Ringmo's Bon village and gompas

Ringmo sits on the 30,000- to 40,000-year-old landslide dam that formed the lake. Its families are mostly of Tibetan ethnicity and follow Bon, the old religion of Tibet that developed alongside Buddhism with its own founder, texts and lineages. The village is small, a few dozen stone houses with flat roofs and courtyards, set among fields of barley and buckwheat and linked by narrow lanes and chortens. Water channels run between the fields.

Just outside the village stands a Bon temple, also named Ringmo. With your guide, find the caretaker, remove your shoes and step inside: images of Bon deities and teachers, butter lamps and painted walls, darkened by age. Look for the yungdrung, the Bon swastika, which faces the opposite way to the Buddhist one, and notice that villagers walk around the chortens counter-clockwise. Your guide can explain the meaning of the main images and the rituals held here through the year.

In the afternoon, families return from the fields and pastures, and you may be invited in for butter tea. Ringmo's people trade, herd yaks and run small lodges for trekkers, and many children go away to school. Be patient and respectful with questions, and always ask before photographing people. Small purchases of local goods or meals are the best way to support the village. It is a rare glimpse of Bon village life.