Totally Tibet! Part 3...mountain trekking to Shigatse

Day 5- Elijah's feeling better, we had a great day yesterday and everybody is ready to go to our next destination, Shigatse. We are told that we will be driving 11 hours today. This may turn into a long day. In Tibet when driving there are road checkpoints and the police give a paper that indicates what time you entered the checkpoint and then depending on the class of transportation you are told that you can't pass the next checkpoint too early, helps control speeding, or you get a huge fine. So you have to go slow or stop a lot.

We leave Lhasa and drive and drive and drive. BUT the views were so spectacular! Breath taking snow capped peaks are where we are heading.

Himalayan mountains in the background with the Burmaputa river

More of the view we had. Looks like a painting, huh?

Heading up the steep mountain pass on a two lane road that was narrow and windy. My mom would have LOVED it! ;O)

The views were great!

A stopping point where prayer flags, goats and mastiff dogs were waiting for picture ops.

On the way up we were being passed by police cars and ambulances and we were advised at the 1st checkpoint of a bad accident. About 30 minutes prior to us reaching this next spot a tourist bus had plunged off the edge of the road. Sadly 11 people died and 8 were injured. That is all the news we have. No cause and nothing else. The news reporting in China is a lot different than in America. Good or bad? You decide. http://www.ibtimes.com/tibet-bus-accident-vehicle-falls-cliff-killing-11-people-injuring-8-1960023

Here the bus is demolished, resting at the bottom.

You can see groups of rescue personnel lifting people up the hill, the bus in the far right of the frame. 

We finally reached the top of the peak, safely, and saw one of the 3 major Holy Lakes in Tibet, Yamdrok. It was so clear and still. Where I took the boys picture the elevation is 4724 meters or 15,499 feet. The family picture is at the pass, Kampala pass, elevation 4792 or 15,721 feet. The Lake officially is at 4442 meters or 14,573 feet.

Stunning!

Family at the top of a mountain pass with Yamdrok lake in the background

Great picture at a great view point...LOVE this pic!!!

Farther down the road we stopped lake side. We didn't get in. There are only 2 ferries that go across the lake. One for the locals to get from one side to another and the other for the local fishermen.

This is looking straight down into the lake.

One of the ferries in the background

Loving the views!

Jami soaking up the sun, the boys looking for rocks to skip in the lake and a Chinese tourist jumping for joy!

The town of Nagartse, elevation 4500 meters of 14,763 feet. We ate lunch here, not much around and just on the other side of the lake.

By the time we got to the town to each lunch and when we reached the next road checkpoint the road to the pass had been closed due to the bus accident. We had made it by the hair of Elijah's "mustache" (which isn't much). Now we were heading for some serious passes and seeing more Himalayan mountains and "passing by" and nearby bordering country of Butan.

The snow capped mountains are getting closer

The mountain range in the back is Butan. Which only business men can cross from the China Border.

Jami says I was "rubber necking" I was trying and trying to get the best pics to capture the magnifcance.

We reached the Karola pass. As the sign states, it's 5039 meters or 16,532 feet. Behind is the glacier of Kangsang Lhamo mountain.

Reaching new heights. Kangsang Lhamo is 6400 meters or 20,997 feet high.

Another view of Kangsang Lhamo

Across the street is another high mountain, one of the great 8 snow mountains, Nachen Kangsang mountain. It's elevation is 7192 meters or 23,595 feet.

Pano with Kangsang Lhamo (left) and Nachen Kangsang (right). Together they are translated into English from their Chinese to the Godess and God.

Just after the pass going to a visitor center. There were Nomads there and these girls touched our hearts. They were hungry asking for food, so we gave them our grapes and paid (their job) to take pictures with them. The glaciers in the background were awesome!

Now we are heading down the other side of the mountains and there are more mountains that look amazing. And as it turns out we are going to fast, per the check point protocol. So we have to stop....why not rest and put our feet in a river of glacier water!?

Snow capped peaks with Yaks in the foreground.

A break from the driving

A man made lake that creates power for the neighboring cities.

We are getting closer and closer to our destination, Shigatsi, but 1st there is a town that has a popular monastery AND a CASTEL! That's right! A CASTEL! At one point Tibet had 200? Or 40? We can't remember the details, but this is the only 1 that was not destroyed in the China Culture revolution in the 50's. It wasn't opened to tourist. So just outside pictures.

An amazing thing to see!

