Original subtitles

Insight Asia

Asian Corridor in Heaven

< Himalayan Salt Trek >

Changtang Reserve, Tibet

Every April, this land of silent peace becomes alive.

This is because of the nomads and their 60 yaks that make

their way through here.

They are about to embark on a long journey.

The journey is one of the biggest events here

at Changtang Reserve.

Another group of nomads

are making their difficult way over the hill in the plateau.

They, too, are travelling with 40 yaks.

Finally, the wanderers reach the promised destination.

They look to stay overnight here.

The nomads get busy tying up their yaks.

Everyone has gathered at a single place.

They are discussing their next departure.

That decision is to be made by the eldest amongst the group.

Yesterday was March 3rd on the Tibetan calender, a lucky day.

We'll be starting off tomorrow. Make sure all of you are well prepared.

I hope everyone has a safe trip.

Smoke arises from the fire made with tree barks

as the cloth with Buddhist scriptures written on it is hung.

This ritual is performed to God to ask for

safety during their long journey.

A migration in large numbers is initiated on this vast Changtang Reserve.

In total, the procession

includes 100 yaks and 8 nomads.

The purpose of this trip is to acquire

something that is vital for their survival,

salt.

Looking after the yaks is not an easy task.

Yaks are reluctant to cross the stream.

A sharp contrast to its very orderly beginnings, the procession line is met with chaos.

There is a struggle between the yaks that don't want

to cross the stream and the nomads who are trying to force them across.

The plateau, situated at 4,000 meters above sea level, is very dry.

Rain is almost non-existent.

The nomads that live in this plateau are called Drok-pa.

They must travel 15 days to acquire salt.

If the nomads come across something unexpected during this time,

they may have to extend their travels to 20 days.

But still, they cannot rush it

because of the water and grass that the yaks feed on.

The travellers prepare to camp out.

They've walked a distance of 8 kilometers today.

For these Drok-pa nomads, the yaks are the essence of their lives.

The meat of the yak serves as the main source of food

and the fur is used to make clothing.

The reason for camping out after 3 to 4 hours of travelling a day

is to allow the yaks to fully feed on grass and drink water so they can carry salt later.

While camping out, each yak must be tied up.

If they are not tied up, the yaks will get too tired to move

and become ill when they are carrying the salt.

That's why sometimes we must camp out all day and let the yaks rest.

This yak is showing symptoms of appendicitis.

It's not moving around that much.

The only remedy is to force it to roam around.

There is no other means of treatment here.

This yak's hoof is injured.

An operation is performed on the spot.

The yaks and the horses

are ready to spend the night here.

But there is just one more thing left for the people to do.

I pray to you, Padmasambhava.

Please help us to become free from pain.

Please let our paths be peaceful.

Please help us so that everything that we wish for in our hearts will come true.

Please look after us so that we are always at peace.

Wild donkeys are running in the morning sunlight.

The donkeys are wandering animals here at the reserve.

They also travel the plateau in search of water and grass.

The pursuit of salt continues once more.

The daily routine of the travellers is quite simple.

Step by step in slow procession, the nomads continue to travel to the salt flats

at Lake Drabye, which is 130 kilometers away to the north.

But this is a very important task for these Tibetans.

They must acquire the salt from Lake Drabye

to exchange for crops in the market.

Without the salt, life would be impossible for them.

This is because crops do not grow here.

Lake Drabye is a treasure chest.

Each year, salt is carried out

by thousands of trucks and yaks from the lake.

The salt is supplied not only to China,

but to neighbouring nations like Nepal and India.

But the salt in the lake does not decrease.

Obtaining and selling salt involves

many difficult tasks.

There are many instances

when the yaks and lambs become ill from malnutrition.

On top of that, the trip to and from the market takes about a month.

We trade the salt with crops

that do not grow in our regions.

Sometimes, we trade the salt for brown sugar or other items.

When our journey is over, we take our newly traded items to our families.

Take good care of the yaks and horses by feeding them good grass and water.

Enjoy yourselves and rest.

We'll be arriving at the lake first to acquire salt of the highest quality.

Let's go.

Four from the nomadic group hit the road first.

They are the advance team.

They must reach the lake before everyone else to gather the salt.

These four men cannot travel with yaks

because water and grass cannot be found in the lake.

It takes an entire day on foot to travel to the salt flats.

This is the salt flats at Lake Drabye.

The visible white crystals are salt.

The advance team has finally arrived at the lake.

