The Trip to Namtso Lake

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.