Family photo with the Castle

Behind the castle is a Monastery that we visited, Pekor Chode. This one had a huge library and I was able to take pictures of the old books. Also it had one of the biggest Stups in Tibet that has 108 "Temples" or Alters around it with a hundred thousand Buddhist images are enshrined as statues or murals. It was an impressive structure.

The great stupa with 108 room filled with different Buddha's 

Each one of these is a book

It was a massive collection all written in the dead language of sanskrit.

Around the Monastery was a small great wall type of wall. This big building is where they hang a picture of Buddha on festivals.

View of the backside of the castle from the top of the Stupa

View of the mountains as we are heading to our final destination....Shigatse.

We finally arrived! The hotel was nice. Jami and I got a 2 bedroom suite with a jetted tub...we were spoiled!

Dinner! Dumplings and Fries! They were good fries as well!

After a full day of traveling we were almost there! One problem.....remember the check points? Well, we were taking it slow and we made it to the "middle" checkpoint and as we were getting there they were closing and just waved us through. Nice! So we thought....We made it to the 3rd and last checkpoint and they were still open! Uh OH! We didn't have the proper stamp on the paper work to go through, because the middle checkpoint didn't check. We had to sit and wait for about 30 minutes until the final checkpoint closed. Only in China!

Another very important thing of note is when you visit in Tibet you have to register with the PSB (Public Security Bureau) in every city you stay in, even if it's less than 24 hours. The PSB was closed when we pulled up and so our guide was going to go register in the morning. More to come on that story in a later.

Day 6-Shigatse. We went to another Monastery 1st thing in the morning after breakfast. Oh and the breakfasts that we had in the hotels beat almost any continental breakfasts from the hotels in the states. They consisted of anything from porridge to pancakes with yak butter and honey to a chef making an egg omelet as you ordered it. The warm Yaks milk was DELICIOUS! We have to get a Yak when we get home!
Anyway....back to the Monastery, Ta Shi Lhun Po. It is one of the six largest monasteries in Tibet. There are 900 monks that live and work there.

View of the monastery as you enter the gates

The dragons on the corners were good and the designs are always so detailed

The closest we would get to Mount Everest in this trip. There is a replica in the middle of the picture, just to the right of Everest left ear.

The boys choosing a meditating pose

Our family with our guide Tashi

Again, no pictures allowed inside, but the outside it was all good. You could pay anywhere from 10 RMB to 1500RMB to take pictures inside if you wanted.

After the monastery our guide, Tashi, had to go register us with the Shigatse PSB. While he did that and before we left town we went on a tour of a Carpet Weaving factory. What a treat that was! We really enjoyed the almost self guided tour.

Yarn for the carpets being pulled and spun

Colors being separated. It was all natural colors used from plants and roots.

Yarn being weaved into carpet

2-3 women worked on weaving each rug. It was cute, they would sing while they did it.

Some of the cute kids running around. We're assuming they were the children of the workers.

Workers then cut the rug with following the designs or patterns

The finished products. They were really worth the price. It takes 2 women 2 months to make 1 rug.

Good bye Shigatse! We picked up Tashi after he registered us and left town. Onward to our next destination....Namtso lake! We have 3 big mountain passes to cross today and we left at 11am so that we can reach Namtso Lake at 8pm. (sneak peek....we don't make it until 1:30am...you'll see why!)

On our way to Namtso Lake from Shigatse. This is the river Brahmaputra that ends in the Indian Ocean

This is a rare Sky Burial site. A sky burial is very sacred. Basically a dead body is put out for the birds of the sky to eat it.

More views of the Brahamputra....

For lunch we stopped and spent about an hour or so at wading on the edge and relaxing in the hot sun of the river. Elevation 3800 meters or 12, 467 feet.

The sand felt nice between the toes and it was H O T!

Looking up the river where we just had lunch.

After lunch at the river side we had a drive of 170 kilometers on gravel/dirt road. (105 miles) Now this is where we got some more adventure! The views, of course, were amazing and we got to see Nomad dwellings and the nomads working in their fields and herding their Yaks or Cattle.

A remote village as we headed towards the pass

There were these rickety old looking bridges all along the path.

At the top looking at the road we just traversed. We are at Marchen pass, 4930 meters or 16,174 feet.

Boys climbing higher and have a good time on the pass. They said the dirt was harder than they expected.

