Kham - Tibet
Last year when I flagged our trip to China and Tibet with Selector Magazine’s editor, Jackie McDonald, she was interested in publishing a yarn, but said to keep in mind that the theme of the issue she had in mind was of mentors.
We signed up to 3 day horse trek around Mt Yala in Eastern Tibet and I thought this is it, maybe our guides would great horse riding mentors? You can imagine my disappointment when we climbed aboard our little mountain horses and rode off towards the mountains with virtually no instruction. My story is dead i thought...
Sitting around the campfire drinking tea on night one of our horse trek around the holy Mt Yala, our lead guide Rata, a 39 year old nomadic yak herder, tells us that to him and many of his fellow Khampa Tibetans Mt Yala is a god, and what's more, a god that they look to as a guiding presence in their lives. Well, I almost fell off my rock as he said this. Sensing that my story was still alive I turned on the voice recorder and chatted to Rata and our other guide, Nora, through our wonderful interpreter, Shetten.
Rata tells me "in my heart I have no fear coming to these mountains. There won't be any obstacles or problems because i believe Yala will protect me".
He says that when he sleeps he talks directly with Yala. "When I dream, Yala appears and I follow his teachings. He guides me to live a positive, not pessimistic life", he says.
As he tells us that in his dreams he talks with Yala about his family, lost yaks, finances and how to be a better person, I know the story is alive again. Is it a coincidence, or something more? Who knows, but sitting around the campfire that night listening to the stories of our Tibetan guides was a window into another world and another world view. We felt privileged to be there.
When we got back to internet coverage I emailed Jackie at Selector to tell her I had a mentor story, but that the mentor was a mountain and a god! Jackie loved it and embraced the story. She and the Art Director, Christian Lawler, have done a beautiful job putting the article together, with a stellar choice for the opening image. Love working with the Selector team.
