Trekking from Kibber to Ki Gompa

Our fellow travellers in Kibber suggested that we trek from Kibber to Ki to get a glimpse of the gompa from above. When asked about the direction, they only said to follow the wooden electrical poles until we see a small stream where we need to climb up and we’ll see a small road. From there we would just continue walking until we see the golden stupa which marks the area where we could descend.

“Seems like a simple route huh? Is the descent easy? I’m not really good in hiking and I’m terrified of heights,” I asked them. And they said it’s easy!

Ok, so I thought it’ll be something I’d be able to manage easily.

Me and a friend, two Aussie girls and a guy from Spain agreed to trek together right after breakfast.

We followed the road until the first stupa that marks the entrance to the village of Kibber and started climbing up ’til we saw the wooden electrical poles that they’ve told us about.

We’ve crossed small patches of farms along the way and continued walking until we came about a road fork. One is a long way towards the next batch of wooden electrical poles, the other is a curved pathway where a stream flows.

“So that’s the small stream they’ve mentioned,” I thought.

We went where the stream was and climbed uphill and finally saw the small road that they’ve mentioned and a nice view of Kibber as well.

A nice view of Kibber

The small road towards the other villages above Ki Gompa

After doing our rounds of taking pictures we continues walking to what seemed to be an endless road surrounded by barren lands, small patches of wild plants and mountains flowers and the snow capped mountains.

After almost three hours of walking, we finally got a glimpse of the golden stupa from our horizon.

We peeked down on the nearest cliff that we saw to check if we could see Ki Gompa (and to check if we’re walking the right path as well).

Ki Gompa

And we saw it. We’re on the right path,” I thought.

The Descent

Cliffs everywhere!!!

I had only small difficulty climbing up since I have the option not to look down. But the descent… the descent is something I always dread especially in this kind of terrain.

The two Aussie girls and my friend made it looked so easy but me and the Spanish guy were both trembling. Both of us were very terrified of heights.

The trail was so slippery because of the small rocks, there’s nothing to hold on to and you see an almost 90 degrees drop on one side and a sloping sea of sand and rocks on the other. I felt that if I slipped just a foot, then it would be ok but if I slipped two feet then I’d probably end up dead or alive with broken bones.

There’s no point of going back anymore, we’re quite far from where we started the descent. The easiest way would just be to continue on. The other travellers that I was with were so kind that they always stop to check if I was doing alright. They continuously threw in some words of encouragement to keep me going.

At one point, I almost gave up and thought that I’ll just stay where I was and would just ask them to call a helicopter to pick me up once they’re in the gompa. I would probably bust whatever I have and just end the trip right there and then.

But then again, I thought that it would be something that I’ll look back and would probably ask myself what if I continued.

So I scrapped the helicopter idea and just continued on.

After almost an hour of slowly descending, we rested to take some pictures of the magnificent Ki Gompa.

Ki Gompa is said to be the largest Buddhist Monastery located at 4166M above sea level. It has been founded in the 11th century and still is a functioning monastery up to this date.

Although I was still trembling with fear, I couldn’t help but feel proud on what I have accomplished. with the help of some new found friends, I was able to face my fear and continued with the descent. It was such a mind-numbing, knee-shaking and back-breaking feat for me.

We arrived at the grounds of Ki Gompa at around 4PM and waited for the bus that took us back to Kibber.

There seems to be no other way to deal with fear but to face it. I’m just happy that I did.