Tso pema

Tso puma is the name of the lake Nellie, Liz and I went to last weekend. Our driver was really safe and efficient and spoke pretty good English (you can never really tell). The lake is famous for birthing Pahdmasambavha (sorry about the spelling, Nellie) from a lotus in the middle of the lake. He later traveled to Tibet, where he subdued the Bon spirits and helped convert people to Buddhism.

Highlights: crawling through very narrow (like, Liz and Nellie couldn't fit with backpacks) caves to "be reborn" as Buddhists, seeing supposed footprints and back prints in rock, seeing meditation caves (pictured), doing Kora with a super old monk who spoke no english but really enjoyed taking photos with us, the lack of white people.

No water in the hotel was slightly a downer, but we made up for it by eating only at dhabas (Indian restaurants that serve only veg or non veg plates for 30 rupees) and enjoying being somewhere where the locals vacation. No one hassled us (and white people always get super hassled) and I got an awesome prayer wheel made of yak bone. And the weather was warm!

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