On to Gyangtse - Tuesday, 16th July 2013

Somehow I managed to oversleep until 8.30 a.m. but, fortunately, I'd laid out my clothes the previous night and partly done my packing so I was able to have breakfast and even make a quick check of e-mail before we set off just after 9.30 a.m. Shigatse was as far west as we were going so we headed back east, but on a different road which would take us to Gyangtse.

We hadn't gone far before our road was blocked and we swung off right onto a dirt road. The road was blocked because they were completing a new concrete road bridge. A mobile crane with a telescopic jib was working on the main span of the new bridge. At first, I couldn't see why the road was so high-up. Then I spotted the bridge piers for the new railway. It looked as if the road was going to cross a seasonal watercourse plus cross over the new railway which, itself, would be on a low viaduct. My guide said we were passing the site of the new Shigatse Station and there was certainly a work camp there. Looking back towards Lhasa, I could see the route of the railway approaching on the typical earth embankment.

We stopped at the Check Point for the Gyangtse Road and my guide obtained the permit, with the arrival-time target for the next Check Point. We continued through a broad, fertile valley on a single tarmac strip in fair condition but, before long, we swung right onto yet another temporary road. The proper road passed over a large culvert and what we'd probably call a 'tracked JCB' (it was actually a Sany, model SY65c-0, I think) was busy ripping up the road over the culvert.

A number of villages lay on our route and I was fascinated in the different ways the Yak dung 'patties' were stored. The Yak dung, of course, is used as fuel.

At various places along our road, there were men working on the road and we saw small work camps. The main work seemed to be replacing the original edging to the carriageway by a strip of concrete about 18 inches wide, as a sort of 'hard shoulder'. Some of our route had already received this treatment.

Our road to Gyangtse took us through a broad, fertile valley.

On our left, all the plain was being cultivated. In the distance, mountains reared up and I could see the new railway paralleling us at the foot of the mountains. In places, there were rectangular Tibetan-style stupa, usually with rows of prayer wheels nearby and sometimes with the tall poles to which prayer flags can be attached. One village sported a number of the Tibetan-style 'polytunnels' I've described in an earlier post. To adjust our timing, we stopped near one village. It was very peaceful and, as I enjoyed the quiet and the sun, a small 2-wheel cart drawn by a single horse came by, with a younger horse tied to the back.  Soon after, a small tractor passed, towing a 2-wheel truck.

Horse power is still in use.

Our next Check Point was in a large village. Beyond the village, the road menders were at work with small pneumatic drills attached to an elderly-looking compressor. We stopped in another quiet spot with fields stretching out to the distant hills. A stream flowed under a bridge and a man was working in the stream with the water up to his knees. I never did work out what he was doing. Parked next to the bridge was a wheeled van and a woman was pottering about inside, listening to the radio. A small solar panel was rigged up outside and inside appeared to be a home – I presumed the lady was the wife of the man. There was also a black labrador who may, or may not, have been part of this household. After acknowledging the driver and I briefly, the dog lay in the middle of the road and allowed cars to drive round him, which they did without apparent resentment.

"... the dog lay in the middle of the road and allowed cars to drive round him... "

The next check point was our last, for we were approaching Gyangtse. Whilst stopped for petrol, I walked across the road to photograph what looked rather like a medieval castle. I think these were "the ruins of ancient Mount Tzong". We drove through the town under the shadow of a massive rock topped by another 'castle' which I think is called here a Dzong (the term also used in Bhutan). Our destination was the revered Pelkor Chode Monastery. According to my admission ticket, it was built in 1418 by the Dharma King of Gyangtse Rabtang Kunsang Phag and the first Panchen Lama Kedrup Geleg Pesang. Non-sectarian, Gelugpa, Sakyapa and Butonpa and Buddhists co-exist. In 1427, the Great Stupa Kubum was built in the tradition of a multi-door Stupa (Tashi Gomang) and it is regarded as one of the eight prototype stupas.

The Assembly Hall, Pelkor Chode Monastery, Gyangtse.

