastures – land covered with grass, Frown – to disapprove of something, Frown – to disapprove of something, Bounding – jump; hop; bounce, Wild ass – an animal who have ears shorter than a horse and smaller in size, Herd – a large group of animal, Galloping – progressing in an uncontrollable manner, En masse – in a group, Manoeuvres – military exercises, Plumes - Trails, Billowed – filled with air; swelled out

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As hills started to push up once more from the rocky wilderness, we passed solitary drokbas tending their flocks. Sometimes men, sometimes women, these well-wrapped figures would pause and stare at our car, occasionally waving as we passed. When the track took us close to their animals, the sheep would take evasive action, veering away from the speeding vehicle., , We passed nomads’ dark tents pitched in splendid isolation, usually with a huge black dog, a Tibetan mastiff, standing guard. These beasts would cock their great big heads when they became aware of our approach and fix us in their sights. As we continued to draw closer, they would explode into action, speeding directly towards us, like a bullet from a gun and nearly as fast., Gazelles – an African or Asian mammal with large eyes that moves quickly and hoofs, Nibbling – take a small bite from, Arid – having little or no rain, Pastures – land covered with grass, Frown – to disapprove of something, Frown – to disapprove of something, Bounding – jump; hop; bounce, Wild ass – an animal who have ears shorter than a horse and smaller in size, Herd – a large group of animal, Galloping – progressing in an uncontrollable manner, En masse – in a group, Manoeuvres – military exercises, Plumes - Trails, Billowed – filled with air; swelled out

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These shaggy monsters, blacker than the darkest night, usually wore bright red collars and barked furiously with massive jaws. They were completely fearless of our vehicle, shooting straight into our path, causing Tsetan to brake and swerve. The dog would make chase for a hundred metres or so before easing off, having seen us off the property. It wasn’t difficult to understand why ferocious Tibetan mastiffs became popular in China’s imperial courts as hunting dogs, brought along the Silk Road in ancient times as tribute from Tibet., By now we could see snow-capped mountains gathering on the horizon. We entered a valley where the river was wide and mostly clogged with ice, brilliant white and glinting in the sunshine. The trail hugged its bank, twisting with the meanders as we gradually gained height and the valley sides closed in., Gazelles – an African or Asian mammal with large eyes that moves quickly and hoofs, Nibbling – take a small bite from, Arid – having little or no rain, Pastures – land covered with grass, Frown – to disapprove of something, Frown – to disapprove of something, Bounding – jump; hop; bounce, Wild ass – an animal who have ears shorter than a horse and smaller in size, Herd – a large group of animal, Galloping – progressing in an uncontrollable manner, En masse – in a group, Manoeuvres – military exercises, Plumes - Trails, Billowed – filled with air; swelled out

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The turns became sharper and the ride bumpier, Tsetan now in third gear as we continued to climb. The track moved away from the icy river, labouring through steeper slopes that sported big rocks daubed with patches of bright orange lichen. Beneath the rocks, hunks of snow clung on in the near permanent shade. I felt the pressure building up in my ears, held my nose, snorted and cleared them., We struggled round another tight bend and Tsetan stopped. He had opened his door and jumped out of his seat before I realised what was going on. “Snow,” said Daniel as he too exited the vehicle, letting in a breath of cold air as he did so., A swathe of the white stuff lay across the track in front of us, stretching for maybe fifteen metres before it petered out and the dirt trail reappeared. The snow continued on either side of us, smoothing the abrupt bank on the upslope side. The bank was too steep for our vehicle to scale, so there was no way round the snow patch. I joined Daniel as Tsetan stepped on to the encrusted snow and began to slither and slide forward, stamping his foot from time to time to ascertain how sturdy it was. I looked at my wristwatch. We were at 5,210 metres above sea level., New Words, Daubed – spread a thick sticky substance on a surface carelessly, Lichen – a slow-growing plant which grows on walls, trees or rocks, Clung – hold tightly onto something, Swathe – a long strip of land, Petered out – to diminish gradually and stop, Encrusted – decorated with a hard surface layer, Slither – to move smoothly over a surface

