The Namtso Lake in Wikipedia

When I was looking for some information about Tibet on Wikipedia, I found the article about Namtso was lacking information, so I decided to edit it. I made a little change on the basic definition of Namtso's Geography and Climate and added the part about the its religious meaning.

Here is what Wikipedia said:

Namtso or Lake Nam (officially: Nam Co; Mongolian: Tengri Nor; “Heavenly Lake”; 30°42′N     90°33′E) is a mountain lake on the border between Damxung County of Lhasa Prefecture and Baingoin County of Nagqu Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, approximately 112 kilometers (70 mi) NNW of Lhasa.

Geography and climate

Namtso was born in the Paleogene age, as a result of Himalayan tectonic plate movements. The lake lies at an elevation of 4,718 m (15,479 ft), and has a surface area of 1,920 km2 (740 sq mi). This salt lake is the largest lake in the Tibet Autonomous Region. However, it is not the largest lake on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. That title belongs to Qinghai Lake (more than twice the size of Namtso); which lies more than 1,000 km (620 mi) to the north-east in Qinghai.

Namtso has five uninhabited islands of reasonable size, in addition to one or two rocky outcrops. The islands have been used for spiritual retreat by pilgrims who walk over the lake's frozen surface at the end of winter, carrying their food with them. They spend the summer there, unable to return to shore again until the water freezes the following winter. This practice is no longer permitted by Chinese authorities.

 The largest of the islands is in the northwest corner of the lake, and is about 2,100 m (6,900 ft) long and 800 m (2,600 ft) wide, rising to just over 100 m (330 ft) in the middle. At its closest point it is about 3.1 km (1.9 mi) from the shore.

 The most remote island is, at its closest, 5.1 km (3.2 mi) from the shore. At summer time birds like Ruddy shelduck and cormorants (Phalacrocorax sp.) migrate to the lake area, besides the fields of Astragalus, Roegneria nutans and Marram grass.

The weather at Namtso is subject to abrupt, sudden change and snowstorms are very common across the Nyainqêntanglha range.

Here is my change

Namtso or Lake Nam (officially: Nam Co; Mongolian: Tengri Nor; “Heavenly Lake”; 30°42′N 90°33′E) is a mountain lake on the border between Damxung County of Lhasa Prefecture and Baingoin County of Nagqu Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, approximately 112 kilometers (70 mi) NNW of Lhasa.[unchanged from original Wikipedia post] Namtso is one of the three sacred lakes of Tibet and the third largest salt lake in China. It is also the highest lake in the world, and at  an elevation of 4,718m (15,479 ft).

Geography and climate

Namtso was born two million years ago during the Paleogene age, as a result of Himalayan tectonic plate movements.  It was a deep and widened lake in the beginning; after entering the Quaternary, due to the collision of continental plate extrusion, Tibetan Plateau continuous to uplift and the climate became dry. This caused the lake to shrink and decline. Now we can still see some ancient coastlines which reflect those geographic changes.  The nearest one is 80 meters away from the current lake. The lake lies at an elevation of 4,718 m (15,479 ft), and has a surface area of 1,920 km² (740 sq mi). This salt lake is the largest lake in the Tibet Autonomous Region.  There are more than 1,500 lakes around Namtso. However, it is not the largest lake on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. That title belongs to Qinghai Lake (more than twice the size of Namtso), which lies more than 1,000 km (620 mi) to the north-east in Qinghai.

Namtso has five islands, which are all holy lands for Buddhists. They think the islands are the embodiment of Buddha. The biggest island, called “Liangduo,” has area of 1.2 km² (0.46 sq mi). Namtso also has five bylands. The most famous one is Tashi Dor at the southeastern corner of the Namtso.  The byland has a typical karst landform. At the entrance of the byland, there are two big rocks called “welcome stones” or “couple stones.” These two rocks are the goalkeepers of Namtso.

The climate of Namsto  is changeable: snowstorms may suddenly happen during summer. And the lake is supplied by the thaw water from Nyainqêntanglha range and the rainwater.

The religious meaning

Namtso is one of three sacred lakes of Tibet. The Tibetan Buddhists think Namtso is a heavenly lake and the embodiment of the Buddhist goddess of Tara. They think the Lake can protect their flock of sheep.  Every Goat Year of Tibetan calendar, Tibetan Buddhists will spend three months to walk around the whole lake to pray for the Tara.

 Come on! Continue subscribe to my blog! Next week I will share some horrible story about  Tibetan culture. 

The Potala Palace I

There is no reason to not visit the Potala Palace when you come to Tibet. The Potala Palace is well known in China. Not only is it a famous historical palace and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but also it is the background of a  50 yuan bill, which is equivalent of a10 dollars bill in U.S.. We in China see it everyday. So the first stop of my Tibet journey was Potala Palace.

the Potala Palace

Potala Palace is located on the top of Marpo Ri, the "Red Hill”, in the northwest point of Lhasa. It is 384ft.(117 meters) high, has nine floors and contains more than 1,000 rooms. Potala Palace was built in 637 by Songtsen Gampo, the king of Tibeten Empire. He built this palace for his marriage with princess Bhrikuti Devi from Nepali and princess Wencheng from China (Tang dynasty). But that Palace was destroyed after the collapse of the Tibetan Empire; only two rooms survived. The Potala Palace we can see today was rebuilt by the Great Fifth Dalai Lama in 1645 on the relic's remains. It was finished in1693, and it was expanded by the later Dalai Lama. The Potala Palace has two parts: the White Palace and the Red Palace, which are named for the colors of the walls. The White Palace is the Dalai Lama’s winter palace, where he lives and works during the winter. The Red Palace is composed of holy stupas of Dalai Lama and different kinds of rooms use by monks. Some of them are used for prayer; some of them contain statues of Buddha; and some of them are libraries. This place is the worthwhile place to visit in the Palace.

