Tibet: Ngari Prefecture - Gang Rinpoche / Mount Kailash

By Cubie - July 09, 2025

Map from tibettravel.org

Start: Darchen
1. Tarboche (Yama Dwar)
2. Qugu Monastery 曲古寺
End: Darchen 塔钦


Darchen / Tarchen / Taqin 塔钦
Nestled below the foothills of Mt Kailash, the small town of Darchen is the gateway to the Gang Rinpoche kora. Despite the rapidly expanding settlement of hotels and restaurants, there are only two Tibetan restaurants and one about to open when we were there. We were picked up and dropped off by the staff from the eco-bus ticketing office from Darchen. 

Gang Rinpoche peak at the background




Gang Rinpoche / Mt Kailash
Gang Rinpoche means snow jewel mountain or the honorific precious snow mountain. 

It is located in Ngari Prefecture. It lies in the Gangdise Mountains (also called as Kailash Range) of the Trans Himalaya, in the western part of the Tibetan Plateau. The peak of Gang Rinpoche is at an elevation of 6638 m. The region is located north of the western tripoint of the border between China, India and Nepal.

Gang Rinpoche is considered sacred in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Bon religions. In Hinduism, the mountain is described as the abode of Shiva. According to Jain scriptures, Rishabhadeva, the first Tirthankar of Jainism attained moksha (liberation) on Gang Rinpoche. For the Bon people, the mountain is the abode of sky goddess Sipaimen and the mountain was the centre of the ancient Bon empire of Zhang Zhung. As per Tibetan beliefs, the mountain was the centre of the universe Mandala and the source of the mythical Lion, Horse, Peacock, and Elephant Rivers which flowed in the four cardinal directions. Horse River's other names are Yarlung Tsangpo or Brahmaputra River. For the Buddhists, this is the place where Buddha represents supreme bliss. 

According to a legend, a long time ago, a Buddhist poet-saint named Milarepa was challenged by a Bon master, Naro Bonchung to a race to the top of Gang Rinpoche. The winner would claim the mountain. The Bon master flew ahead, mounting on his magic drum. Unperturbed by the progress made by his rival, Milarepa rose from his bed at dawn and was carried by a ray of light to the summit. Shocked by this feat, Naro Bonchung tumbled off his drum, which skittered down the south face of the mountain, gouging the long slash marking on Gang Rinpoche to this day. It was referred to as the drum print. 


An old edition of Lonely Planet Tibet guide wrote "Going to Ngari and not completing a kora around Mt Kailash (Gang Rinpoche, or Precious Jewel of Snow in Tibetan) would be like visiting a great capital and stopping short outside its most famous treasure."


Oops. This could also be why our guide said that only there are four kinds of people who may not complete the famous Gang Rinpoche kora are handicapped, weak, old age or too big sized. Long story short, we decided to forgo the kora because we are not the most avid hikers and there are reviews that unless one is very religious, one might not find it the most rewarding hike. Plus, we weren't sure if we would be fit enough given the high altitude. 

We, however, didn't want to skip seeing Gang Rinpoche, hence the itinerary description was "taking the ecobus to Tarboche (Yama Dwara) for about 7 km, then trek about 1-2 hours nearby, then make the same way back to the hotel." 

Based on the description, I imagined us walking around or part of the kora before returning to Darchen. What we ended up doing was taking the eco-bus to Tarboche (Yama Dwara), and then the bottom of the hill where Qugu Monastery is located. We did some work and hiked up to the Qugu Monastery for a visit. In fact, if we wanted, we could have taken the eco-bus right to the entrance of Qugu Monastery but we decided to hike up. The eco-bus that we took in this context was a 4WD. 

After this short hike up and hearing the description and safety precautions taken for the kora from the guide, we think we would be able to complete it. So, yes, if I return to Tibet, I would do the Gang Rinpoche kora. 



Tarboche (Yama Dwar)
We were picked up from the Tibetan restaurant where we had breakfast, both the Tibetan eateries were next to each other. After organising ticketing stuff, we were on our way and the first stop was at Tarboche. 

Tarboche (4724 m) is a popular flagpole that stands on the Gang Rinpoche. The flagpole remains draped in colourful Tibetan prayer flags. Tibetan festival Saga Dawa to commemorate Sakyamuni's enlightenment takes place here yearly. One of the key parts of the festiva is to replace the Tarboche flagpole. The flagpole is brought down and a new ple is erected in its place in the ceremony. 



Qugu Monastery 曲古寺
We got back on the eco-bus and our next stop was the bottom of where Qugu Monastery is located. We were given a choice to walk up or get there by the eco-bus. We chose to hike up and the guide reconfirmed our decison. Haha. 

Looking up

Looking down

Qugu Monastery (4860 m) is the first monastery on the Gang Rinpoche kora. This monastery is popular for housing a naturally formed stone Buddha statue. Legend has it that the statue was initially house in a monastery in Guge. One day, when 7 Indian monks went to the Guge Monastery for alms, they were insulted by the monks there. Suddenly the 7 Indian monks transformed into 7 wolves and disappeared. On the 7th day, the Buddha statue was moved to Qugu Monastery by magic powers. It turned out that the 7 Indian monks were the transfiguration by the God Kailash. 

When the King of Guge Kingdom found out the the Buddha statue had disappeared, he ordered his troops to bring back the Buddha statue. However, the statue became so heavy that they could not moved it any further. They had no choice and ended up throwing the statue to the rocks there. 

One day, when an old man walked by, he found the Buddha statue amongst the rocks and heard a voice that asked him to take the statue back to Qugu Monastery. The Buddha statue was taken back to Qugu Monastery again and is in this monastery till this day. 



According to the guide, going around the main building (the one with the golden roof) thirteen times is equivalent of going one round of kora (approximately 52 km) around Gang Rinpoche. When the monk saw that I was looking up to the ceiling, he pointed out that if we looked at the mirror at the top, we would be able see the reflection of Gang Rinpoche, and even allowed us to take photos. Pretty cool right?


On the way back, as we reached the bottom, we saw a car going up the little hill to Qugu Monastery. 


Side note: 'Gang' means snow in Tibetan

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