This photo was taken at the top of a 4800 m pass through which we travelled during our nine-hour car ride between Lhasa and Xigatse, Tibet's two largest cities. It's of one of the sacred lakes of Tibet. As you descend towards the lake, you see many villages dotting the coast. One would assume that they rely on the lake for fish, and indeed there are many fish in the lake, but, because it's a sacred lake, the villagers are forbidden from fishing in it. We eventually reached an observation point along the edge of the lake, and we saw these Chinese tourists throwing pottery tied in the traditional scarves that are given to travelers upon entry (to say "welcome") and departure (to say "good luck"), and we thought, "Oh that that's kind of a shame, given the lake is so clear, and you can see the stuff everywhere, but maybe it has some significance." So we asked our guide, and he replied, "no, they were just littering." So that was sad. I must say that the tourists there did not always seem concerned with the preservation of natural beauty.