"Tibetan Incense, Ghee, Lama Temple" DAY4 Meeting Yamdrok Yumco for the first time

DAY4 Meet Yamdrok Yumcuo for the first time

The original itinerary plan for DAY4 was to depart from Zedang early in the morning and go to Shigatse via Yamdrok Yumco. However, due to the route adjustment of Samye Monastery, it had to take an extra half day. Leaving Qingpu monastery Returning to Zedang, I let my daughter drive on a flat road with a wider surface. She said proudly: Haha, I have driven myself in Tibet too! Passing through a large-scale desertification area, the pure land of Tibet is also facing a severe ecological crisis. I pray that it will not become a Taklimakan.

Brahmaputra River

After crossing the Yarlung Zangbo River Bridge and leaving Zedang and going straight to Yamdrok Yumco, my daughter immediately entered the in-car sleep mode. Not long after I got out of Dezawa, I encountered a convoy of nearly 50 military vehicles. The military vehicles strictly followed a speed of 60 kilometers per hour and a gap of 50 meters. I followed a local off-road vehicle and began to "snake" to overtake the convoy. As long as there were no vehicles on the other side, I would immediately They increased their speed and borrowed the opponent's lane to overtake the military vehicle. Once the vehicle from the opposite direction came, they immediately used the 50-meter gap of the military vehicle to return to their position. After repeated repetitions, they finally successfully completed the overtake after 30 minutes. The first vehicle in the convoy was a Chinese version of the Hummer-Dongfeng Warrior! Cool as hell! My daughter woke up and said that she felt like she was riding on a boat when she fell asleep just now. The weather and mood were great along the way, and I stopped to take photos from time to time. It was also a good way to stay awake while driving long distances alone.

After passing Gonggar Airport and turning onto the road in the direction of Gyantse, we soon arrived at a checkpoint. All the passengers got off the car and checked their IDs. The driver also checked the vehicle's ID. All of them were special police with armed weapons. After the inspection, I went to get the speed limit sticker. I was wondering why I hadn’t received the "speed limit sticker" with Tibetan characteristics in the past few days since I came out of Lhasa? The speed limit in Tibet is very simple. Except for expressways, all other roads are the same. 40 kilometers inside the town and 70 kilometers outside the town. After leaving the city, there are fewer electronic eyes, so you mainly rely on checking the "speed limit strip" at multiple speed limit points on the way. As long as the time between two points on the speed limit strip is less than the time required for the distance between the two points to comply with the speed limit, that is Speeding! You can only leave after waiting enough time in front of the checkpoint. Another situation that is more painful is that if you miss a checkpoint on the way to stamp the time stamp on the speed limit strip, you have to return to the previous checkpoint to stamp it. Let my daughter take the vehicle's driving license and driver's license and follow a group of Tibetan drivers to issue a speed limit ticket. From then on, the speed limit ticket on this road became a pass.

After passing the checkpoint, we started to climb the Gangbala Pass at an altitude of 5,030 meters. The winding mountain roads have all been paved with asphalt roads, so it is basically not difficult to go up the mountain. After crossing the pass, a pool of clear water appears in front of you without any warning, and you are suddenly unprepared. Yamdrok Yumco, here we are!

Yamdrok Yumco, Namtso and Manasarovar are also known as the three holy lakes in Tibet. Legend has it that there is a village called Baidi by Yamdrok Lake. There lives a beautiful girl in the village. She goes to the lake to bathe every night. Therefore, her skin is as clean as white jade. There was a serf owner in the village who took a fancy to this girl and wanted to make her his own. But the girl already had her own sweetheart and was unwilling to marry the serf owner at all costs. One night, the serf owner hid in the lake. When the girl went into the water to take a bath, he lifted the girl out of the water and wanted to take her home. At this time, a colorful cloud floated from the sky, and a fairy stood on the cloud. She beat the ferocious serf owner to death with Buddhist beads, but the serf owner still hugged the girl and did not let go. As a result, both of them sank. In the lake, the girl was also drowned. At dawn the next day, people came to the lake looking for her and calling her name. Suddenly, a white water bird flew out of the lake. This water bird is the incarnation of the girl. From then on, water birds always played in the lake and flew over the lake. The white cloud-like flocks, white water birds, and this magical legend make Yamdrok Lake a mysterious "holy lake".

