Pei ku Tso Lake པད་ཁུད་མཚོ།

Peiku Tso Lake པད་ཁུད་མཚོ། is probably one of the most beautiful lake in entire Tibet. The lake is situted 4,591 meters above the sea level in the Tibetan plateau. The lake is located right north to the Mount Shishapangma and 11 mile south of the great Yurlung Tsangpo River.  You will reach the Lake if you are traveling to Mount Kailash, or Kathmandu to Lhasa overland tour. This brackish and its surrounding landscape will give permanent imprints in your mind for a very long time.

As you drive from Tingri to Saga or Tingri to Kyirong, you will find the lake at the junction of the Kyirong county and Nyalam County of the Shigatse Prefecture. The Lake is at 250 kilometers far from Tingri County. Lake covers the area of more than 300 square kilometer making it the largest lake in Shigatse prefecture. It is surround three side by mountains with open terrain. Snow covered Mountains in the distance, Deep turquoise colored lake and vastness formed a unique Landscape of pure white light around the Peiku Tso Lake.

Here on this beautiful landscape there are varieties of rare Beasts and Birds that are peculiar to the Tibetan Plateau such as wild ass, black-necked crane, bar-headed goose and red billed gull etc. You are very much likely find some flocks of wild animals here. The famous Mount Shishapangma is at 60 Kilometers south of the Lake makes a greatest germ of the marvellous landscape. If you go north of the lake you will have a view of inverted reflections of the Mount Shishapangma in the Lake water. This picture frame is the eternal theme of the Peiku Tso Lake. Surrounding the lake there are many sites and places associated with the Guru Rinpoche and Milarepa. Like below the cliff of the east shore, there is a cave hermitage of Milarepa known as Laphu Pemadzong.

Regarding the Pei Ku Tso lake in Shigatse, there are few myth and Legends which might sound unheard. Following are some of Myth and Legends of the Pei Ku Tso Lake.

• The name Pei Ku Tso was given to the lake where the welcoming party for the Guru Rinpoche set up their tent receive him in Tibet as he crosses into Tibetan plateau from Gungthang la from the Valley of Kyirong.
• The Original Pei Ku Lake was the one near the current lake.
• The real Tibetan Name of the Current lake is Lham-Tso Shing Tso
• Legend has it that this lake was once a twin lake of One saltwater and freshwater. Its name was Lham Tso and Shing Tso. Later when the lake merge Locals merge the name too to Lhamtso-ShingTso.
• This lake freezes entirely in one day and Defrost entire in a day. Unlike Namtso lake and other lakes which take many days in a process.
• It is considered bad Omen if the Lake didn’t freeze in the winter. In recent history in three occasions, it happened three-time, One death of Chairman Mao, Another during the death of 10th Panchen Lama, and Last during the death of Deng Xiaoping

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