Road Trip: Day 1 Lhasa to Gyantse via Yamdrok Lake

Anne (UK), Michael & Hannah (Sweden), and I left “the Yak” with our driver, Dawa, in the morning and with an introductory lesson in Tibetan (“Good Morning” = something like “Shopa-delay”) hit the road. After leaving Lhasa, the Land Cruiser just started climbing up and up and up. Before we knew it we were already at 4990 meters above sea level at the Kamba-la pass(only 200 meters below Everest Base Camp and only our first day!)! There was an amazing view of Yamdrok-tso, an incredibly turquoise lake that is one of the four holy lakes in Tibet, below us but we were quickly exhausted by the equally unceasing wind and beggars. The lake winds through a valley for what must be miles and we had plenty of chances to take more photos as we went.

We stopped at the tiny, tiny village of Nangartse for a tasty but pricey lunch. Then we were back on the road for Mt. Nonjin, a 7191 meter peak that had been looming in front of us all morning.
The mountain is capped with a glacier and Dawa proved his skill on gravel for the first time (of many) getting us as close to the base of the mountain without having to actually climb it. When we stopped we were again barraged by men and children waiting to beg tourists for money. One girl in particular was painfully pitiful with horribly bloodshot eyes. She kept pointing at her eyes and our sunglasses, breaking our hearts.

In the afternoon, we reached the small town of Gyantse, elevation 3950 meters. We got two double rooms at the Jianzang Hotel and quickly wandered through the almost empty streets to Pelkor Chode Monastery and the Gyantse Kumbum. The Kumbum is a huge stupa/chorten that is made up of six floors of separate chapels until you reach the top level with four sets of eyes gazing out over the valley. It was fascinating to explore our way through and look out over the town and to the ruined fort on a hill across town.

In the evening we found that the Chinese restaurant recommended in our guidebook had grown a bit big for its britches (too pricey) and were quite content with a similar but anonymous place a few doors down. It was an early and rather chilly night for all of us.