I just got back from a trip to Namtso lake at 5000 meters altitude, north of Lhasa. The lake looks like the North Pole, with a thick package of ice on top of it.... and guess what? It's just as cold.

Our trip started four days ago. An ancient land cruiser took us to the monastery of Drekung. Life was good back then. We had a nice sun above our heads and we were a happy fellowship of six people and a Tibetan driver named Chica.

We spent the night in a village of which the name I can't remember. I had my first encounter with a few monstruous Tibetan stray dogs. I threw stones at them, and was of course victorious (-;. The Tibetan people in this village are really, really nice and we had a lot of fun playing with the digital cam. Monks are really nice people (I already knew this, but it surprises me over and over again). We skipped the magic hot spring, since it was filled (or should I say stuffed) with naked fat Chinese people.

The night was horrible. I had a splitting headache, which isn't that weird since the village lies at 4300 meters altitude and we arrived in Tibet only few days ago. We lost two members of the fellowship to High Altitude Syndrom (they didn't die, but returned to Lhasa... sorry for the insinuation). Since my beloved doctor supplied me with an enormous amount of Diamox, I could handle the situation...

The next day we went to Rating, a very famous monastery north of the previous place. We wandered through the area during the day, but the fun started at night. We spent the night in the monastery, together with about 20 pilgrims and a bunch of happy monks. Chretienne managed somehow to teach a couple of Tibetan old folks to sing "hoofd-schouders-knieen-teen" in both Dutch and Tibetan. The next day they sung us goodbye with this newly learnt song. Hilarious.

A series of 'roads' (vague signs of previously passed cars) led us to NamTso lake. We went across a pass of nearly 5300 meters and through desolate plains. Mordor indeed. A crowd of Drokpa (nomads) invited us to drink some Yak tea in their tents. These people must be fully resistent to the cold.

Namtso lake is known for its azure color, but now it is still frozen. Ice, several meters thick, is being pushed onto the shore. The snow blew horizontally in our faces, when we managed to keep the stray dogs away and climbed the ice. At the place were we stayed we had fun with the Tibetan people, puppy dogs and a very pregnant goat. The goat used its weight to enter our little barrack several times. It ate most of our supplies. Bummer. At night none of the fellowship slept. Too cold for that at Namtso lake, even in my new sleeping bag.

Now we are back in Lhasa, worn out, and cold again (but now because we are so tired). Chretienne forgot her birthday yesterday, so I think we'll find a nice restaurant tonight to celebrate. Until next time, friends.