This hot spring that we went to is called 羊巴井, a very touristy place. By the time we reached there, there were already few buses of tourists. The place was like a resort, with different hot spring packages such as, outdoor, indoor, foot massage, etc. In the end, we decided to go for the outdoor hot spring.
There was a slight disappointment when we saw the outdoor hot spring. It was just a big hot swimming pool! What we expected was a more natural surroundings, with rocks and running water. Still it was a different feeling to be immersed in hot spring with the snow mountains in the background.
Because the pool was pretty big, the water wasn’t exactly very hot except for the area where the water was coming out. So we were all crowding around that area while other Ah Pek were scrubbing each other’s back in a corner. Too bad there wasn’t any Leng Noi around for us to BIO.
ZK didn’t join us despite the fact that Ken wanted to treat him; for finding his handphone. He said he would go take a look at the souvenir shop opposite the hot spring center. After spending 1 hr at the pool, we began to feel bored and decided to leave. When we went to the souvenir shop to find ZK, he was enthusiastically showing us stones and gems and said they were good buys. He said he even bought a few.
JH and Ken weren’t interested in the gems. They were only interested in the stainless steel bracelets and bought a ton of them. CCG looked at those 佛珠 while I was the only one interested in the gems. According to the Tibetan seller, there are 3 treasures of Tibet, 西藏三宝. First one is 红珊瑚 (red coral). Second is 绿松石 (green stone) and lastly the rarest of all, 天珠 (Sky Gem).
Thousands of years ago, Tibet was still under the sea and movement of the earth crust formed mountains which accounts for the highlands in Tibet. During this formation, corals in the sea were being pushed out. The green stone is actually a kind of jade and can also be found in Turkey. The Sky Gem is produced from some kind of rare mineral and often linked with religious purposes.
In the end I bought a bracelet made of the red coral and a green stone pendant. The red coral looks like the saga seeds we have in Singapore and it was supposedly meant for someone special. Sad to say, after some thoughts, I realized there wasn’t anyone special in my heart. In the end, I gave it to my mum.
When we were leaving the shop, some Tibetans approached us with daggers which they want us to buy. Frankly, I would like to have one of those but to bad, it would be against the law here. These Tibetans were of a different tribe, the Aba Tribe and can be found commonly in Sichuan also. They are refugees from Tibet during the civil war and are known as the Jews of Tibet because they are very good in doing business. Their handicrafts are also the best of their kind.
After lunch, we headed straight to Namtso Lake. The sacred lake of Tibet. The lake was so big it seemed boundless; just like a sea. Along the way, there was grassland and our arrival drew attention from the kids there. JH and Ken were approached by a Tibetan who offered to let them ride his horses for 30rmb. Meanwhile, CCG, ZK and I tried to cut across the grassland towards to the lake. But we found that it was too far away and we were also bogged down by a swamp of kids.
The kids just crowded around us, asking for sweets. But we told them the sweets were in the car and told them to follow us back. On the way, these kids started singing and shouting and holding our hands. One little boy who looked like TinTin was holding my hand and looking up at me. His mucus started to flow down from his nostrils and he used the hand that was holding on to mine to wipe it off. But the thing was, he forgot to let go of my hand! Inevitably, my hand also gana the mucus!
I gave that boy a disgusted look but when he turned to look at me with his innocent eyes, I can’t help but smile at him. It was a long walk to our car and the kids are getting more and more impatient. They kept asking where are the sweets and started singing their Tibetan children songs.
Finally we reached our car and that was when all hell broke loose. While CCG was searching for the plastic bag of sweets, the kids were restless and rowdy. I had to tell them to fall in in front of the car but that was only for awhile. They soon crowded around the car again when CCG still had not come out with the sweets. I was so afraid that CCG will emerge from the car empty-handed. We will all be mobbed by the kids for sure.
Thankfully, he came out of the car with a bag of sweets and seeing that, the kids charged at him and started behaving like robbers. They jumped, grabbed, screamed and shouted. CCG could only hold up his hand with the bag of sweets and distribute the sweets as fairly as possible. A particular boy, the biggest among the kids, took more sweets but still pretended to cry and complained that he took none.
Some Tibetan aunties came and told us to smack the kids if they misbehaved. But of course we didn’t. Meanwhile, JH and Ken were having fun riding horses. This time round, they were really riding; and not let someone lead the horse for them. But JH was struggling to make his horse gallop. Either he was a lousy rider or the horse was really disobedient.
After spending 30min with the kids and horses, we headed to the Namtso Lake. What we saw were large number of tents beside the lake. These tents served as shops, lodging, restaurant, and even discotheques. At the opposite side of the lake was a range of snow mountains with a cloud of mist over them.
We walked around the area and saw a few white yaks; the sacred yaks which ZK said are extremely rare and impossible to see (but obviously he was bullshitting). There were plenty of yaks in Tibet (there is a saying there, Tibetans are lack of everything but yaks) and my own personal mini mission is to touch the horn of one of them. I tried doing that in Everest but the yak always runs away. This time, I saw one white one tied to a boulder. I slowly approached it, while Ken was filming. As I neared the beast, it turned and stared at me but I wasn’t afraid. I advanced further and when I was about 5 feet away, the yak stomped its feet and poised to charge at me. That was when I realized I was playing with fire and ran away cowardly.
The rest of the evening was spent admiring the scenery. One can really spent hours standing there, watching the snow mountains change color as the sun sets. We also met the Austrian old man and his Indonesian wife. He was really a pro photographer, using film instead of digital and detachable lenses.
We spent the night in the tent where we had our dinner, keeping ourselves warm by the fireplace. After 10pm, we decided to hit the bedsheets but it was almost impossible to sleep. The weather was damn cold and the disco was blasting its music till 3am. I don’t know about the rest of the people, but I could only sleep after the music had stopped.
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