Yamdrok Yutso Lake

A couple of hours' drive from Lhasa, Lhokha prefecture's Yamdrok Yutso Lake is not only the sparkling jewel of the area's scenery but also its "jewelry". Locals refer to it as "the turquoise earrings scattered by a goddess". They also call it the "jasper lake above the prairies", "swan lake", and "the most beautiful lake in the world".

No terrestrial viewpoint permits you to see it in its entirety, a glittering expanse of nearly 340 square kilometers at over 4,400 meters.

Visitors to the body of water, which is one of Xizang's three holy lakes, can also discover nearby glaciers, hot springs, islands, temples, grasslands and mountains that stab over 7,000 meters skyward.

Yamdrok Yutso is geographically close but geologically distant from Lhasa.

Lhasa similarly stands between worlds — a human realm grounded in the corporeal and an Elysian domain, elevated by belief in the beyond.

It's a liminal destination where heaven and Earth convene, and the divine appears so close that you can reach out and touch it. Many try. Some do.

Contact the writer at erik_nilsson@chinadaily.com.cn