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Published: December 18th 2007
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A very high lake
Yesterday was at first a bad day for tours and then in the end a good day. I scoured the hostels looking for travellers wanting an extra person to go to EBC (Everest Base Camp) and a few other places along the way and came up with nothing. On my way back to my hostel from checking the noticeboards in the evening I bumped into three of the guys that I did the Great Wall tour with, they had arrived last thursday catching a train from Beijing and sitting on a hard seatfor the whole 48 hour trip: I didn't envy them at all. But a thought crossed my mind, perhaps they were wanting to do a tour! I broached the subject and was shot down in flames, I had missed out by a few hours. They organised a trip earlier in the morning and were leaving the next day and already had six people going. Shattered. Anyway, despite this pitfall I joined them for a few beers and enjoyed catching up with them. It was nice to see a familiar face.
After the beers myluck changed again, as I checked teh noticeboards in my
hostel the travel agent cameout from her office and asked me where I wanted to go, I told her and she said that there was a group of people looking for others to join adn that they would be at the hostel for a meeting in one hour! One hour later I turned up, met a nice Chinese couple from Xian and the guy, Richard, spent 13 years in New Zealand so his English is pretty good but a Kiwi accent coupled with a Chingrish accent is not a good partnership. Anyway, it turns out that they were wanting to go to EBC on the 20th as they were heading to Namtso lake on the 19th. Iasked if they needed anyone else for their Namtso trip and his replywas the more people the cheaper it would be, so I was welcomed aboard for that trip. The EBC trip hit a snag as a Korean girl who also wanted to come pulled out and theat left only three of us,not enough to make it cheap enough to do. We concluded that we would try and find two more people the next day. As I was leaving the meeting Richard came up
to me and asked if I would mind going to Namtso Lake the next day (today) and I had no problem with it, so it was changed for today.
I woke up at 6.30, showered, ate a few biscuits and drank some water (that was my breakfast, at that point) and met everyone at 7.30 downstairs and we all piled into the Landcruiser and started our journey. However, twenty minutes in the driver pulled over to the side of the road and I was told that there was a general store open and we could get some breakfast! So, I grabbed an iced tea and some sweet bread thingy and we were off again. On the road we passed many pilgrimswearing leather aprons, kneepads and wooden blocks on their hands, taking three steps and then prostrating themselves on the ground as they slowly made their way to Lhasa. It would take them ages to make the trip; I have heard thatpeople have sighted them on the roads hundreds of kilometres from Lhasa- that is faith. We also took in the awesome sight of Mt Nyenchen Tanglha (7111m),westopped just long enough for a few photos before we were off again.
At 10.30 we pulled into a small town near Namtso for 'lunch' as there was no food at Namtso so we had to eat now. After 'lunch' we headed into the Namtso nature reserve and made our way up a pass that then took us down into the valley where Namtso Lake sat. This pass was 5190m high and consequently a new height record was set for myself. Namtso itself has an average altitude of about 4700m and is (I think) the 22nd highest lake in the world.
The lake itself was huge,much larger than I had imagined and surrounded by snow-capped mountains and with an icy rim around its shores was absolutely beautiful. However, despite its beauty it was absolutely freezing;easily the coldest I have been, but I put that down to the wind chill. After walking around some of its shore and taking a few photos we were back in the landcruiser and into another small town for some more 'lunch' before heading to Yangbajing Hot Spring, which is a little run-down but they are in the process of doing it up. All in all the tour took the whole day, as we arrived back in Lhasa
at about 5.30 where discussions took place about our EBC trip, as it turned out that the Chinese guy in my room wanted to join us, so four people made it possible.
We leave for EBC on the 20th and will spend 4 days and 3 nights making the trip,stopping at a few places along the way and boy am I excited! In the mean time I am not entirely sure what the plan is for tomorrow,either the Jokhang Temple or Ganden Monastery (although the bus for that one leaves at 6.30am), but I will let you know.
Hope people are still enjoying my mindless ramblings!
Matt out
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MikeV
non-member comment
Beautiful mountains..
Hi Matt, what a fantastic area you are in - the mountains are fantastic and yes, it does look so much like Nepal (funny that really when you think about it!) EBC for Xmas day (or very close to) will make a magnificent memory. Enjoy Tibet, loving your photos Dx