After staying in
Lhasa for three days, we were getting used to the life in the high altitude
area. We still had headaches and other altitude sicknesses, but we felt better.
So we decided to visit the Namtso Lake, which is the highest place in our trip.
That day was the toughest day in my whole Tibet trip, but it gives me a
fabulous experience that I would never forget.
As we weren’t
familiar with Tibet, to attend a tour to Namtso could be a best choice for us.
The bus picked us at 5 in the morning. China covers 4 time zones, so 5 in the
morning in Tibet is 2 in my province. The first difficult thing I experienced
was a little jetlag. When I went out of the hotel, I was freezing. It was late
July and its only 3 degrees Celsius (39.2 F) and raining. So I went back to my
room and added pants and cashmere sweater, I still felt cold but I already
added all the warm clothes I have. On the bus, the guide told us today we had
to climb a mountain with an altitude of 5190m and the average altitude for
today’s trip was 4800m. It would be very cold today and it may snow when we
arrive at the lake. And she brought us to a store and told us to buy a bottle
of oxygen and rent a jacket. Some tourists on our bus rented the jacket and
bought some bottles of oxygen. For my family, we only bought a bottle of
oxygen. Although I still felt cold, but based on the three days experience in
Tibet, we knew that the temperature would rise at noon. It would take 4 hours
to go to Namtso from Lhasa and the dawn had not come yet, so I decided to take
a nap before we reached the altitude more than 4500m.
About two hours
later, the tour guide woke everybody up. The bus had reached more than 4500m;
it is dangerous to sleep at that altitude. People may die for the lack of oxygen.
And she also said it is the time to breath in the oxygen. We needed to breathe
the oxygen before we felt the lack of it and the bus was reached the highest
point of today. Thirty minutes later, we reached a col of Nyainqentanglha,
which has a altitude of 5190m. Because it is dangerous for people to stay a
long time in a place which has the altitude higher than 5000m, we only have 15
minutes to stay in that col to experience the landscape. And one of my father’s
friends had a very serious altitude sickness when we reached that col. Her face
was white and her lips were purple. She can’t stand up and felt dizzy spell.
She stayed in the bus for the entire trip, both in the col and the Namtso Lake.
I had a headache and a high heartbeat. And my parent’s lips became purple
because of the lack of oxygen.
Fifteen minutes
later, we left the col and continued going to Namtso Lake. We arrived at Namtso
Lake around 10 in the morning. The average altitude of that Lake was 4800m, so
our guide suggested that we bring our oxygen when we walked to the lake. It was
cloudy when we arrived at the lake. My friend told me that the Namtso is
gorgeous on a sunny day. I felt so disappointed to see the lake on a cloudy day
when the sky was grey. It gives me a feeling that the sacred lake should make
people scared. I thought the god of the Lake maybe listening to my prayer, when
sunshine came. Everything was changed. And it was gorgeous! The lake became a
big mirror that reflected the sky. The sacred lake was not scary but like
heaven.
Cloudy |
Sunny |
I thought I was so
lucky that I could experience the different feelings of Namtso Lake. The dark
clouds made the lake more solemn and scary; and the sunshine made the lake more
colorful and gentle. If you get a chance to visit Tibet, Namtso Lake is a place
you can’t miss.