The weather turned from Sunny and burning hot sand to blowing wind and pelting hail within minutes. Take note of the tractor on the road going down, they will become an important part of our story here soon.

As we got out of the van on top of Marchen pass (16,174 feet) we noticed the front passenger tire was flat. Good news=We had a spare! We put the spare on (whilst it was hailing) and lowered the van. Bad news=Spare was almost flat! Good news=We had another spare! We ATTEMPTED to put that on with blustery winds and hail. Bad news=The wheel eye holes did not line up with the bolts! So we put on the almost flat spare and started down the mountain. As we passed the tractor full of nomads, kind words were exchanged and we stopped and they tried to help. See the following picture....

Changing flat tire at 16,000 feet

Nomads to the rescue! They have a pump!!! YAYYYYYY!

Hummmmm....wrong pump. Made the tire worse. But hey they tried.

So the almost flat spare tire is even flatter now and we are driving slowly down the other side of the pass. We make it to the bottom and get out to see the tire....

THRASHED in the Tibet Himalayans!

We are now stuck in the middle of "nomads land" with a bad flat tire, a thrashed spare tire and a 2nd spare tire that will not fit. Elevation 4500 meters or 14,763 feet. Nomad kids are coming to watch and some other nomad families are helping out. One with a motorcycle offers to take the spare unfitting tire and flat to the nearest city and get them switched out! OUR HERO!

Loading up the tires!

A mother and her son keeping us company. They did say we could stay if we truly were stuck. So nice!

The kids getting a good seat at the goings ons.

Well, 45 minutes passed and in the distance you see our hero coming back! Almost there! We just need to put on the tire that fits and go! WRONG! There is no power in the town till 8pm and everything is shut down! Now what!? The driver Zhu ("Pig"), Nomad and Tashi (our guide) start putting on the lug nuts on the bolts and with a hammer pound them towards the center so that they bend just enough to fit the spare. Are-you-kidding? Nope. After an hour or so the wheel "fit". One of the bolts threads were smashed so only 4 of 5 lug nuts were put on snug. It wasn't the best, but that's all we had. Not all that time was a waste. The boys went exploring in the Himalayas and climbed up 3/4 of a mountain. They had a good time.

Everest running to catch up with the other 2 boys. Can you see them? They are in the upper left on the hill, Elijah is in red.

The boys looking on the valley were we are stranded

Brother selfie!

A nomad house we were by. Almost our accommodations for the night.

We had another 80 kilometers to go. At one point I got out and ran ahead to take some pictures of a magnificent mountain! While the van came towards me I swore the tire was going to fall off. I had never seen anything so wobbly on a car in all my life.

I was so impressed by this mountain! Mount Jomo Gamgakar, elevation 6900 meters, or 22,637 feet.

These piles of carved rocks and antlers from yaks and goats were along the road.

The same mountain with the close look.

SOOOO BIG!

A nomad tent on our way to the next pass.

The road to our next pass.

It took a a long time to get to our next high pass. Every 10 kilometers or so we stopped and had to tighten the lug nuts. but the views were great. This pass is called Shugla Pass. It's elevation is 5300 meters or 17,388 feet. That is 300 meters (984 feet) higher than the Northern Everest Base Camp.

Family photo at almost the top of the world

The wind blowing some prayer flags, snow on the mountain and looking up.

I climbed up just a little farther to look down at the high point of the pass.

Pano of the view

Coming down the pass and heading into the valley. The mountain to the right was so colorful.

The road was narrow and we were on a bad tire. Thank goodness the traffic was light....no traffic!

We are heading towards the snow capped mountains in the distance

As we were driving through nomad land there were plenty of Yaks and their little ones. Yaks are able to only have one baby every 2 years.

A closer view of the snow capped mountains from above. There was a Chinese army base around here and it was busy with activity.

Some nomads and their children tending to their flocks of Yaks. We were stopping to tighten the lug nuts....again.

The last picture I took before dark. This was probably around 8:15pm. It doesn't get dark till 10pm or so.

We finally pulled into Namtso lake around 1:30 in the morning. We had stopped for dinner after our 80 kilometer ride on a bad tire and that is when our tire was repaired. We'll go back to that city in the next blog. Also the 3rd pass was in the dark so again that will be documented in the next blog update. But for now that was then end of Day 5 and 6. WE LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT! What is a trip without a little bit of bumps?! It makes the memories last longer and the trip more meaningful.