Chapter 16 14. Send love to the holy lake in the snowy area

Looking back at Yamdrok Yumco, which looks like a holy fairy, the quiet lake surface is glowing with verdant green, like a green ribbon, winding between the mountains; there are several ripe highland barley fields beside the lake, dotted around the lake with golden spots .At that moment, I really wondered if I was in a landscape painting. According to geography records, Tibet is the region with the most lakes in my country, with a total area of ​​23,800 square kilometers, accounting for about 30% of the total lake area of ​​the country.On the vast snow-covered plateau, there are more than a thousand large and small lakes.Some of these lakes not only have beautiful natural scenery, but are also endowed with the most magical religious legends. Among them, the most famous three holy lakes are Manasarovar, Yamdrok and Namtso.At the end of my trip to Tibet, I had the honor to visit Yamdrok and Namtso.

On the last day of the westward trip to Ngari, on the way back to Lhasa from Gyantse, our jeep drove along Yamdrok Yumco (referred to as Yanghu Lake) for a long section, which gave me the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Yanghu Lake. .I remember that when I left Gyantse that day, the sky was still drizzling.The jeep drove out of the county, and the asphalt road disappeared.Outside the car window is no longer a desolate wilderness. The fertile soil in the Nianchu River Valley has dyed the large barley fields in the beautiful Gyangze River Valley into golden yellow. It is another bumper harvest year.The car bumped on the undulating and muddy mountain road for nearly three hours. When it was about to enter Langkazi County in the south of the mountain, a large amount of white snow and ice suddenly appeared on the mountain peaks on both sides of the road, almost touching the road.The Tibetan driver told us that it was a glacier.It was the first time I saw a glacier since I came to Tibet. In the misty rain, the glacier showed a kind of grayish white, and the ice tongue that looked like ice but not ice, like snow but not snow, extended to the foot of the mountain.A glacier is a large amount of ice and snow in a high mountain that moves slowly down a hillside or valley from above the snow line under the action of gravity, and can exist for a long time.Above freezing, the rate of descent of these ice bodies is balanced by the rate of melting.The glacier here is called "Karula Glacier", which is a continental glacier.It usually takes hundreds of millions of years of evolution to form a glacier of the size in front of us.

Beautiful Yamdrok scenery The car continued to move forward and passed through the deep valley composed of several snow peaks such as Ningjin Kangsha Peak and Jiangsanglam Peak. In front of you was a green and open area, and the tender grass moistened by the drizzle was lush; there were intermittent Puddles appear.From the notice board on the roadside, we know that we have entered the National Yanghu Wetland Nature Reserve.Soon, the holy lake Yamdrok Yongcuo appeared in front of the eyes, clear and clear, as calm as a mirror.The first impression Yanghu gave me was like a spotless virgin.Yamdrok Lake means "coral lake above" in Tibetan. This is because Yanghu Lake has many branches and the shape of the lake is like coral branches.According to legend, Yanghu Lake was transformed into a beautiful holy lake by a fairy from the sky; she and Gangbala Mountain on the north side of the lake are still a couple.

People celebrating the Wangguo Festival by Yanghu Lake The jeep speeds along the shore of the lake, and occasionally various water birds can be seen playing in the verdant green grass by the lake.I don't know when the rain stopped. From time to time, groups of Tibetans in bright national costumes sat around the grass by the lake.There was cheering and waving every time our car passed them.Out of curiosity, we asked the driver to stop and came to a group of Tibetans sitting around the lake.After inquiring in Tibetan by the tour guide Gesang, I learned that today is the traditional Tibetan festival - Wangguo Festival, which is a festival for Tibetan people to gather together and celebrate the harvest.We were invited by enthusiastic Tibetans to celebrate their happy festival together.An old Tibetan sifted a bowl full of highland barley wine in his wooden bowl and handed it to me.I imitated the way of Tibetan drivers, dipped my middle finger in the wine and flicked it up, middle and down three times according to the Tibetan custom, to show that I had sacrificed to heaven, earth and gods; then I took a sip, and the old man poured it up again; After three times, I drank the highland barley wine in one gulp.what!It was a very mellow, very luscious feeling.When I lived in Lhasa for a short time, I had the experience of drinking highland barley wine several times. I remember that the taste was sour at that time, which made people tremble;Without being polite, I drank seven or eight bowls of wine in a row.Perhaps it was the beautiful scenery of Yanghu Lake, the mellow highland barley wine, or the hospitable hospitality of the Tibetan people, which made me intoxicated, and I forgot all the hardships and hardships, as if I was about to melt into the lake and mountains of Yanghu Lake.