We started by going round the Assembly Hall and chapels of the main building. If going round the nooks and crannies of the monastery impressed me, visiting the adjacent Great Stupa Kubum blew my mind. It's 32.4 metres high and is built on seven levels, six of which you can visit. At each level, there's an open walkway around the outside with 12 doors accessing chapels in the core of the building. A few rooms are closed, a few have half-doors closed, allowing you to lean in to study the inside. Most chapels are open and, of those, I visited well over half (some of the doorways are quite low and I took a few bumps). The walls of each chapel are exquisitely decorated with wall paintings in remarkable but not perfect condition. Each chapel contains a number of painted, carved wooden Buddhist images. The workmanship on both the murals and the carved figures is astonishing. It is claimed that there are 100,000 Buddhist images counting both murals and figures. I didn't attempt to count them but I was stunned by the effect. The monastery claims an elevation of 4,050 metres so I was pleased that I managed a fairly thorough exploration without serious altitude sickness.

The Great Stupa Kubum, Pelkor Chode Monastery.

Then it was time for lunch, at the Tashi Restaurant in the centre of the town. I had a cool coke (they didn't have ice), a delicious vegetable soup and a vegetable sandwich with chips. The vegetable sandwich was a triple decker which I couldn't quite finish. They supplied a small saucer of tomato ketchup unasked. My guide had intentionally picked restaurants used to dealing with westerners, and this was clear from the range of souvenirs on offer with English labelling. I finished off the meal with a sweet tea.

My Driver and Guide in the Tashi Restaurant, Gyangtse.

A drive of a couple of minutes took is to the courtyard of the Gyangtse Hotel, a modern building with the public rooms decorated in Tibetan style. The 146 rooms offered both Tibetan and Western style – I presume mine was western style. As we checked in, an American lady guest was bewailing her inability to connect to the internet. There was a sign above the entrance door advertising Wi-Fi, so I pulled out my notebook computer to see what result I got. I was immediately connected to 'Chinese Telecom' (one of the Chinese telecommunications companies which offered various internet packages). I tried to negotiate the 'pay for internet use' but the site just kept looping back on itself. This was the result that the lady guest had obtained and she was somewhat exasperated that the reception staff were unable to resolve the problem. Being of a rather more phlegmatic disposition in my old age, I resigned myself to no internet and, during the evening, prepared this report 'off-line' ready to send when possible.

The bedroom of my suite at the Gyangtse Hotel.

My Pictures

Shigatse - Gyangtse by road
Gyangtse, Tibet
Pelkor Chode Monastery, Gyangtse, Tibet
Gyangtse Hotel, Gyangtse, Tibet

[Pictures inserted and links to pictures added 23-Aug-2013].

Around Shigatse - Monday, 15th July 2013

I finished last time as we rested on the journey to Shigatse. Well, I think it wasn't so much resting as making sure we didn't get to the next checkpoint too early. We set off and in a few minutes came to a busy, one-street town. There were lots of big lorries parked, including the inevitable bulk cement lorries serving the new railway work sites. There were a number of restaurants and vehicle repair garages. There was also a traffic check point. With a target time for the next check point, we set off again, passing a number of new railway work sites.



One of the small towns we passed through on the G318 road to Shigatse.

At one point they were building another wide-arch railway bridge with approach viaducts. One tower crane seemed to be helping with finishing the main arch whilst a special bridge building machine was preparing to lift the next section of pre-cast concrete bridge deck between two approach piers. Once the concrete beam had been fitted, there was still a lot of work to be done, fitting brackets to support decking, adding handrails and running cables.

On our right, beyond the river we still followed, a fertile valley extended away to the mountains. A monastery was perched up on the mountain and long lengths of prayer flags stretched across the mountain face around the monastery. A cloud of smoke drifted away from the monastery, either from the kitchens or from the numerous large incense burners (rather like chiminea) that were sure to be in use.

The new railway was still paralleling the G318 road we were on. We frequently passed small work gangs, each carrying out different tasks.

I spotted a modern tower on the right which looked rather like an airport control tower. I thought 'Surely not out here?' but it was, indeed, an airport, presumably to serve Shigatse, Tibet's 'Second City'.

We passed through a number of villages where the architectural style was usually Tibetan, although the constructional detail varied according to date of construction. We stopped at one village for a moment, to adjust our arrival time at the next check point and I took the opportunity to photograph one of the ingenious Solar Cookers. Although mornings often started dull, they generally were hot and sunny in the afternoons. A lot of the street lights were powered by photovoltaic arrays and small arrays powered all sorts of other equipment (I've mentioned the large arrays powering communications repeater stations in an earlier post).

