Tibet, Nam-Tso Lake

There is a lake just north of Lhasa called Nam-Tso. There are two roads leading to the lake and the trip does not require any permits (one reason that we liked the idea of going.) The question then becomes why were we stopped 9 times on the way to the lake?

After several hours on the road we were stopped and told that the road was closed for construction and would remain so for the next 12 hours. The army person who stopped us suggested that we "go to sleep until the road work is finished for the day." We were told this in spite of the fact that a steady stream of trucks and other cars continued on their way without any apparent problem. After several hours we were able to convince our tormenter that we had talked to his boss and that he had said it was OK for us to pass.

We were later stopped again for construction. This time we were told that it would only be about two hours and that we should have lunch and a nap. We elected instead to drive around the construction. The detour took about ten min..

Again we were stopped. This time for a "car inspection." In the middle of the road was a road black and spikes to prevent us from driving around. The only problem here was that there was no one in evidence to do the inspection. After several min. of looking perplexed we were approached from the side of the road and told to just move to road black out of the way. Apparently the inspector could not be bothered.

The last time we were stopped was only 100 yards from our destination. We needed to pay a "$1 protection fee." It is hard to say what was being protected and from what. Our destination was one of only two guest houses on the shore of an otherwise deserted lake.

During out entire time at the lake we saw only four buildings: 2 guest houses, 1 canteen, and 1 temple.

As I said before we were stopped a total of 9 times. Please trust me in that the other stops were only different in the details and not in the substance.

This journey to Nam-Tso was maddening. The trip took 12 hours much of which was spent either arguing or more likely paying money at various check points.

In the end the frustration was more than repaid by the beauty of the lake. With luck the pictures will do it justice.

We are now trying to organize our journey to the border. It is a daunting task.