Skipping stones doesn't require a language

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Our last day in Tibet we got out of Lhasa for an excursion to Yamdruk Lake. Our guide Lobsang and our Chinese driver who spoke no English were along for the ride, as usual.

The drive out to the lake took a few hours but the scenery was just ridiculously gorgeous. We basically climbed up for about an hour until we got to the pass at 5,700 meters. This is definitely the highest I've ever been and when I we got out to climb the little hill to take pictures I was huffing and puffing so much that I tripped on a rock and drop-kicked my camera. In case you are confused this is not recommended in the owner's manual. In fact, the auto-focus failed to work once it was dusted off. Those people reading this may have various opinions about my photography ability but anyone who thinks I don't need auto-focus is mistaken. I took the camera apart, put it back together, shook it, and toggled everything but still nothing (this was all done with a Tibeten woman holding a cheap necklace directly in front of my face). I started to get a little stressed out and tried the last-ditch, time-honored tradition of hitting the camera. Of course that worked!

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Now that the camera was fixed I looked out at the beautiful lake in the valley below. Yamdruk is one of the 3 sacred lakes in Tibet and behind it is a beautiful snow-capped mountain.

Back in the car, we drove down into the valley and around the lake. We stopped in a very tiny, very poor town for lunch. I had a slightly traumatic public restroom experience of which I will spare everyone the details. I had a true moment of cultural exchange after lunch when offered Listerine mint strips to Lobsang and the driver. It was one of the funniest moments of the trip watching them react to the extreme mintiness.

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On the way back home we stopped by the side of the lake to walk around and Megan and I started to skip stones. Up until this point, the driver had remained in the van, but now he jumped out and collected a giant handful of stones. He comes down to the side of the river to show us that we are using the wrong stones and we had much more success with the ones he collected. He was also an expert rock skipper. We had a great time (well we had a great time until I sliced my entire finger open on a rock, but that's not important). Overall a good finish to our time in Tibet.