Mebar Tsho (Burning Lake)

A revered river pool where the treasure-revealer Pema Lingpa is said to have dived in with a burning lamp and emerged with sacred relics, still lit.

It is a pool in the gorge of the Tang Chhu rather than a lake, dark green and deep, reached by a short walk down from the road. Pema Lingpa, who lived from 1450 to 1521, is Bhutan's most important terton, a finder of hidden teachings, and a great deal of what he recovered is said to have come out of this water. Butter lamps and prayer flags crowd the rocks above it. It is about half an hour by road from Jakar, usually combined with Ogyen Choling further up the valley.