Road Trip: Day 2 Gyantse to Lhatse via Shigatse

Though I had managed to sleep all the way through the night for the first time since leaving Tokyo, Anne complained that she’d slept really poorly. We scraped her out of bed and piled into the car (with only one reminder of “Shopa-delay” before we got it right) and hit the road for an hour and half drive to Shigatse. In Shigatse, the four of us visited the beautiful and almost entirely preserved Tashilhunpo Monastery. As with the other two major monasteries I’d already been to (Drepung and Sera), the monastery complex was constructed into the side of a mountain and thus was impressive even from the moment we pulled up to the gate at the very bottom. The day was sunny, as usual, and the gold of the buildings was so bright that it was almost impossible to take photos. We spent over two hours winding our way through the tiny pathways between the chapels and assembly halls. One very impressive building was the one constructed recently for the previous Panchen Lama who passed away in 1989. It was massive with a golden chorten studded with jewels guarding his remains. Around noon we were disappointed to realize that most of the chapels were closing for the afternoon. Then we realized that we were simultaneously lucky because we were just in time for the afternoon prayer service in the main assembly hall. We waited for what seemed like ages for all the yellow robed monks to gather (punching each other and generally but surprisingly acting like the young men that they most undeniably are) in the courtyard and then, as if at starting a cross-country race, dash into the hall all at once! Once they got settled and, having completely filled the room (there must have been several hundred monks), started chanting, we tourists had a chance to walk quietly down the main aisle and view the inner chapel. It was quite nerve-wracking to wander through the room; I’m still undecided as to which group was the more curious regarding the other.

Afterwards we climbed back into our jeep and hit the highway for Lhatse. About an hour and a half out of town we stopped for a smoke-break for our driver. I’d been asleep but when I woke I noticed how distraught Anne had become. She had an awful headache and felt like “bloody hell”. She spent an agonizing ten minutes consulting us and the drivers and finally decided to catch a ride with a jeep stopped across the street but heading back to Shigatse. She was worried that if she continued she’d feel worse due to the altitude and not be able to return because of the lack of public transportation. The remaining three of us were crushed to loose her company and shocked that she’d chosen to bail. We were also really disappointed to loose her ability to speak to our driver for us (she speaks Chinese)! We were pretty quiet for awhile and watched the scenery out the window change as we hit the gravel roads in a picturesque valley.

We were surprised when we saw a building perched up on a hill in the distance and realized, with irony, that our driver had taken us on a detour to Phuntsoling Monastery, which Anne had mentioned wanting to see before she left us! It was an amazing sight and a nice break for us to stretch our legs. The much longer ride to Lhatse (than had we taken the original route) was a bit much but the scenery was great. Lhatse itself (4050 meters) turned out to be the Tibetan version of a ghost town… literally the end of the world as far as we could see, so it was probably good we’d stopped.
We stayed in the “Lhatse Tibetan Farmers Adventure Hotel” (yep, really) in a triple. I was thankful my Swedish friends were willing to share with me… we really “enjoyed” our funny Tibetan room with blankets smelling of either Yak or sweaty Tibetan man (depending on who you ask), too. We had dinner in the best that my Lonely Planet offered which turned out to be… very, very marginal. We laughed a lot though, bought some water and snacks for the next day, and headed back to our lovely room. We completed day 2 by exploring the “wonderful” hole in the floor… ahem… bathroom and brushing our teeth with our store bought water. It was our second day (of what ended up as 4) with no showers.