Saying goodbye to the enthusiastic Tibetans, we continued on our way.The car drove through the rugged hilly area of ​​Langkazi County, and began to enter the winding alpine road. The Yanghu Lake gradually moved away from us and became smaller and smaller in our field of vision.At the moment when Yanghu Lake was about to disappear from our sight, we parked the car and finally looked back at the holy and fairy-like Yanghu Lake. The quiet lake surface, glowing with green luster, seemed to be a green ribbon wrapped around the mountains; The ripe highland barley fields, dotted with golden patches around the lake, at that moment, I really wondered if I was in a landscape painting.

After returning to Lhasa, I have been looking for the kind of mellow highland barley wine by the Yanghu Lake in restaurants in the city, but every time I end up disappointed.Until one day at noon, when I went to a restaurant named "Tashi Dajie" on Tibetan Hospital Road again to find my lost feeling, the waitress led me to her aunt's house.When I entered the dark and low house, I found that there were more than a dozen large wooden barrels for brewing highland barley wine, and the room was filled with the fragrance of wine.The enthusiastic old lady asked me to taste before buying.After tasting seven or eight barrels, I finally found the mellow and sweet feeling of Yanghu Lake in a wooden barrel, and that is it.Not long after returning to the restaurant, the old lady came in with a big bucket trembling slightly. She charged me five yuan, put down the bucket, and left.Wow!It was a bucket full of highland barley wine, as much as five liters.I announced loudly that I would invite the owner of the restaurant, the waiter and all the guests present to drink.The good wine brings us people from different countries and regions together, and we drink happily in a cheerful atmosphere.I remember a Japanese young man at that time, after drinking more than a dozen cups, asked me in a half-baked Chinese, "This...is this wine?" I also told him drunkenly, "No, this It's not wine, it's the nectar from Yamdrok." That day, I got very drunk.

"Namtso" means "heavenly lake" or "sacred lake" in Tibetan. It is located between Damxung County and Bange County. The lake is 4,718 meters above sea level. It is the second largest saltwater lake in my country and the highest saltwater lake in the world.Namtso is a famous holy place of Tibetan Buddhism. It is recorded in the Buddhist scriptures as the ashram of the Tantric deity, and it is revered as one of the three holy lakes in Tibet.Going to Namcuo was purely accidental. Due to the arduous trip to Ali, I caught a cold shortly after returning to Lhasa.I wanted to rest in the hotel for two days, waiting for the flight back to Beijing, but walking on the street outside Balang School at night, I happened to run into five Cantonese girls who were going to Ali together.At their sincere invitation, and since I had long been fascinated by the holy lake Namcuo, I agreed to go with them regardless of my physical discomfort.

Before the clear fog dissipated, we drove away from Lhasa and headed for Damxung.This is a very familiar road, which has been traveled many times from entering Tibet in late July to heading west to Ngari in early August.However, less than a month later, the autumn color has appeared, and the large grassland bordered by the snow-capped mountains has been stained with a slight yellow; only the white sheep and black yaks are still scattered on the light yellow grass mat like flags.Due to the good road conditions, our car arrived at Damxung County at noon, and hurried on the road after lunch.The car began to bump and drive on the steep slope. Due to the rapid increase in altitude, I obviously felt a strong altitude sickness.

