After 3 days here in the capital city of Lhasa, the time has finally arrived to travel outside of the city on our way to the Nepalese border.

The border is still over 800km away and we’ll cover that distance over the next 3 days.

Today was the first leg bringing us from Lhasa to the second biggest city in Tibet, Shigatse.

After sleeping sporadically the first few days of this trip, I’m happy to announce I slept like a baby last night for a full 7 hours.

I woke up at 7am, did a final pack, and headed down for some breakfast.

I caught up with Liam and Quinn over breakfast.

I hung out with both of them on our first night here in Lhasa but we’ve been separated ever since because we’re in different tour groups.

Our itineraries the first 5 days are actually exactly the same and I’ve run into them at different spots the last couple of days but this was the first time to actually catch up and compare notes on our different tours.

On the road

At 8:30 we parted ways again but this wouldn’t be the last time I saw them today.

Eight hours of driving was ahead of us and, with the various stops, we’d be on the road for 11 hours today.

The roads weren’t bumpy and winding yet so I took the opportunity to pull out my laptop and bang out yesterday’s blog.

And as if the gods knew, it wasn’t even 10 minutes after I finished that we hit the bumpy, winding road over the Gampala Pass.

Pretty sure how the roads will be the rest of the journey and, with me prone to motion sickness, it’ll be the last time I’m blogging in the van.

Me and some goats

At 10:30 we stopped at a stunning viewpoint overlooking the valley and the winding roads through the mountains we had just been on.

Wow, what a view!

Of course, given that the photo for both the blog and this section is me swarmed with baby goats, that wasn’t the feature of this stop.

We arrived and parked amoung the many other tour vans and busses who we’d be crisscrossing the day with today and as we exited the van we were met with an onslaught of happy locals trying to sell us things.

To the right were a handful of stalls each selling the same offerings of beads and whatnots I’d become accustomed to seeing everywhere.

As you passed by each stall they’d yell out what may be the only English they knew – “looky, looky”.

To the left, however, was the real show.

Different locals had gathered here to show off their animals and, for a price, allow you to take a photo with them.

First there were a couple of yaks and then a few Tibetan mastiffs which are the big, rare fluffy dogs.

After that there were maybe a dozen different ladies with their little goats sitting on stumps all dressed up in their little hats and scarves.

At first I just walked past them all to get to the viewpoint but then as I went back down I thought “What the hell.   Let’s support the locals, shall we?”

And, boy, did I.

I accepted the offer of one persistent lady to take a photo with her baby goat.

As soon as she had placed it on my shoulders three other ladies also started putting their goats in my arms too.

The price was set at 20yuan ($4) and, of course, they each expected to be paid that rate.

I didn’t care though, this was the best $16 I ever spent.

The situation was so absurd and wonderful at the same time.

To top things off, I also climbed atop one of the yaks for 30yuan ($6) and got some photos and a video with him.

Overall, this was shaping up to be a pretty good day and it wasn’t even noon yet.

Yamdrok Yumco Lake

Our next stop was a half hour away at Yamdrok Yumco Lake.

It represented the highest elevation of our journey today at 16000ft (4900m) which was a good 4000ft (1250m) higher than where we started at in Lhasa.

The lake was so beautiful as it was crystal blue and obviously untouched by any kind of pollution.

While the van was nice and warm, it was pretty cold up here and, in fact, I found myself constantly putting on and taking off my jacket today.

At one point I wanted gloves and other times I needed to put on my sunhat.

Yeah, this was definitely reeking havoc with my sinuses and I’d be blowing my poor runny nose throughout the day.

At one end of the parking lot there was also a Tibetan post office here selling souvenirs.

Sure, there were tons of postcards but I’ve never been a postcard guy with the one exception at the Port Lockroy post office in Antarctica.

Nope, what caught my eyes were these cool envelopes with different images of Tibet and a couple of stamps affixed to them.

So I bought some and, as usual, when I pick up a souvenir I also get them for the two people watching my cats while I’m away.

We continued on the road for a bit to another viewpoint where you could actually walk down to the very shore of the lake.

Alright, time for some lunch!

A home cooked Tibetan meal

We arrived at a local family’s home at 12:30 and sat down in their living room to eat a freshly prepared buffet lunch.

I gotta tell ya, it was some of the best food I’ve had this trip and the kicker was that it was all vegetarian.

Hmmm… maybe I could be converted…

Nah, I just like BBQ ribs a bit too much, ya know.

Karola Glacier

At just before 2pm we were back on the road and by 2:30 we had hit our first intersection with a traffic light since we embarked on this journey today.

On this stretch I did feel a bit of motion sickness so I just sat up straight, closed my eyes and starting rubbing my temples.

