Tibetan Highways

Early Tibet, Early to Rise.

 

The next morning we journey all day to Gyantse. The morning air is crisp and fresh and we travel along a beautiful river and stony hills under a clear blue sky. We leave the river and we have to stop for about an hour as the road is blocked. A crane is recovering a bus that has run off the road.

Later in the day we stop half way up a mountain because of road works. We are in for a long wait so some of us leave the vehicle and go for a walk along the road. The views are wonderful. A light snow falls. The snow stops then starts again heavier. It's not a problem and the wind is mostly at our backs.

At the top of the road we reach a pass with a view of a beautiful lake and not long afterwards the road is clear and we were picked up by our bus. We descend and have a wonderful drive around the lake.

We drive up through snow covered mountains, over another pass and on to Gyantse.

The following morning we visit the Palcho Monastery (a.k.a. Pelkor Chode) and climb the 9-tiered Kumbum, sticking my head into as many as possible of the unlit rooms containing statues and wall paintings.

In the afternoon we visit the enormous Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse. It was founded by the first Dalai Lama and is the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama. In the temple is a large picture of the PRC approved 11th Panchen Lama.In other parts of town such as the restaurant where we have lunch it is more common to see a large picture of the 10th Panchen Lama.


After our visit, three of us decide to walk the kora around the outside of the monastery walls. The sacred path is several kilometres. Cold weather is heading in and as we ascend the hills behind the monastery we contend with sporadic hail. At the top there are great views of Shigatse and the Shigatse Fortress.

Prayer flags on the hill behind the Tashilhunpo Monastery spread out like cobwebs.

I am starting to lose count of all the monasteries.



The next day we visit the Sakya Monastery. We see a great library of over 80,000 ancient books. Each volume is huge - about 90cm by 30cm and about 20cm thick. They are stacked high on huge shelves that cover a huge wall of the monastery.  From what I have been able to figure out they were lost for hundreds of years hidden behind a wall.

Tomorrow we visit Everest Base Camp and from there we will travel on to Nepal.