On my first day in Tibet, I took a glance at Potala Palace on the way to my hotel. I just felt excited at that time, and forgot there was a big problem waiting for me— its height. Last time I talked about my experience of high altitude sickness, I mentioned that it’s very hard for me to reach the second floor of my hotel. While I look forward to visit the Potala Palace it was not easy for me. But I was so excited to arrive in Tibet, I ignored this problem until the second day, when I arrived at Potala Palace. It is a magnificent building located on a hill. I needed to climb the hill to get to the entrance of  Potala Palace, and I also needed to climb nine levels to visit the whole Palace. What was worst, the visiting hours of Potala Palace are limited, especially for the Red Palace; every visitor only has one hour. Because this old building cannot contain so many people at the same time, government launched the time limit rule to protect this old building and control the population of visitors. Also Potala Palace has very strict security check; it is like going abroad on an airplane. Any dangerous materials are not allowed, and visitor are not allowed to bring water in.

stat to climbing

half way to the entrance

the wall of the White Palace

the entrance of the Red Palace

Finally, I completed this challenge, I arrived at the entrance of the Red Palace. The White Palace is the working place of Dalai Lama. Although he is not there, only few rooms are opened to visitors. So the main point of this trip was to visit the Red Palace. When I got to the entrance, I was exhausted. I took a 15 minute break, drank some water (bought at the entrance) and put my camera in my backpack. It is forbid to take photos in the Red Palace. 

Did you want to know what I saw in the Red Palace? Did you know why people say Potala Palace is made of gold? Subscribe to my blog, I will tell you next week. 

Opinion: Tibet is a part of China!

When I talk to some of my friend whose are United State citizens or people from other countries about my summer trip to Tibet, they all think I went to visit another country. I have to say that Tibet is not another country, is a part of China.

Since the 14th Dalai Lama became a renegade and left China. He works hard to portray that Tibet is an independent country. And slander that the government of China is abusing Tibetans. As a Chinese who has been to Tibet, I can’t agree with him. Today, I will track the history to prove that Tibet is a part of China. 

Tibet become the part of China can be retrace to Yuan Dynasty (1271). When Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty the Tibetan Plateau is the part of its territory. And direct dominated by the capital government. Since Ming Dynasty, the capital government set E-Li-Si Army-Civilian Marshal Office, Dbus-Gtsang Itinerant High Commanderyo, and Mdo-Khams Itinerant High Cmmandery to administer Tibet. Later on, the Qing Dynasty Tibet became one of the 18 provinces in China proper. Now, in the People’s Republic of China, Tibet is still a part of us. Tibet is one of the five autonomous regions of China.

Whatever the 14^th Dalai Lama said, he cannot ignore the truth and forget the history. Tibet is an indivisible part of China and it will be the part forever.

That is Altitude Sickness

This summer I spent 11 days in Tibet with my parents and their friends. Besides the amazing landscape, the most unforgettable thing is the experience of Altitude Sickness. Altitude Sickness is known as Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). It is a pathological effect for people staying in the high altitude (8000 ft.+) and exposed to low partial pressure of oxygen. In that situation, people may feel headache, fatigue, stomach illness, dizziness, sleep disturbance, etc. Slight illness would be okay, but strong illness may lead to death. During this trip, all seven of us have experienced different types of AMS.

In order to better adapt to the altitude in Tibet, we chose to go there by train not by plane. The altitude in my hometown’s altitude is 40 ft., while Lhasa, our destination, has the altitude of 11975 ft. If we had gotten there by plane, our bodies would not be able to endure this extremely high altitude change. It would took us 42 hours to get to Lhasa by train, but it was better to help us adapt the change in the altitude. The first day on the train, everyone was fine. When we arrived at Xining, the origin of Qinghai-Tibet Railway, we were told to change the train. Because the normal train cannot handle the future trip on the plateau, we needed to transfer to an oxygen supply train. On that train, every seat has an oxygen cutlet to emit oxygen. Even though we had those oxygen-supplying facilities, one of our team members got AMS only 3 hours after the train drove into the plateau. She got a bad headache, vomited and could not eat anything. One passenger fainted after a quick stand-up. My parents and I were fine until we got to Lhasa.

 

The oxygen cutlet on the train

We arrived at Lhasa at 4p.m., our guide picked us and drove us to the hotel. She told us, “you may get AMS after you get here. In the first 24 hours, you cannot take a shower or drink alcohol, which will exacerbate your AMS.” When we arrive at our hotel, I got the first symptom of AMS—fatigue. I never thought that climbing to the second floor would be so hard for me. It was feeling like I was climbing 10 floors with 10 pounds of rock hanging on my legs. All our team members had this feeling. The one who got a headache on the train had a fever. We sent her to a clinic near our hotel. The doctor said she got AMS and gave her some medicine.

At night, everyone got a light headache and sleep disturbance, and this headache, sometimes light, sometimes strong, accompanied us for the whole trip. The headache did not bothered me, because I got something worse. My nose was bleeding everyday. Every time when it began to bleed it would last for half hour. Almost every morning I woke up with a nosebleed. Sleep disorder is interesting at high altitude. When people stay at the altitude between 9800 ft. to 16400 ft., their brains got excited due to the lack of oxygen, so they can’t sleep. However, when people reach the altitude of 16400 ft., their brains will become tired because of a lack of oxygen and want to sleep. In this situation, nevertheless, you can’t sleep. If you sleep in this situation, you may die due to severe hypoxia.

All in all, Tibet is not the place where you can go if you want. It is a place where you need preparation, especially the preparation for the AMS.