གནམ་མཚོ་ | Blue Lapis Road

DAY 10 (1/2): SUNRISE AT NAMTSO LAKE (གནམ་མཚོ་ 納木錯), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.25

At 4718m, staying the night at Namtso was cold, but metal cabin at Sacred Sheep Guesthouse (當雄神羊賓館) allowed us some decent rest. We woke up at 6:30am, quickly get ourselves ready and headed up the hill at the tip of Tashi Dor Peninsula (扎西半島). Like many visitors to Namtso, we get up early just for the sunrise over the placid water. At 7:15, we found ourselves standing among several dozens of tourists standing at the north side of Tashi Dor Peninsula, awaiting for the first beam of sunlight from the east.

Facing northeast, we stood on the slope overlooking the placid water of Namtso Lake. At 7:20am, the horizon began to brighten up.

At 7:35am, a tint of orange signifying the arrival of the sunrise.

It felt like all visitors at Namtso were standing on the northern slope of Tashi Dor Peninsula to watch the sunrise.

Over at the southern side of Tashi Dor Peninsula, sunlight cast a orange glow on the highest peaks of Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains (གཉན་ཆེན་ཐང་ལྷ 念青唐古拉山).

Sunlight slowly swallowed the darkness on the hills of Tashi Dor Peninsula (扎西半島).

Looking north to where we saw the Milky Way the night before, the focus of the morning scenery was shifted to the placid water of Namtso Lake and Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains.

The campsites and tourist facilities at the waterfront were blanketed in the shadow of the Tashi Dor Peninsula.

Finally the sun rose above the Tashi Dor Peninsula.

While most tourists watched the rising sun, I preferred the scenery of the Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains and the lakefront lagoons.

At 8:50am, the sun was already high up. Namtso Lake returned to its famous deep blue colour under the pristine mountain air.

At 9am, we walked down the hill and returned to Sacred Sheep Guesthouse.

We took one last look at the Namtso Lake on our way down.

We passed by the trailhead one last time before entering the area of Sacred Sheep Guesthouse.

For a brief moment, I walked off to the lakefront near Tashi Dor Temple (扎西島寺).

Looking back up the cliff I could see the lookout where we photographed the Milky Way the night before.

On the otherwise bare landscape near the shore, simple structures and metal cabins were erected catered for tourism. It is actually a good idea to restrict all tourist activities of Namtso Lake only at Tashi Dor Peninsula and minimize tourist access to the rest of the lake for natural conservation purpose.

Before leaving Namtso Lake for Lhasa, I quietly bid farewell to the beautiful lake, and soon the Tibetan Plateau all together. In less than 24 hours we would be on the plane on our way back to Hong Kong via Chengdu.

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More blog posts on Tibet 2017:
JOURNEY ABOVE THE CLOUDS, Tibet 2017 (西藏之旅2017)
DAY 1: TOUCHDOWN ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD, Lhasa
DAY 1: TRICHANG LABRANG HOTEL (赤江拉讓藏式賓館), Lhasa
DAY 1: KORA AT BARKHOR STREET (八廓街), Lhasa
DAY 2: FIRST GLIMPSE OF POTALA (布達拉宮), Lhasa
DAY 2: KORA OF DREPUNG MONASTERY (哲蚌寺), Lhasa
DAY 2: DREPUNG MONASTERY (哲蚌寺), Lhasa
DAY 2: JOKHANG MONASTERY (大昭寺), Lhasa
DAY 2 : SPINN CAFE (風轉咖啡館), Lhasa
DAY 2: NIGHT VIEW OF POTALA (布達拉宮), Lhasa
DAY 3: POTALA PALACE (布達拉宮), Lhasa
DAY 3: SERA MONASTERY (色拉寺), Lhasa
Day 4: KORA OF GANDEN MONASTERY (甘丹寺), Lhasa
Day 4: GANDEN MONASTERY (甘丹寺), Lhasa
DAY 4: TEA HOUSE AND FAMILY RESTAURANT, Lhasa
DAY 5: ON THE ROAD IN TIBET
DAY 5: MORNING IN SHANNAN (山南)
DAY 5: SAMYE MONASTERY (桑耶寺), Shannan
DAY 5: SAMYE TOWN (桑耶鎮), Shannan
DAY 6: YAMDROK LAKE (羊卓雍錯)
DAY 6: PALCHO MONASTERY (白居寺), Gyantse
DAY 6: WORDO COURTYARD (吾爾朵大宅院), Shigatse
DAY 7: ROAD TO EVEREST BASE CAMP (珠峰大本營)
DAY 7: EVEREST BASE CAMP (珠峰大本營)
DAY 7: STARRY NIGHT, Everest Base Camp
DAY 8: PANG LA PASS (加烏拉山口), Mount Everest Road
DAY 8: SAKYA MONASTERY (薩迦寺)
DAY 9: TASHI LHUNPO MONASTERY, (扎什倫布寺) Shigatse
DAY 9: ROAD TO NAMTSO LAKE (納木錯)
DAY 9: EVENING AT NAMTSO LAKE (納木錯)
DAY 10: SUNRISE AT NAMTSO LAKE (納木錯)
DAY 10: LAST DAY IN LHASA, Tibet
EPILOGUE: FACES OF LHASA, Tibet

