Time to get back to this...

May 28, 2018
Hotel: Tashi Choeta; Shigatse, China
Today the tour was going out of Lhasa via Yamdrok lake to Shigatse, about 360kms. It was just going to be myself and another couple from Singapore on the trip today which meant lots of room in the minibus. We drove over to the Shangrila hotel to pick them up before going out of town towards the airport. Eventually we start climbing up towards the pass via switchbacks. Alongside the road were locals poised with huge Tibetian mastiffs, or maybe they were bear lions. We stopped for a few minutes at one of the overlooks and I got a picture with one of them.





Tibetian mastiff


Guide having a tea


Finally we reach the top of the pass and stop for photos of Yamdrok Lake below us. The pass was 5000m or over 16000' and there were people riding bicycles! I could barely walk without huffing and puffing so I don't know how the bikers made it. It had started snowing while at the pass so the view of the lake wasn't the best. We continued down to the lakeshore and stopped again. Here there were locals with decorated yaks also posing for photos. We continued along the shore of the lake to the town of Nagarze where we had lunch. That must be the place to stop as there were other groups there including the couple from my hotel in Lhasa. I had the yak fried rice.


Yamdrok Lake







Kitchen in Nagarze


Nagarze


We continued to the Kharo-la Glacier which was mostly shrouded in mist. Our guide said that it had retreated nearly a quarter mile in just a few years. It was also snowing here. From the glacier the road continued down until we came out of the mountains.





Kharo-la Glacier


Kharo-la Glacier



The sun finally came out for awhile until we reached Gyangze when it started raining. It made a great photo with the dramatic fort (dzong) on the hill above. Gyangze was the site of a battle between Tibetians and the British in the early 1900s. At first I thought that was where we were going to visit, but turns out the Palcho Monastery was at the north end of town. We had to do a bit of detour as they were repaving the main street with cement blocks. The houses all had very low doors and piles of cow dung for heating. The Palcho Monastery was set in a bowl of a valley with a red wall surrounding the ridges above. The monastery was the first one we had visited where they allowed you to take photos inside if you paid 50Y. There were some amazing sand mandalas that the guide said the monks had been working on the last time he visited.


Gyangze dzong


Palcho Monastery







From Gyangze it was still another two hrs drive to Shigatse. We dropped the Singaporean couple off at their fancy hotel before going to the Tashi Choeta hotel. I was pretty exhaused after the full day so just had dinner at the hotel restaurant. No one spoke much English so there was some fumbling around with the translator on the phone to even order anything. I ended up with beef noodles and some sort of saurkraut like dish.