Full Moon Rising Over Jumolhari Lhakhang

The following are a series of shots of the full moon rising over the mountains in Jumolhari Lhakhang areas. Tourists are not allowed to trek in these areas - perhaps for the reason that it is too close to the Tibetan border. Notice that it took merely 3 minutes for the moon to emerge fully out of the horizon.

It took only three minutes for the full moon to rise fully from behind the mountains

The Jumolhari Lhakhangs (the old and the new) are located at the end of a narrow valley and it is terribly windy. Powerful gusts of wind howl all night long, threatening to blow off the roofs of the Lhakhangs.

Mt. Jumolhari, which looks completely different from the way it looks from Jangothang side, towers over us in the back.

 

The other face of Mt. Jumolhari - a completely different look

Mt. Jumolhari as seen from Jangothang

Note the date: December 21, 2010. It is thick of winter and everything is frozen. Over the cliff faces, there are oodles of icicles formed by frozen waterfalls.

Frozen waterfall cover most of the rock faces at this time of the year

Few trillion stars throb and sparkle in the clear night sky but photographing them was impossible because the wind is so strong that it is impossible to keep the camera tripod still.

There are two night scenes that I hope to shoot one of these days. One is the full moon setting over Mt. Kanchenjunga. This I would like to shoot from Nop Tsonapatta in Haa. However, my horseman simply would not hear of it - says it is just too cold and that the trail would be iced and slippery, posing danger to the pack ponies.

The other scene I want to shoot is the full moon reflected off the Animo Tso (lake of the nun) at the base of Jule-La in Dhur Tsachu area. I had actually programmed one of my treks in a way that I arrived at the lake on the full moon night. But my companion refused to get out of the tent to help me carry my camera gear – on my own I couldn't handle it. It was too cold and it was impossible for me to carry the tripod and camera and lens and everything. I would have had to walk to the end of the lake and it wasn't easy in the dark with gear to lug around. So I missed the opportunity.