Day 566 - An energised exploration

The day started with us forcefully dragging ourselves out of bed, fighting the urge to laze under the blankets that threatened to crush us while we slept!! Eventually we found breakfast at a small Tibetan restaurant, and relaxed there until the sun had adequately warmed up the mountain environment outside. With the sun in full force we made our way through the bustling town and suddenly we found ourselves transported into a peaceful forest and on a winding road that led us to the sacred Dal Lake.

The lake was more of a murky brown pond and we questioned why people would take a sacred dip here, but the sun still enticed us to sit here a while and read our books under the shade of the trees. A group of Tibetan monks had the same idea, and were cheerfully sitting beside the lake chatting and laughing away with each other. We debated with ourselves whether to return to town for lunch and then drink the afternoon away while waiting for an appropriate time for dinner or walk another few kilometres up to Nadi village. In making the decision to go up to Nadi we were rewarded with stunning views from this small village that has yet to be overcome with tourism. Towering above the colourful houses the mountain range stretched through the bright blue sky, not yet dressed in a full blanket of white winter snow.

It was nice to see groups of Indian tourists out and about and having a great time - it amused us to think of the similarity between Chinese and Indian tourists: zipping about in their cars or taxis and seeing as many different sights in a day as possible!

Back in town we sat on the roof and ate a delicious Tibetan meal of noodle soup and bread until the sun went down and forced us back to our room to put on more layers of clothes!

Later on we wandered through town and were just in time to see the amazing colours of the setting sun forcing its last rays of light through the forest trees. As the curtain closed on our daylight we did what we do best, and found somewhere to eat some more food, before strolling the evening streets and browsing through the local shops.

Adlibing a sacred lake and surreal sights.