Lhasa - Lake Namtso

Last night we had dinner at a restaurant compliments of the tibertravel.org . The other couple are Orthodox Jews and eat Kosher food, therefore they have to go vegetarian while on holiday. The food was very good - it and the Dunya restaurant at the Yak hotel were the best we'd had. 

Tonight's accommodation is going to be quite an experience. Lake Namtso Is a holy lake - one cannot even put one's feet in it. 

This morning, we left for Lake Namts.  It is located in the .......... Mountains some 150 km from Lhasa. We have been been joined by people from eight other tours and now we are twelve - all at least thirty years younger than us!! One feels like a student again!!! The group comprises two British, two Americans, three Aussies, one Dutch, one Spanish, one Bulgarian and ourselves- all very friendly. 

The Dutch asked if we were to have a police officer on board?? The guide replied in the negative and informed us  that if the group was under nineteen, the company did not have to INFORM Beijing,  so we would not have a police officer on board.  

The security here is overwhelming. There is a hut every km at edge of railway line, there is a police check point c. every 20km, there are cameras on the tourist busses, there are mobile police and the army is very much present. At all tourist sites there are police and army- I have never seen such security. Each tourist coach is monitored and the driver is admonished by a central control for minor road infringements. If one receives 12 points, one has to resit one's theory  and motor classes again as if a learner. 

I'm here  sitting in a traffic jam on the outskirts of Lhasa! The Chinese are building a ring road around the city. They are demolishing all before them - no respect for the Tibetan culture! Some lovely, traditional  buildings are being bulldozed!   A roadside poster gives an idea of its complexity! It will be completed in a year! I surmise that it would take us ten years to complete a similar project! 

We continued on our journey, repeatedly delayed by numerous army trucks the width of the road. When I tried to video one of them, our guide asked me to desist as if I was seen the army would stop the bus and investigate. When CC tried to surreptitiously take a photo, the Chinese/American lady sitting behind us advised him that there were cameras on the bus! In my travels, as I have never encountered such a police state. 

We stopped for lunch. 

It was poor - rice and vegetables, cold meat which each table of six had to share. Tibet is a poor country and it shows in its cuisine. 

We followed the railway line along the valley - the route we had taken by train to Lhasa. CC was very pleased that three trains passed by - very close to us. We were in the upper valley and the main  activity was nomadic pastoral farming of yaks, sheep and cattle.

The herdsmen spend the summer moving about with their portable houses, which  have for the most part, replaced the tent. In winter they return to houses. 

We passed check point after check point but our passports were not checked. We left the track for the last 60 km. The mountain scenery was spectaculsr 

Finally, we entered the National Park. 

and commenced climbing steeply until we reached the Na Genla Pass, 5,190

meters high, the only entry route to the park.  

We stopped here to get our first glimpse of the lake. It is the highest salt water lake in the world.  It takes 10 days to walk its circumference and should one wish to do so, one must carry one's  own tent and supplies. 

We finally arrived at the camp. What a place - it was a sight to behold, with yaks and dogs ambling around the area. 

A quadrant of shops, restaurants and guest houses i.e. tents to you and me. The guide commenced allocating beds. He invited us to share a tent with two single gentlemen - a Dutch and a Spaniard. It was the best offer I have gotten to date!! However CC wasn't keen so we settled for a double room. 

It had been a long journey. We had departed Lhasa at 0930 hrs and arrived here at 1730 hrs with only a half hour for lunch and a short break at the Pass. 

We walked to the lake's edge 

to see the sunset but as it was cloudy, it was not a spectacular sunset - I have shown you better, dear reader.

It was very cold - c 4 degrees with a biting wind. Luckily, I had purchased a pashmina at a shop near the lunch stop, which inured me from the cold breeze rising off the lake. 

After sunset, we returned to the guest house for dinner. It was  quite acceptable. 

We retired. It is bitterly cold and will fall below freezing after midnight!  There is no heat in the room and an electric blanket is making little impression! 

Good night !!