The Roads from Lhasa to Gyantze and Shegatse, Tibet

My husband, who visited Tibet in 2003, scared me about the rough roads he had faced when traveling around the country. He told me the views of the land were very beautiful, but his time spent traveling had been painful. However, this was not the case in 2019. The roads are well-maintained, so the time we spent traveling was always comfortable. The views running out of the car window were amazing. In fact, most of my memories of Tibet are of being on the road. I couldn’t stop asking the driver to stop to take photos of the views.

Yamdrok Lake and Kharola Glacier on the road to Gyantse.

This was a one-day drive from Lhasa to Gyantse. After a 2.5-hour drive from Lhasa, during which we reached a high-altitude of 4,770m, we arrived at Yamdrok Lake. The view from the Kampala Pass was was amazing. The lake is one of the three largest sacred lakes in Tibet. The guide told us that the lake’s color reflects the color of the sky at the time. When we visited, the sun was shining, so the lake was deep turquoise.

We saw domestic yaks that had been decorated and dressed by the locals beside the lakeshore, and we took pictures of ourselves with them (which we rarely do during our trips!). While the lake surface looked calm from afar, the strong winds had created high waves. The water is very clean, which had the magical effect of making the lake’s color reflect the color of the sky.

The views on the way were amazing throughout the day, though the weather kept changing from sunny to cloudy. There were many big and small lakes, as well as streams. We bumped into goats and continued to be surrounded by the beautiful dry mountains. After a 1.5-hour drive from Yamdrok Lake, we reached Kharola Glacier. We were very lucky that the sky became suddenly clear and we could see the glacier clearly.

Encountering Tibetan Life

We came across many signs of Tibetan Buddhism worship along the way. One of them was a mound of mani stones, which are stone plates carved with a mantra written on them. These are found beside villages, along paths, and on the hills. They are prayer offering for health, peace, and protection.

We also encountered many local people – farmers, sheep herders, etc. – and our car often had to stop and wait while sheep crossed the road. That was the moment when we got out of the car, walked with the sheep and their owner, and breathed in deeply the thin, clear air of Tibetan.

Another pleasure we found on the road was the local snack. Our guide’s favorite was chili potato, which is simply potato fried and flavored with chili and salt, and it tastes really great. She often bought it on the road and put it on the center console of the car, which made us keep eating it.

Visiting the monastery on the way.

There are many monasteries in Tibet. If you’re interested in Tibetan culture, ask your guide to drop by a few of them. Shalu Monastery, which is 22km away from Sigatse, is worth a visit because of its distinctive architectural features. The temple was founded back in the 11th century. There was It had large-scale renovation under the patronage of an emperor of the Yuan Dynasty after a devastating earthquake in the 14th century. As a result, the architectural style of Shalu Monastery is influenced by the Chinese Yuan Dynasty, which is expressed, for example, through the shape of its roofs and blue tiled structures.

One of the rooms showcases the lives of people people in the olden days, and it clearly shows the existence of cultural and economic exchanges with the Chinese Dynasty.

Since its renovation, Shalu Monastery has been dedicated to the study of Buddhist philosophy and practice, and has been influential in the region for this. There are a lot of old textbooks from these times that were used for study.

That is the last of the snapshots I took on the road from Lhasa to Gyantse and Shigatse. Please check my other posts for beautiful views of Tibet.