We traded our lovely home of Lhasa for a trip to Kathmandu. We left Lhasa the morning of the 18th and began our trip with a terrifying ride up a terribly winding and high road. The dropoff was probably over a thousand feet and I was rather certain we wouldn't survive the ride (this turned out to be a constant feeling). When we reached the top of the pass, there was a massive turquoise lake shining below us. After a brief spell of admiration and photo-taking, we descended back the same way we had come (no less terrifying) because the road around the lake was apparently blocked.
The road we ended up taking was gorgeous. We followed a river (I think it was the Brahmaputra) for hours taking in the scenic farmlands on the banks. Eventually, we turned off the main road onto a dirt road where we saw sand dunes, and the very rural lifestyle of the farmers. As we bumped along, we could see them tending their fields or picking brush to use in their stoves. We thought we had been taking a brief shortcut, but we didn't hit the main road again for over an hour.
The town we slept in that night was called Gyantse. We had a great dinner there and a nice walk around, but our room was FREEZING! Really. Matt and I both slept with food and water (to keep it tolerable to eat) and clothes (to keep them tolerable to wear) in our beds.
The next day, we checked out the Gyantse Monastery (where a small child briefly adopted me) then drove to Shigatse. When we arrived, we checked into our fancy hotel then had lunch and checked out another Monastery.
I'm posting video of the Shigatse market online. Check out "whiteyardy" on YouTube.
The pictures on this post are Matt, myself, and our guide, Lukdha at the Gyatse Monastery, yak dung drying on a wall (note the handprints; they stick it up to let it dry so they can then use it in their stoves as fuel), and a cute family at Shigatse Monastery who asked to have their picture taken.
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