Namsto Lake

Almost at the top of the world sits Namsto Lake, the highest salt lake in the world. Sounds impressive, eh? Well, it is.

Along with our Dutch travel compadres, Merein and Jorien, we hire a Land Cruiser and a driver, and head north from Lhasa to Namsto. We cross a pass at 5190m- there is thick snow everywhere and the wind is freezing. It even snows on the drive there. Hailing from Australia, snow is a novelty, a novelty lost on our Dutch companions.

When we reach Namsto, the lake is partially frozen over, and icebergs (cool!) are scattered across the surface. As I have never seen icebergs, I temporarily lose sanity and leap into the freezing water to walk on the icebergs. Doesn't really happen, but it makes for a good story and great photo.

But the cold really sets in, and it starts to snow. Its really, really, really cold, and our 18 month summer does not seem to assist Steph and I to deal with the cold. The novelty has worn off. We have not slept in a tent in 3 months, and we choose a freezing cold, snowing Tibetan mountain lake as the time to change.....go figure! And as Namsto is around at 4850m, we all have a really bad night. Steph is worst off, and we decide to head back to Lhasa a day early. Really makes you realise how delicate the body is- a couple of kilometres above sea level and we're in trouble.

But we get a clearer picture of what Tibetan life is like- I think the pictures speak for themselves.