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Prayer flags
Tibetan Buddhists believe the wind takes the prayers to heaven.I posted a sign and got 3 people to share a 4WD with me for 900yuan. Michael from Germany, Hubert from Austria, and Marleen from Holland. It took us 4 hours to get to the lake which is still frozen. This is the second-largest saltwater lake in China.
On the way, we could see pilgrims prostating their way to Lhasa, yak and sheep herds on the hills with with snow on the peaks, nomad tents, sections of the infamous new railroad and a "parade of exactly 91 Chinese army trucks"!
The landscape is harsh: brown rocky soil, snow, icy lake. The wind is brutally cold, particularly for a tropical Brazilian. It's ~minus 5-10 centigrade, and the 4718 meters above sea level makes it hard to breath.
My advice: do NOT do what I did. Follow the recommendations to stay in Lhasa for 5-7days before going to such a high place. Do NOT go to Nam-tso, like I did, after less than 2 days in Lhasa. The headache was unberable and I had to really work at walking the kora, stopping to rest very often.
About photos: my new digital camera didn't work well there, which was very frustrating.
Cooooold wind
The wind takes the prayers to heaven and almost took me too! Keep your batteries and camera warm.
It's possible to go to namtso and return the same day as we did. Sleeping on a tent without heater, with temperature -15C, at almost 5000m wasn't for me.
I highly recommend the trip, particularly if you stop to appreciate the nomadic lives along the way (next blog entry)
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Mark Piper
non-member comment
I am so impressed with how much you are seeing and doing. You are making us want to travel again and be more adventurous. The weather is starting to warm up in Tokyo so I would not recommend coming back here in the near future.