I only opened my eyes when we arrived at our next stop of the day – the Karola Glacier.

Because I had had my eyes closed I hadn’t seen it out the window on the drive up so imagine my glee and excitement when I exited the van, walked past the little food and souvenir stalls and turned the corner to see this magnificent site.

Wow!

And that’s coming from someone who was literally just in Antarctica 6 months ago.

I think it was just the unexpected site of it considering all the hills on the drive so far had been just brown colored rock.

Simi La Mountain viewpoint

We continued on through the Simila Pass onto our next viewpoint, this one of the Simi La Mountain.

It sure was windy here which made the display of hundreds of prayer flags people had placed here all that much more impressive.

You could also buy a stack of prayer papers stamped with all sorts of symbols and, of course, I bought some.

Not so much to throw in the air but, ya know, as a souvenir.

It was 4:15 when we left and we still had a couple of more hours til we reached our final destination of the day.

At least the journey today was broken up into several stops with none of the drives exceeding 90 minutes so that was good.

A half hour later we went through our first police checkpoint of which Tenzin said there would be many over the next couple of days.

We all handed Tenzin our passports and exiting the van.

He gave the passports to the officials, we went throw an image scan area, and hopped back on the van.

In total it took maybe 5 minutes but it was a good reminder that they’re always watching us.

Not only is there a camera installed in every tour vehicle by the police but they use these checkpoints to make sure we’re all where we’re supposed to be and accounted for.

Gyantse

At just after 5pm we reached Gyantse.

To the right you could see the Gyantse Fortress and Palcho Monastery off to the distance.

I thought we’d be driving up to them but, instead, we turned right onto the China-Nepal Friendship Highway and stopped at a far away viewpoint.

The viewpoint was actually a mural dedicated to the workers who built this highway by hand in 1951.

From behind you mural I was able to snag some photos of the fortress but it did take my 10x zoom on my little old phone.

Arriving in Shigatse

Finally at 7:30, a full 11 hours since we left Lhasa, we’d arrived at our home for the night.

We pulled up to the hotel and began the checkin process.

And it was here where the great roommate mystery was solved.

So, when I signed up for this tour I opted for shared accommodation but was told that if they couldn’t find a roommate for me, I’d be subject to a $150usd single supplement fee.

Well, I never had a roommate in Lhasa but I also was never charged the fee either.

Well, turns out that Juan Carlos, the man from Florida, had been assigned my roommate but I guess he didn’t realize he was signed up for shared accommodation so he paid extra for his own room in Lhasa.

I only found this out because the same thing happened here when we checked in.

We were both assigned the same room and while I went up first and waited for him to arrive, he never did.

Turns out he, again, paid extra for his own room.

So, what does that mean?

Well, it means I somehow managed to have my own room for this trip without having to pay a single supplement.

Nice!

Anyway, like I said, I went up to the room and, without being too graphic, I needed to use the loo.

And.

I plugged up the toilet.

Well, shit.

Literally.

So, I went downstairs with my tail between my legs and showed the lady at the front desk a picture of a plunger I found on Google images.

I just kind of pointed at the image on my phone and, using my most apologetic and embarrassed facial expressions, was able to convey that I needed someone to come up and plunge my toilet.

Yup, not even 10 minutes here in Shigatse and I was already causing problems.

There was a silver lining to it all though because I found Liam and Quinn from the other tour just checking in when I went down there.

I had already made plans to meet up with 3 others from my tour to get dinner at 8pm so I invited them along too.

See?   Silver linings!

Dinner with friends

At 8pm all 6 of us, myself, Liam, Quinn, Samuel, Lou, and Federico, made our way down the street to a restaurant I had learned about online called Third Eye.

And, naturally, we got to the location pin on my map and couldn’t find the place.

I even looked up the symbols of what Third Eye translated to in Tibetan to try to match it with all the foreign signage and just couldn’t find it so we just went to a place on the corner.

They always say to go eat meals at places filled with locals and, boy, this was the place.

Not only was it filled with locals but there were even monks eating there.

Yup, this was the place.

The food was amazing but, honestly, it was the conversation that was the real gem for dinner.

I spent most of it talking with Liam who sat beside me as he and I have very similar travel philosophies.

It was nice to compare notes and talk about all sorts of travels and places around the world.

I find it’s one of the nice things that happens when I travel – I get inspired to travel even more.

I hear about where other’s have been and I start thinking to myself “hmm, maybe I should go to!”

By 10pm we were all back at the hotel and after a nice hot shower, I was snug in my bed at 11:30.

Tomorrow is the big day.   The one I’m most excited for on this trip.

Tomorrow night we’ll be camping at the base of Mt. Everest and I just can’t contain my excitement.

So, yeah, stay tuned…