Yamdrok Yumtso Lake (Yangzhuoyongcuo Lake)
As one of the three holy lakes in Tibet, Yamdrok Yumtso Lake is praised as the most beautiful lake in the world, whose name means the jade-like lake in the pasture. The Yamdrok Yumtso Lake has some beautiful and vivid names like Coral Lake or Green Jade Lake. And it is regard as the turquoise eardrop which the female Guardian dropped. Yangzhuoyongcuo Lake has three sisters-Kongmucuo, Chencuo and Bajiucuo, and they four together are lying in the huge lake basin, composing the huge holy lake which we can not see completely with our naked eyes. Yamdrok Yumtso Lake snakes its way through the mountains as far as more than 130 kilometers. Only in the maps or high-altitude region can you find her like an eardrop embedded in the mountains. Lying under the sunshine, the peaceful water seems like a bright mirror. The reflection of sunshine in different depths lends the lake gorgeous and mysterious colors. Its source is the snow water of Nyenchen Tanglha Mountain but there is no water outlet of it: the flowing water and natural evaporation reach a magical dynamic balance.
The holy Yamdrok Yumtso Lake lies to the south of Yarlong Tsangpo River in the Shannan Region of Tibet. It is the largest freshwater lake at the south foot of the Himalayas with an area of about 638 square kilometers (about 246 square miles). The lake is in a length of 130 kilometers (about 81 miles) and a width of 70 kilometers (about 43 miles).The surface of the lake is about 4,441 meters (about 14,570 feet) above the sea level. It is quite a deep lake with an average depth of about 20-40 meters (about 11-22 fathoms).
Every year, many devotional followers in Tibet or from other places would come here for pilgrimage, bringing much mystery and dignity to the charming holy Yamdrok Yumtso Lake.