January 31, 2018 | Categories: China, China: Tibet 2017, Tibet | Tags: གཉན་ཆེན་ཐང་ལྷ, གནམ་མཚོ་, 納木錯, 西藏, highland, lake, landscape, mountains, Namtso, Nyenchen Tanglha, Peninsula, scenery, sunrise, Tashi Dor, Tibet, Tibetan, 念青唐古拉山, 扎西半島 | Leave a comment

DAY 9 (3/3): EVENING AT NAMTSO LAKE (གནམ་མཚོ་ 納木錯), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.24

Often considered as one of the most beautiful lakes in China, Namtso Lake ((གནམ་མཚོ་ 納木錯) failed to disappoint us. Sangzhu dropped us at Sacred Sheep Guesthouse (當雄神羊賓館) where we stayed the night. Probably the most established guesthouse in Tashi Dor Peninsula (扎西半島) of Namtso, Sacred Sheep Guesthouse is in fact a simple building lined with metal cabins as guestrooms. We dropped off our bags in our room and stepped out right away hopefully to catch a glimpse of the scenery before sunset. Behind our guesthouse, there was a trail leading up the hill at the northwestern tip of Tashi Dor Peninsula. Several motorcyclists gathered at the trail-head. They offered to take us up the hill for a small fee. We preferred to walk despite the sky was getting dark. Before twilight, we reached a lookout overlooking the southern shore of Namtso Lake and the beautiful Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains (གཉན་ཆེན་ཐང་ལྷ 念青唐古拉山) beyond. The last twilight was soon replaced by myriad of stars in the indigo sky, then came the moon and the Milky Way rising above the tranquil Namtso. It was a different starry night than two nights ago at the Everest Base Camp, but the wind was equally chilly and the scenery revealed the same magic of the Himalayan night sky.

The tip of the Tashi Dor Peninsula (扎西半島) is the only spot around Namtso where tourist facilities are allowed to establish.

As we reached the lookout on the hill, the sun was setting fast behind the mountains.

The southern shore of Namtso Lake and the snow-capped Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains (གཉན་ཆེན་ཐང་ལྷ 念青唐古拉山) defined the horizon ahead of us.

Slightly after 8pm, the sunlight began the fade away beyond the horizon.

At around 8:45, the Milky Way emerged from the indigo sky over Namtso Lake.

At around 9pm, the sky was dark enough for us to count the shooting stars.

Once again we were fortunate to admire the beautiful Milky Way in the clear sky.

Tourist cars kept on arriving at the Tashi Dor Peninsula.

Despite the chilly wind and our hungry stomachs, the magnificent night sky made us to stay for longer and longer. There were three other visitors, two from China and one from Hong Kong, taking photos of the starry night with their tripods alongside us.

I set up the tripod and camera on a rock to capture the night sky, and we just sat on the rocks behind to enjoy the scene.

Appeared as bright as the white cliffs of Dover, the majority of the Tashi Dor Peninsula was actually made of limestone.

At about 9:45pm, we decided to call it a day and return to Sacred Sheep Guesthouse for a late dinner. If not the cold temperature we could have perhaps stay a little longer at the lookout. No matter what, it was another magical night for the three of us.