The last check point on this journey was near an impressive modern Chinese-style arch we passed under. I presumed it marked our entry to Shigatse. Suddenly, the road was blocked by warning signs and there was another of the temporary diversions onto loose roadstone. We lurched to the right and crossed a river on a 'Bailey Bridge' construction, with the original bridge, on our left, looking rather sorry for itself. Lots of strings of prayer flags had been tied between the two bridges.

Shigatse appeared to be a modern town with broad streets. There were frequent cross roads controlled by traffic lights. At one, where the traffic lights were working, a portable police kiosk fitted with castors had been wheeled to the center of the intersection and a young lady traffic policeman was directing traffic with the expected flamboyant gestures. I was a little puzzled, because I couldn't see that she had any means of actually controlling the signals.

Shigatse is the second largest city in Tibet. The lady traffic policeman is on the left.

We passed the multistory modern offices of the Agricultural Bank of China. Its modernity contrasted oddly with the mountainside strewn with prayer flags which formed the backdrop to the town.

Our driver parked outside the Songtsen Tibetan Restaurant whilst we all took lunch. I think I had vegetable soup (this is proving a great success), and a cheese sandwich (Yak cheese, tasted like a mild Cheddar – did you need to ask?) and sweet tea (also a success – where there's a group of diners, they just leave a battered thermos flask on the table and you help yourself).

After lunch, a short drive took us to the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery. I was given an admission ticket which included a pre-paid postcard bearing a brief history in three languages ready to address and send – an imaginative idea, I thought. The monastery is one of the six largest of the Gelugpa School of Tibetan Buddhism.

The admission ticket/postcard advised that the monastery was founded in 1447 by the first Dalai Lama, Gedun Drubpa, who was the closest disciple of Tsongkapa. There is a Great Assembly Hall, the Reliquary Chapel of successive previous Pachen Lamas, the Chapel of the Future Buddha, Maitreya (containing the largest gilded-bronze statue in the world), and sixty other chapels containing relics. It's famous for the traditional Cham tantric dance.

Earlier in the trip, I'd been rather surprised to see monks wearing all sorts of modern footwear. At Tashi Lhunpo, only the traditional woollen footwear with a thick, flat sole is allowed. The monks also wear a thick, yellow outer cloak and a yellow hat for some rituals.

Three sets of wooden steps, side by side, lead into the Great Assembly Hall. To remind everybody that only the Pachen Lama can use the central steps, they were closed off with a pattern of coloured ribbons.

In general, photography is not allowed in the most holy places, although certain other chapels ask for payment for photography. The fees seem to vary wildly, even within one monastery.

We spent some time exploring the various buildings. It was hot and there was a fair bit of climbing because the monastery is on the side of a hill but I thoroughly enjoyed the visit.

Monks at the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery.

A short drive took us to the Tibet Gang-Gyen Carpet Factory. This was one of many initiatives promoted by the previous Pachen Lama to assist the Tibetan people. The well-laid out, modern premises are run so that workers share in the profits and a proportion is returned to the monastery. Most of the workers producing hand-knotted carpets are women – they appeared happy and friendly and mothers were allowed to bring their young children. All told, about 150 people are involved in the enterprise and I was impressed.

Hand-knotting a carpet at the Tibet Gang-Gyen Carpet Factory.

The driver, guide and I then checked into the Shigatse Hotel. It's built in Tibetan style and enjoys 4 stars. My room was certainly well-appointed. The Tibetan-style bed didn't have a sprung mattress and, although I like a firm bed, I was worried it would prove too hard. In fact, I slept soundly and overslept the following morning. There was supposed to be Wi-Fi in the lobby but I couldn't get it to work. There was a note in my bedroom saying I could plug into the network but the only network socket I could find was running the television. However, I tried the socket and immediately obtained a good connection (providing the limited service available in China).

The sitting room in my suite at the Shigatse Hotel.

A pleasing conclusion to a fascinating, but exhausting day.

My Pictures

Lhasa - Shigatse by Road
Shigatse, Tibet
Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, Shigatse, Tibet
Tibet Gang-Gyen Carpet Factory
Shigatse Hotel, Shigatse, Tibet

[Pictures inserted and links to pictures added 22-Aug-2013].