For them, the lake is a gift from God.

How is it possible that salt flats have formed

in this highest plateau on Earth?

The Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau

both belonged underwater long ago.

40,000 years from now, the continents of India and Asia collided.

It was then that the land beneath the water rose to the top

and formed the mountain ranges and plateau that we know of today.

And this is why the water in this lake used to be salty.

Today, the water has evaporated through long-term exposure to the sun,

leaving only the salt residue.

The gathering begins.

In some ways, this work is very simple.

By using the horns of yaks,

salt is crushed into small bits.

This is truly a gift from God.

Sometimes, we gather wet salt from the lake.

But we'll be able to get dry salt this time around.

Dry salt is superior in quality to wet salt.

In addition, it's easier for the yak to carry,

and the work itself is less straining.

I pray to the God of Salt Lake.

Please allow us to take the salt

from your holy Salt Lake.

The first salt will be presented to Buddha.

And the second salt will be presented to the God of Salt Lake.

Please protect the yak and the horses of the salt merchants.

Please help us to do all this with ease.

How will they have survived without the salt?

They are now packing 200 bags with salt.

Salt is placed into wool saddle bags and sewed shut,

a task taken on by the advance team.

Always carry a sewing kit with them.

They seem very handy with the needle and thread.

All that's left now is for the yaks to arrive and transport the bags.

The member in charge of the meals is getting ready.

Yak's feces are used as fuel to boil water.

This is the only means of fuel here.

Therefore, they must always carry around twigs

and yak feces on their journeys.

A salt merchant must not have relations

with women from the moment he leaves home.

Nor can a woman wander around the procession of salt merchants.

These rules must be kept.

If the God of the Salt Lake becomes angry, things will go wrong.

The yaks that will carry the salt are feeding on grass.

But snow has begun to fall, little by little.

The nomads that are left behind have much to worry about.

If it snows, it'll be harder for the yaks to carry

the wet salt because it becomes heavier.

It snowed slightly yesterday, and it seems it'll snow again today.

If it rains, it'll have an impact on our trip back

and the temperature will drop even more.

Since we know now that the weather at the lake is worse,

we must hurry before the snow continues.

Fortunately, it has stopped snowing

and the salt gathering has also been completed.

A messenger is dispatched to retrieve the yaks

that will carry the salt.

The morning at the lake is very busy.

They are paying a tribute to God for blessing

them with the salt.

Approximately 30 kilograms of salt

can be loaded onto a single yak.

Most of it will be traded for crops.

This is the only way for the Drok-pa nomads to survive

and be provided with food.

For them, it's truly a blessing that they'll be able to gather salt here

again next year.

Now the salt must travel a long way to reach its destination

The hillsides of the Himalayas are situated at 4,800 meters above sea level.

They also serve as a boundary between Tibet and Nepal.

Every year in August, an outdoor market is held for a month.

The market is located at the highest elevation on Earth.

The Nepalese that have travelled over the Himalayas set up tents

and wait for people to start bartering.

Now they have to live here until the Tibetan nomads arrive.

With the Himalayas surrounding them, they are scattered all around.

Over the years, these people have overcome

the barren land by bartering.

The Nepalese have brought

sheep leather and grain.

We grow grains and vegetables in our village

and bring them out here to sell.

And in return, we buy salt, tea, butter,

clothes, and shoes before heading back.

This man has crossed over the Himalayas only to bring with him

5 potatoes, 4 cloves of garlic

and half a bag of barley.

The one thing that the Nepalese want to buy most is salt.

This is because deep in the Himalayan Mountains, salt is rare.

A successful transaction has been made.

Salt gathered by nomads of the Changtang Reserve

is handed over to a Nepalese merchant.

Now comes

a new journey over

the snowcapped peaks with the yaks carrying the salt.

The Himalayas boast a clutter of

mountains situated at the highest elevation on Earth.

The picturesque scenery is home to snow that never melts all year round.

But that's how trekkers view the sights.

For the people who must live in these mountains on a daily basis,

the Himalayas are a barren land, a place that must be overcome.

This is the Dolpo District,

north of Mt. Dhualagiri.

Not a single tint of green can be found.

In a village located in the far northern part of Nepal,

barley harvested in the fall is being pounded.

But it's not enough.

It's only enough to last

5 months out of the year.

The villagers visit Buddha every day, reciting Buddhist scriptures.

The voices reciting the scriptures are very sincere.