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The snow didn’t look too deep to me, but the danger wasn’t its depth, Daniel said, so much as its icy top layer. “If we slip off, the car could turn over,” he suggested, as we saw Tsetan grab handfuls of dirt and fling them across the frozen surface. We both pitched in and, when the snow was spread with soil, Daniel and I stayed out of the vehicle to lighten Tsetan’s load. He backed up and drove towards the dirty snow, eased the car on to its icy surface and slowly drove its length without apparent difficulty., Ten minutes later, we stopped at another blockage. “Not good, sir,” Tsetan announced as he jumped out again to survey the scene. This time he decided to try and drive round the snow. The slope was steep and studded with major rocks, but somehow Tsetan negotiated them, his four-wheel drive vehicle lurching from one obstacle to the next. In so doing he cut off one of the hairpin bends, regaining the trail further up where the snow had not drifted., Fling – throw, Lurching – listing

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I checked my watch again as we continued to climb in the bright sunshine. We crept past 5,400 metres and my head began to throb horribly. I took gulps from my water bottle, which is supposed to help a rapid ascent., We finally reached the top of the pass at 5,515 metres. It was marked by a large cairn of rocks festooned with white silk scarves and ragged prayer flags. We all took a turn round the cairn, in a clockwise direction as is the tradition, and Tsetan checked the tyres on his vehicle. He stopped at the petrol tank and partially unscrewed the top, which emitted a loud hiss. The lower atmospheric pressure was allowing the fuel to expand. It sounded dangerous to me. “Maybe, sir,” Tsetan laughed “but no smoking., Throb - pulsate, Ascent – climb on an upward slope, Cairn of rocks – the pile of stone on the top of the mountain, especially where someone is buried., Festooned – decorated

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My headache soon cleared as we careered down the other side of the pass. It was two o’clock by the time we stopped for lunch. We ate hot noodles inside a long canvas tent, part of a workcamp erected beside a dry salt lake. The plateau is pockmarked with salt flats and brackish lakes, vestiges of the Tethys Ocean which bordered Tibet before the great continental collision that lifted it skyward. This one was a hive of activity, men with pickaxes and shovels trudging back and forth in their long sheepskin coats and salt-encrusted boots. All wore sunglasses against the glare as a steady stream of blue trucks emerged from the blindingly white lake laden with piles of salt., By late afternoon we had reached the small town of Hor, back on the main east-west highway that followed the old trade route from Lhasa to Kashmir. Daniel, who was returning to Lhasa, found a ride in a truck so Tsetan and I bade him farewell outside a tyre-repair shop. We had suffered two punctures in quick succession on the drive down from the salt lake and Tsetan was eager to have them fixed since they left him with no spares. Besides, the second tyre he’d changed had been replaced by one that was as smooth as my bald head., Careered down – sinking the slope, Salt flats – thatched roof covered with snow, Pockmarked – disfigured with a scar, Brackish – slightly salty water, Vestiges – a trace of something that is disappearing, Laden - loaded

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Hor was a grim, miserable place. There was no vegetation whatsoever, just dust and rocks, liberally scattered with years of accumulated refuse, which was unfortunate given that the town sat on the shore of Lake Manasarovar, Tibet’s most venerated stretch of water. Ancient Hindu and Buddhist cosmology pinpoints Manasarovar as the source of four great Indian rivers: the Indus, the Ganges, the Sutlej and the Brahmaputra. Actually only the Sutlej flows from the lake, but the headwaters of the others all rise nearby on the flanks of Mount Kailash. We were within striking distance of the great mountain and I was eager to forge ahead., But I had to wait. Tsetan told me to go and drink some tea in Hor’s only cafe which, like all the other buildings in town, was constructed from badly painted concrete and had three broken windows. The good view of the lake through one of them helped to compensate for the draught., Grim – ugly or grey, Accumulated – gathered, Venerated – respected, Cosmology – science about the origin and development of the universe, Flanks - sides, Forge – put together; build-up