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.

Ophiocordyceps sinensi

Ophiocordyceps sinensis is a Tibetan herbal medicine. It is a magic herb, not only because it has some special function, but also because it has a very special growing process. Ophiocordyceps sinensis is a fungus that parasitizes on the larvae of moths. After the fungus parasitize on the larvae, the larvae will slowly die and become the nutrition for the fungus. A mature Ophiocordyceps sinensis has two parts: a worm’s head and an herb tail. Ophiocordyceps sinensis is a worm in the winter, but it becomes an herb in summer. So the Ophiocordyceps sinensis can also be called winterworm summerherb or caterpillar fungus. Ophiocordyceps sinensis is a very special Tibetan herbal medicine, and some people say it can cure cancer. It is also very rare. The formation of Ophiocordyceps sinensis need a special condition; it must be at the plateau with a very cold weather in winter, otherwise the worm’s body will decay.  And it only could formate in the natural condition and artificial propagation is not successful yet.

If you are in Tibet in the early summer, you may find many Tibetans are searching the Ophiocordyceps sinensis in the grass.  If they are lucky, they may find five or six Ophiocordyceps sinensis a day.

Fantastic! She has been to Tibet 5 times!

Jiling Duan is my old friend. Since 2002, she has already visited Tibet 5 times. Especially, since 2012, she was stay in Tibet for two month a year. She is now in Beijing Chinese Academy of Sciences for her PhD in Geology. She is also a mentor for my Tibet trip and gives me valuable advice. When I was writing my blog, I always thought I could have an interview with her and that she could share some experience with us.

Shuyan: How many times have you been to Tibet? Can you briefly describe your experiences in Tibet?

Jiling: I have been to Tibet 5 times. The first time I visited there was when I was 12 years old. I can’t remember clearly what I experienced there; the only thing I remember is the sky in Tibet. The sky is so blue and very close that it feels like when I raise my hand I can touch it. And the second time was in 2010; I went there with my family and friend. We enjoyed the landscape and food there and had lot of fun. Since 2012, my trips to Tibet have been more focused on the project of porphyry copper deposit in Tibet. Although I have worked on my project I still had time to visit Tibet. In 2013, I traveled throughout nearly all of Tibet to collect the rock simples for my project; some places that regular tourists have never been. And this year I didn’t spend too much time in Tibet or visited lot places. I just went there to collect more simples for my study.

Shuyan: Could you tell me one of the most impressive things for you in Tibet, Why?

Jiling: I am not really sure what is the most impressive thing for me. But I want to tell you a funny story, when I did some thing stupid and was mocked by my seniors for years. That was 2012 and I was doing my research on the porphyry copper deposit project. I found some worms in my yard, and I though that would be the Ophiocordyceps sinensis. (I will talk about that on my other blog post.) And I asked my seniors if those worms are Ophiocordyceps sinensis, and they said yes those are. I didn’t know if they were joking with me and I trusted they were telling me the truth. I was very excited and I thought I would be very rich if I could collect enough Ophiocordyceps sinensis. A year later, I finally knew what the Ophiocordyceps sinensis was I understood that my seniors had cheated me.

Shuyan: Where will you go if you visit Tibet again?

Jiling: For this year, I would like to go to the Mount Kailash. The Tibetans tell me that in this year if you walk around and pray to the Mount Kailsh once is equal to a walk around 13 times. People around the world come to Tibet to pray to this sacred mount. It could take people 2 to 7 days to walk around the mount.

Shuyan: Could you tell me your experience in the camp of Mount Everest?

Jiling: Actually, I have not really gone there, but I can tell you my experience at other camps with the same altitude as the Mount Everest camp. The altitude of my camp is around 5000 m (16404 ft.). I stayed in that camp for a week. When I stayed there, I always feel a lack of oxygen. Especially, in the night I was always woke up because of the lack of oxygen.

Shuyan: Could you tell me a thing that some travelers may not know?

Jiling: I think the thing is that Tibet has a very special policy for rate limiting. If the rate limit is 60km/hour, it means you need to drive 1km/minute. Because we you drive on the rate limit road, you will pick a card at the beginning of the road, which has the starting time on it. And you need to submit the card to another office, which is 60km away from the beginning. Thus if you don’t want to speed you need to arrive at that office an hour after you started.

Shuyan: Could you give some advice for the travelers?

Jiling: First, the altitude sickness is a thing that you can never avoid. It is normal if to have a headache or feel a lack of oxygen. You will get ready for that 2 or 3 days after you get to Tibet. But if you have a cold, you need to leave Tibet as soon as possible. A cold is a very dangerous disease on the plateau and could die because of it. And I suggest that June and July is the best time to visit Tibet, because it has better weather than any other time.

It is a nice time to talk to an old friend. And I am very glad that she would like to share her experiences of Tibet with me.  After talked with her, I really want to go back to Tibet and get more experiences. 

How to get to Tibet

After I’ve told so many stories about Tibet, you may have a question—how I get there? You can get Tibet by plane, by train or by car. Of course, the first thing is you need to get to China. Because Tibet has a changeable weather and very special geographic condition, there traffic is very limited. Here are the details about how to get to Tibet from Beijing.

By plane

Although Tibet has 6 airports, 5 of them are very small; they only have 2 flights every day and only for regional transportation. The biggest one is Lhasa Gonggar International Airport; it is a 4E airport. Gonggar airport is a dual-use airport, thus some times the civil flights may make way for warplanes. This airport is at an altitude of 3600 meters (11811 ft.). So when people decide to fly to Tibet, they need to consider if they can handle the altitude change from 43 meter (141 ft., Beijing) to 3600 meter in 4 hours. That is very easy to get altitude sickness. From Beijing there is only one direct flight to Tibet through Tibet Airline. Other flights need to stop in Chengdu or Chongqing, which will cost 6 to 13 hours.

By train

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway is the only railway to Tibet, which was completed on October 12, 2005 and opened to trial service on July 1, 2006. If you choose to go Tibet by train, whatever the starting point is, the train must go to Xining first and enter Tibet through Qinghai- Tibet Railway. Because the average altitude of Qinghai-Tibet Railway is 4000 meter (13123 ft.), so when the train arrived Xining station, it will change to an Oxygen supply train. That will make passages feel more comfortable in this high altitude railway. From Beijing, passages need through train T27 to get to Tibet. This train will take 43 hours. By train, passengers can experience the landscape change with the altitude change and reduce the incidence of altitude sickness.

By car

In American people always like travel by their cars, you can also do that in China. But if you want to travel to Tibet through a car it is a big challenge. First, because of the harsh weather and tundra, the road conditions in Tibet are very bad. Secondly, because Tibet is a sparsely populated region, the travelers may pass no man’s land and get lost. Thirdly, travelers may suffer lack of oxygen or altitude sickness when driving on the plateau. If you are fully prepared and brave enough to face tough challenges, driving to Tibet could be a fantastic journey. There are 4 main roads to get to Tibet：Sichuan-Tibet road, Xingjiang-Tibet road, Qinghai-Tibet road, and Yunan-Tibet road. From Beijing you can choose all this 4 roads to get to Tibet and that will take more than a week to get there. By the way, a good SUV is needed for the driving.

Here is the three major ways to get to Tibet. Choose your favorite one and package now! Welcome to China and Welcome to Tibet.