On the other hand, they must do whatever

they can to gather the necessary grains before the winter arrives.

It's early November.

Five men from Dolpo start on their journey.

They must be hurry before a big snowstorm hinders their path.

Known as the Dolpo-pa, these men are rushing off,

carrying something on 40 yaks.

It's salt that's being carried on yaks.

The salt was bought in the market held at the Tibetan border last summer.

The villagers are heading to a place where they can sell the salt

in exchange for food they lack.

Their destination is Hurikot, a village on the lower skirts of the Himalayan Mountains.

It will take them 12 days to reach the village.

Each step is heavier than the last for the yaks as they push through the piled up snow.

They must cross over a couple of snow-capped summits to

arrive at their destination.

The Gandala La is the highest summit they must pass during the trip.

It's 5,500 meters above sea level.

In addition, the climate has taken a turn for the worse.

The men must make it over the mountain before it starts to snow.

If they end up in isolation, death may be the only thing that awaits them.

The voices of the Dolpo-pa are getting sharply louder.

It's a struggle for life, taken on by both the yaks and the men.

At night, we light the firewood

and heat the rocks

to make ourselves warm like this.

We let the yaks get close to the fire.

If we depart in the morning, we'll reach a place in three hours

where the yaks can stay.

It's a place with water.

It's really hard to be a yak shepard.

We must lead the yaks

to the rock fields if we have to.

We're destined to scream in front and back of

the yaks while walking.

We sing and laugh

and the day comes to an end after herding yaks.

We rise to Mt. Kailas, risking our lives.

We make profit out of yarn and salt.

Oh, the land of yaks.

Mt. Kailas is above. Lower down, the land of Dolpo.

Our bodies are always covered with wounds.

Mt. Kailas is above. Lower down, the land of Dolpo.

Lake Phoksumdo

As they barely climb over the snow-capped summits,

they are now faced with cliffs.

The path along the cliff of Lake Phoksumdo

is the most dangerous route.

The narrow path, measuring 1 meter in width, stretches on without end.

A single false step taken by

either a yak or a person can result in falling

600 meters into the lake.

Such accidents do occur from time to time,

but the Dolpo travellers regard such fatalities as

sacrifices offered to the Himalayas.

This salt is like life to us.

Salt is necessary for every person's life.

Salt is required for everything, from making tea

to cooking potatoes.

Even this tea has salt in it.

Salt is everything to us.

So is farming. So are vegetables. Everything.

I'm 42 years old now.

I've raised yaks from when I was seven to fifteen years old.

And after that, I got into the salt business.

Sometimes, it gets so cold that water freezes.

If we make a wrong step on the ice, both the people and yaks can slip.

We have to go over the Kagmala. If someone slips, he'll die on the spot.

We trade the salt for corn.

3kg of salt is traded for good quality corn.

If the corns aren't very nice, we trade them for 2.5 kilograms of salt.

If the corns are very bad, we trade them for only 1.5 kilograms of salt.

And even that's not entirely fixed.

The paths that the Dolpo caravans have taken are very dusty.

Because the dry soil has been weathered over a long period of time,

it has turned into something almost like flour.

They are now closing in on their destination.

Slowly, green trees are starting to appear.

The village of Hurikot

at the lower foot of the Himalayas.

This is the final destination of the Dolpo caravan.

The people here are called Rong-pa because

they live below the mountain.

The relationship between the Dolpo caravans and

Rong-pa villagers date back to ancestral past.

Bargaining has finally begun.

It's the moment where salt from Tibet's Changtang Reserve,

having travelled to the Himalayas, meets its final consumer.

But it's not just people that await the salt.

Salt is vital and of utmost importance to cattle.

What would we do without salt?

If people do not have salt, they can live without it,

but what about the animals?

It's not as if the animals can talk.

If animals aren't fed salt, they'll dry up

and we'll be committing sin.

A sack of salt and three sacks of corn are being exchanged.

This is the compensation for having risked

one's life to travel over the Himalayan Mountains.

They must be happy with their transactions.

The Dolpo caravan throws in some tea as a gift.

This tea has made its

way from Sichuan having travelled 5000km.

The quest for salt and all of its long journeys have come to an end.

The Dolpo caravan will stay here for the winter

and head home in the spring.

Tibet's Changtang Reserve to the village below the Himalayan Mountains,

the roads of this journey were long and dangerous.

But when spring comes again next year,

the same roads will be travelled.

It's the only way they can continue their lives.