In Retrospect: Namtso Lake

I was going through my back up hard drive the other day and realized I have taken over sixteen thousand photos over the last six years, most of them travel-related. So I went through each folder and looked at all the photos. Each one of them brought back great memories: traveling solo, setting my own itineraries, making decisions on the fly, meeting great people, sampling exotic foods… And then before I knew it, hours were gone. What a great way to procrastinate!

So I am going to choose photos from random locations – photos I took before I started this blog – and post them, along with any relevant stories.

First up is Namtso Lake, one of the sacred lakes in Tibet.

I spent a month in Tibet in October, 2003. Four Swiss backpackers I’d met in Lhasa and I hired a four-wheel-drive and went around to different monasteries for a week. We spent one freezing night by the lake at a “guesthouse” set up by the locals, sleeping in a drafty canvas tent on creaky cots under heavy cotton blankets that had never been washed. The wind howled throughout the night. But it was worth it, the place was very spiritual and the scenery was amazing.

Namtso Lake, in relation to Lhasa, Tibet's capital

The dirt road threads between mountains, leading to Namtso Lake.

The weak morning sun shines on nomadic yak herders camping by the lake at 4700 meters in elevation.

Yaks and horses graze on the grass at the foothill of the mountains surrounding the lake.

A Tibetan takes water from the lake in the morning.

Prayer flags are strung from the top of the hill to the edge of the lake.

View from the top of the hill of pilgrims walking along the kora next to the lake.

Two pilgrims on their way around the kora, with the snow-capped Nyenchen Tanghla Mountain in the distance.

Pilgrims walk past the khata-covered rocky outcrop.

Prayer flags flutter in the wind, carrying the prayers to the gods.

Prayers written in the Tibetan script

Tents belonging to the nomads dot the landscape along the shores of the lake.

Two nuns contemplating? Or are they just chatting about the weather?

Pilgrims make offerings at a prayer point.

Silhouette of pilgrims making their way toward the end of the kora in the fading light after sunset.

I am wearing everything I own. The sun is blindingly bright, but it is not working very well at giving warmth at the moment.