Landscapes From Samye to Gyantse

Yamdrok Lake: we climbed up switchbacks that took us from 12,000 to over 15,000 in about 45 minutes.
Yamdrok Lake is one of the four holy Tibetan lakes, home to deities and worshipped by both Buddhist and Bon (pre-Buddhist religion) followers. Tibetans often walk around Yamdrok in homage (clockwise, of course). The journey takes about seven days.


We view Yamdrok Lake from Kamba-la, a lookout spot that lets us get a bird’s eye view of the long, narrow shape of Yamdrok, as well as the mountains and barley fields that surround it. Mount Nojin Kangtsang rises far off in the distance at 7,191 meters.


Before the Himalayas revealed themselves to us, we drove past miles of barley and hay fields on the way to Gyantse.


In Gyantse, we had some Sichuan Chinese food, which was a nice alternative to Tibetan momos. Ivone speaks some Chinese, so she was invaluable in helping us order some tasty dishes. Here, the chef invited us into his kitchen while he cooked up our meal.