In Yamdrok Yumco in August, the rapeseed flowers by the lake are in bloom.

Ningjin Kangsha Peak Xuefeng (also known as Naiqin Kangsang Peak) in the west of Huxi , with an altitude of 7206 meters, is one of the four traditional sacred mountains in Tibet .

I took a lot of photos at once, but I always felt that the lake was not blue enough. It was already around 6 pm, and because of the time difference, the sun was still high and there were more clouds. It might be a problem with the light angle. Changing the direction, the beautiful colors of Yanghu Lake appear immediately.

Nature’s drawing board!

I couldn't take enough pictures, and soon the rapeseed fields on the other side of the lake fell into shadow in the distance. The light and shadow on the plateau changed so quickly!

Here’s another real perspective from the shooting position. The previous pictures are all partial close-ups taken with telephoto 200.

Continue to drive down to the lake, turn a corner, and a beautiful village appears by the lake. I immediately parked my car and took photos. Because it took half a day to get to Samye Monastery, my plan to get to Shigatse today could not be completed. Even getting to Gyantse would still take 2-3 hours. This village is so beautiful that I don’t want to leave, I thought to myself at this time. Originally, I didn’t plan to take my daughter to stay at a Tibetan home like I usually do on this trip, so I didn’t bring a sleeping bag. I tentatively asked my daughter, who said with a noncommittal expression on her face: "I have already seen that you don't want to leave!"

As we drove into the village along the dirt road by the lake, a group of Tibetan children immediately gathered around us asking for sweets. I asked them if there was a place to live in the village. They immediately told me that a collector opened a family hotel in the village, which was great! My daughter and I followed a group of children to a collector's house. The owner enthusiastically took us to the second floor to see the room. Although it was relatively simple, it was still clean and far exceeded my standards. But the key was to pass my daughter's review. The daughter looked around, sat down on the bed, and said lazily: Just live here!

This village by Yanghu Lake is called Zamalong Village, Baidi Township, Langkazi County, Shannan Prefecture, Tibet. The owner of this family is called Pubu Tsering. Pubu’s mother invited us to the main room to drink butter tea. It was so refreshing to be able to drink a bowl of hot butter tea after running all day! I finished 3 bowls in one go.

Pubu’s mother, who could not speak Chinese, sat with us and kept pouring butter tea with a smile on her face.

The entrance to the village is the Yanghu Power Station, so the village mainly uses electricity. The fire pit that used to burn yak dung has been turned into an electric stove.

Pubu's kitchen

Pubu's son wrote his and his classmates' names on the wall.

I remember when I was a kid, my grandma’s cabinet had photos like this on it.

Beautiful patterns on the beams

The copper water tank is engraved with the Tibetan Buddhist swastika pattern.

Pubu was busy preparing dinner. After he was transferred from the army, he worked at the power station at the entrance of the village. The family only relied on his income.

After talking on the phone with her sister in Shanghai, my daughter became interested in prayer wheels.

Had dinner with the Pubu family and took a family photo with them.

After dinner, I asked Pubu for two power strips and charged all the mobile phones and cameras. My daughter had already fallen asleep on the bed. I went out to look at the sky, but there were no stars. I was about to go back to sleep. Pubu thought I was worried about the car parked outside and said, "It's okay, just sleep peacefully. We have Tibetan Mastiffs." Maybe in their eyes, we Han people would rather believe that. dog.

It was a quiet night in Yamdrok Yumco, and the Tibetan Mastiff in Pubu did not make a sound.