After crossing several high mountains, finally in front of a mountain pass, a large stretch of snow-capped mountains suddenly appeared in the field of vision, some of which were very close, as if they could be touched by hand; and on the side slopes of the mountain road, even snow can be seen; colorful The wind horse flag flew with the wind, and the temperature dropped suddenly.Regardless of the unusual cold, we got off the car and looked down the mountain pass. In the distance was an endless pasture, glowing golden yellow, like a wheat field full of ripe fruits; but in the far distance, we could faintly see a slightly blue lake. Light, that must be the Holy Lake Namcuo, everyone cheered excitedly.Then it began to go downhill all the way, and after driving to the bottom of the mountain, the car was completely speeding on the grassland, and white sheep and black tents of herdsmen could be seen from time to time.The holy lake is getting closer and closer to us, and there is even a section of driving along the shore of the holy lake.Only at this moment did I really realize that the surface of the Mucuo Lake is as blue as the sky on the plateau; it is far away from the blue sky, and it is hard to tell where the boundary is; the water and the sky blend into one.

The car passed through a pair of palm-shaped boulders and arrived at our campsite tonight - the Tashi Peninsula.This is a magical peninsula. On the opposite side of the lake, there are countless stone pillars and strange pinnacles, some as strong as elephant trunks, some as human-shaped, and some as pines and cypresses.There are many secluded caves under the stone peak. The entrances of the caves are round and shallow, and the caves are covered with colorful wind and horse flags.In particular, some cave walls are inlaid with skulls of cattle and sheep, and there is a small white pagoda beside it. It must be that a certain eminent monk is buried here.

Walking straight to the lakeside, in front of our eyes, the wooden wrong is in a semicircle, and the lake is blue and clear, just like a piece of exquisite jasper.I deeply felt the vastness of the lake, the lake stretched almost to the horizon, the breeze was blowing, and the waves slapped against the reefs on the shore of the lake, making it difficult for people to tell whether they were by the lake or by the sea.As far as the eye can see, countless unknown snow-capped mountains are rolling up and down, surrounded by the holy lake.Especially in the southeast of the lake, the snow-covered Nyainqentanglha peak pierces into the sky all the year round, like a mighty warrior guarding Namtso Lake.In ancient Tibetan mythology, in the pantheon of Bon or Tibetan Buddhism, in folk songs and legends of local shepherds and hunters, Nyainqentanglha and Namtso are not only the most eye-catching sacred mountains and holy lakes in Tibet, Moreover, they are lovers and couples who depend on each other for life and death. Nyainchen Tangla Mountain looks more handsome and upright because of the backdrop of Namtso, and Namtso is more beautiful and moving because of the reflection of Nyainqentangla Mountain.Faced with this situation, I suddenly felt a lot of emotions.For many days, away from the hustle and bustle of the city and the hustle and bustle of the crowd, isn't what we are looking for just such a kind of supernatural grandness and the tranquility of the unity of heaven and earth?All fame, fortune, troubles and desires are irrelevant, leaving only the pure and natural me. Mani pile on the bank of Namcuo Strolling along the lakeside, there are countless mani piles lined up here, just like devout believers silently facing the holy lake and praying.On these mani piles, there are many stone slabs engraved with six-character mantras.It is said that those devout Buddhists have traveled thousands of miles, gone through hardships, and traveled long distances to carry these stone slabs to this place, and they will naturally pile up over time; this is where the majority of believers yearn for a better life in the afterlife. In times of suffering, those mani piles may be a spiritual support and comfort. The sun sinks to the west, leaving behind a faint afterglow, which inlaid the snow-capped mountains in the distance with a layer of gold.The deep blue water of the lake is even more profound and unfathomable.Gradually, the surface of the lake became twilight, and the surrounding mountains were also looming, and night fell on Namu Co. That night by the holy lake, I was tortured by a cold and altitude sickness, and I stayed up all night.