Mebartsho

Mebartsho is not a lake but a pool in a gorge: a stretch of the Tang Chhu in Bumthang where the river slows between rock walls into deep, still, dark green water. Prayer flags are strung across the gap above it, and a small viewing platform is built out over the water.

The burning lake

The name means the burning lake, and it belongs to Pema Lingpa (1450–1521), the great Bhutanese terton — discoverer of terma, the teachings Guru Rinpoche is said to have hidden for later ages. The account is that Pema Lingpa dived into this pool and came back up with a chest and a scroll, and that when he went down a second time holding a butter lamp, he surfaced with the lamp still burning. That is what the place is named for.

It is one of the holiest sites in Bumthang, and it is a working pilgrimage place rather than a viewpoint: butter lamps, small clay offerings tucked into the rock, flags renewed each year.

Visiting

Twenty to thirty minutes. It is a short walk down from the road along the Tang valley, on stone steps and then a path — easy, but slippery when wet. Go quietly; there are often people making offerings. The gorge is at its best in the low light of late afternoon, and in autumn the slopes above turn.