Yamdrokso Lake, Nangartse Town, and Kambala Glacier

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Today we woke up early for a road trip south to Yamdrok-tso Lake, the town of Nangartse, and the Kambala Glacier at the top of the Kamba-la high pass. The drive took about the same time as the Dregung Monastery the second day - two and a half hours. Yamdrok-tso Lake is on the old road between Gyantse and Lhasa and is 4488m above sea level. It can be seen from the Kamba-la pass at 7794m. The lake is an amazing shade of deep turquoise and is one of the three holy lakes in Tibet. It’s hard to put the lake into words so look at the pictures. Boats, fishing, swimming, etc. are all not allowed on the lake - except for high ranking officials. After the death of a Dalai Lama, these officials take a boat onto the lake and look at its reflection to discover who the next one is going to be. Don’t ask me how they do it. We had lunch in the town of Nangartse, home of the 8th Dalai Lama’s mother. The glacier we went to had a stupa at the bottom with prayer flags surrounding it. My friend Divya and I climbed a small peak by the glacier and made a stone pile - something you see all over Tibet that has some sort of spiritual purpose. It was sweet. This was sadly our last day in Tibet.


Final thoughts and reflections on Tibet:

-Amazing place, go there. The larger the group you have, the cheaper it will be. I used an agency called Tibetan Connections - they were great. www.tibetanconnections.com . Take the train there, don't fly.

-The aftermath of the riots earlier this year is definitely still very present. Chinese soldiers are on almost every corner with AK-47 machine guns and riot shields. The first thing we were told when we arrived in Lhasa was not to take pictures of them. Buildings (primarily owned by chinese people) had been burned down earlier in the year, including the bank of china near our hotel

-I wish we had more time there. I am planning on making it back to Tibet sometime. I still want to see Nam-drokso Lake, do the everest base camp road trip, see more monasteries and nunneries, live with nomads, camp, climb mountains, hike, mountain bike, white water raft, etc.!!!!

-The altitude was very easy to feel. it was kind of like having a constant hangover, but hard to let it get you down with such amazing scenery.

i'd be happy to answer any questions, if any of you fellow bloggers/travelers are looking for advice.

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Photos

Daytrip to the Southwest
the beginning

Daytrip to the Southwest
good place to view the river that is lhasa's cradle of life

Daytrip to the Southwest
agricultural town

Daytrip to the Southwest
road up to the high pass (five thousand some meters above sea level)

Daytrip to the Southwest
first view of yamdrokso lake after the high pass

Daytrip to the Southwest
yamdrokso

Daytrip to the Southwest
We drove all around the lake and then up to another high pass where we found this glacier and stupa

Daytrip to the Southwest
glacier

Daytrip to the Southwest
ditto

Comments

[anonymous]

Hey there! looks beautiful, just wondering if its possible now for a solo traveller to move around without following a tour?

[Schlaef]

response
hey, right now and probably for a long time it will not be possible to go pretty much anywhere in tibet for a foreigner without a guide and permit. the more people you are with though, the cheaper it is...

[Rajabu Mohamedi]

Yamdrokso
it saw very nice