Yamdrok Yumtso Lake

We set off from Lhasa again towards Shigatse 日喀則. Our two destinations today are: Yamdrok Yumtso Lake 羊卓雍錯 and Tashilhunpo Monastery 扎什伦布寺.

Roads are lined with trees.
I thought this turned out quite interesting. Hmmmmm (didn't edit too!)
This is a form of speed control on the roads in Tibet. Before we set off, our tour guide had to queue for a slip issued by the traffic police there. This slip indicates a calculated time at which we're supposed to reach the traffic police post at our destination. If our driver drives too fast, then we might reach the destination too early. Fines are imposed for every extra minute. (But it's ok to be later than the stipulated time.) So there are times when our bus driver will make a rest stop to wait it out. Interesting... . But this does not mean that there're no traffic police on the roads. Our driver was stopped once for speeding! There was some kind of radar speed trap and then a police road block sometime later.
We drove across this bridge.
Once we cross the bridge, we see a site for "water burial".
Scenery.
Fields of a type of vegetation which seems similar to barley.
I like the colours. :)
View of the village.
Harvesting.
Meandering road up the mountain.
More farmland along the sides of the road.

See how far we have come! The village and fields are located back in the valley.

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Yamdrok Yumtso 羊卓雍錯

According to local mythology, Yamdrok Yumtso Lake is the transformation of a goddess. It is one of the three largest sacred lakes in Tibet. The lake is over 72 km (45 miles) long and it is fed by numerous small streams originating from the many snow-capped mountains surrounding the lake.

My panoramic photo (stitched photos) was too big to load.. so you'll have to piece the whole thing in you mind then..

"Left"

"Center"

"Right"

Zooooooommmm to the right.

This is the other side of the mountain where the vantage point is located. We had just driven from the valley you see in this photo. LONGGGGGGGG drive up... and then later, another LONGGGGGGGGG drive down!

Lots of tourists. And for those who had to answer any calls of nature..... the area within that stone wall is the place to go. From someone else's account, it's NOT pleasant!

Parking area for buses. LOTS of buses!

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After descending the mountain, we headed towards Shigatse.

One of our rest stops had some enterprising locals who had set up shop. I took this very very discreetly because the locals might turn hostile and will hound you to pay a fee for taking a photo of their goods.

The trees are finally turning colour!!!!! yeah!!!!!

Another rest stop. This time it's right next to a field of the green "barley".

Close up of the plant.

One of the many prostrating devottees we see along the way.

A local house. Note the ingenious way in harnessing solar energy to heat up the kettle. (The satelite dish looking thing)

Scenery.

Scenery.

Up on the top of this mountain is a site for "sky burial".

We chanced upon a HUGE herd of sheep! The shepherds are normadic, herding the sheep to fresh pastures.