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January 30, 2018 | Categories: China, China: Tibet 2017, Tibet | Tags: གཉན་ཆེན་ཐང་ལྷ, གནམ་མཚོ་, 納木錯, 西藏, highland, lake, landscape, mountain, Namtso, night, Nyenchen Tanglha, sky, star, starry, Tashi Dor, Tibet, Tibetan, 念青唐古拉山 | Leave a comment

DAY 9 (2/3): ROAD TO NAMTSO LAKE (གནམ་མཚོ་ 納木錯), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.24

Before noontime, we left Shigatse behind and headed northeast towards the sacred Namtso Lake (གནམ་མཚོ་ 納木錯). It would be another long day on the road. We would not reach our destination until 8pm in the evening. It was a journey of mixed feelings: being excited about seeing the famous sacred lake and troubled by the fact that Namtso would be our road journey’s final stop before returning to Lhasa for the last day of our trip. Unlike the past, the road conditions had significantly improved throughout Tibet, but the distances between sights are enormous. In 2005, a paved road had been constructed to the Tashi Dor Peninsula (扎西半島) at Namtso Lake, where most tourists including us would stay the night right by the lake. This would offer us the opportunity to enjoy the night sky and sunrise by the sacred lake.

“Namtso” in Tibetan literally means “Heavenly Lake”, so as the Mongolian name “Tenger nuur”. Given its high altitude, sublime scenery, and pristine deep blue water, there was little surprise why the ancient Tibetans and Mongolians would consider Namtso “heavenly.” With an area of 1920 sq.km, Namtso Lake is the largest lake in the Tibet Autonomous Region. The famous salt lake is surrounded by snow-capped mountains, notably the magnificent range of Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains (གཉན་ཆེན་ཐང་ལྷ 念青唐古拉山). At an altitude of 4712m, the lake surface is frozen for over six months in the year. During summer, the lakeside lush green plains offer great pastures for cattle and sheep.

The first part of the road journey passed along the valley of Yarlung Tsangpo River (ཡར་ཀླུངས་གཙང་པོ་ 雅魯藏布江).

The railroad along Yarlung Tsangpo River (ཡར་ཀླུངས་གཙང་པོ་ 雅魯藏布江) stood out from the landscape. It was probably Tibet’s only rail service between Shigatse-to-Lhasa.

We also passed by many narrow strips of Highland Barley fields on the steep slope above the river.

At 4pm, we were approaching the lush green valley plains of Yangbajain (羊八井).

At the green valley plains of Yangbajain (羊八井), yaks and sheep grazing in front of the 700km Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains (གཉན་ཆེན་ཐང་ལྷ 念青唐古拉山).

Yangbajain (羊八井) is also famous for the geothermal fields and hot spring resort. We stopped by the hot spring resort but decided not to take a dip.

15 minutes before 7pm, we reached Lakenla (那根拉山口) at 5190m.

At 5190m, the Lakenla Mountain Pass (那根拉山口) offered us a glimpse of the Namtso Lake from a distance.

Time was getting late. Under the late afternoon sun, the Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains welcomed us at the gateway into the Namtso Lake area.

After over eight hours on the road, we finally reached the Namtso Lake.

With Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains (གཉན་ཆེན་ཐང་ལྷ 念青唐古拉山) to the southwest, our car headed over to the tourist accommodation and restaurant area on the Tashi Dor Peninsula (扎西半島) in full speed.

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January 28, 2018 | Categories: China, China: Tibet 2017, Tibet | Tags: གཉན་ཆེན་ཐང་ལྷ, གནམ་མཚོ་, 納木錯, 羊八井, 那根拉山口, 雅魯藏布江, 西藏, geothermal, highland, lake, Lakenla, landscape, mountain, mountains, Namtso, Nyenchen Tanglha, pass, Peninsula, road, scenery, Tashi Dor, Tenger nuur, Tibet, Tibetan, Yangbajain, Yarlung Tsangpo, 念青唐古拉山, 扎西半島 | Leave a comment

Blue Lapis Road ultramarinus – beyond the sea

Posts tagged “གནམ་མཚོ་”

DAY 10 (1/2): SUNRISE AT NAMTSO LAKE (གནམ་མཚོ་ 納木錯), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.25

DAY 9 (3/3): EVENING AT NAMTSO LAKE (གནམ་མཚོ་ 納木錯), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.24

DAY 9 (2/3): ROAD TO NAMTSO LAKE (གནམ་མཚོ་ 納木錯), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.24