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Published: July 16th 2010
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Lake Namtso
Thursday 8th July 2010
We set off for Lake Namtso at 8.30am. It was only a 3 hour drive and we stopped at the top of the pass which has an elevation is 5,190m before driving down to the lake to set up camp right beside the lake. Lake Nmtso is the highest salt water lake in the world at 4,718m and a very sacred place in Tibet. The lake is a beautiful turquoise colour with snow capped mountains all around. We didn’t realise how high we were until I started running around with Sid playing a game and he suddenly couldn’t catch his breath and got scared. Nigel calmed him down and his breathing got back to normal. The wind picked up at 7pm and just as dinner was served at 8pm in the dining tent the rain poured down and flattened all of our tents. We were holding the top bar of the dining tent to stop it from caving in and the wind was pushing each side of the tent so much that there was no chance of eating inside. The guide ran to the nomad’s tent beside us and asked if we could seek
Walking to the lake via mud!
Sid and Eoin on the way for a swim- we sank deep into mud. refuge there and they opened up their tent to us. We had to decide whether to abandon ship and head 10mins down the road to the nearest ‘guesthouse’ or weather out the storm in our tents. I got the bad mother of the year award when I told Sid we’d be grand in our tent, that it was still standing. Sid replied “Can we go to the guest house, I’ll pay with my own money”. Of course Nigel got brownie points when he considered our tent inhabitable and we all tore our tents down in the lashing rain and heaving wind. It was 9.30pm when we arrived at what I considered ‘Hicksville’….. picture a load of plastic prefabs in the middle of no where. There were 4-beds in each room so uncle Eoin bunked in with us. Everyone went straight to bed, using our own sleeping bags - it was that type of place ☺. I was a bit devastated that we wouldn’t be waking up beside the beautiful lake Namtso!
Friday 9th July 2010
We woke up to sunshine in Hicksville. Our cook made brekkie for us in the common area and we all enjoyed the curry
Emma, Sid and Eoin
Swimming in the freezing lake- which looks like the sea??? / tomato soup- a change from the norm and surprisingly good. We are all set up for the walk back to camp. He idea was that the bus would drive back to where we were the night before, set up the dining tent, get lunch ready and we would walk back (40 mins) after we had seen the monastery on top of the hill- where else would you put it in Tibet???? So off we went- some stayed low and walked around the base of the cliff while Emma, Jimmy and I went straight up and walked along the top. We all met up on the other side of the peninsula after an hour or so of walking. Then Nigel, Sid and I set about walking back to camp. We tried hitching but none of the tour busses or tour jeeps were stopping so we set off on foot for the 40min walk back. Two hours later the camp did not seem any closer and Sid was beginning to fade. Some of the others passed us and we asked if they could send the bus back to pick us up…. Luckily our guide has spotted us and was already en-route
to get us…… turned out it was a 10k walk, which would have been fine for us, but not Sid! Everyone was pretty wrecked after the long walk but Eoin had mentioned to Sid about taking a dip in the lake and fair dues to him, when Sid brought it up, Eoin got his towel and off we went. Emma and Kate decided to go in too, but not for very long- it was freezing. We had a nice time skimming stones off the beach; the lake looks a lot like the sea when you are on the shore. We were treated to a great lightening storm at 9pm and the rain came after- but all the tents held up well and we had a good night’s sleep.
Saturday 10th July 2010
The next morning there was fresh snow on some of the mountains around us so it was chilly to say the least having breakfast outside. We set off back to Lhasa but I felt yuck all the way- dodgy tummy. So when we got back at lunch time the others did the usual laundry, brought back the tents and went for lunch while I slept it
off. Not looking forward to tomorrow - big journey en-route to Everest!!!!!
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