Worshipped by 1.5 billion people across the globe, Mount Kailas in Tibet is a place of pilgrimage for Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Bonpo believers. But paying your respects to this centre of the universe certainly is no walk in the park.

The air is so thin it’s barely breathable, it’s freezing cold, and the tracks are rugged and strenuous to walk, but still thousands of pilgrims travel for days, some for weeks, to reach Mount Kailas and walk around the base of the sacred mountain over and over again. Some Buddhists will do the 54 kilometres round 108 times to reach their ultimate goal: enlightenment. At the time of our visit the tracks are especially crowded. This is the year of the horse, which to Buddhists means that the mountain only needs to be circumambulated 13 times, not the usual 108, for the believer to reach enlightenment. Families pour in from near and far to seize this once in twelve years opportunity. For most believers, a pilgrimage to Mount Kailas only happens once in a lifetime, so this is the time to do it.