DAY 5 (2/4): MORNING IN SHANNAN (山南), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.20

We get up at around 7am and got ourselves ready for the departure of our journey out of Lhasa. Leaving Trichang Labrang Hotel behind, we put on our backpacks and walked out to the community medical centre on Jiangsu Road to wait for our driver. We got the name and license plate from Pazu. At slightly after 8am, our driver Sangzhu (桑珠) arrived and we were all set to embark on our 6-day journey. Shannan (山南), or Lhoka (ལྷོ་ཁ།) in Tibetan, was the first destination. Bounded by Lhasa (拉薩 ལྷ་ས་) to the north, Nyingchi (林芝 ཉིང་ཁྲི་ས།) to the east, Shigatse (日喀則 གཞིས་ཀ་རྩེ་གྲོང) to the west and the international border of India and Bhutan to the south, Shannan is considered as the legendary birthplace of the Tibetan people. The landscape of Shannan is dominated by the middle and lower sections of the Yarlung Valley and Tibet’s most important waterbody Yarlung Tsangpo River (雅魯藏布江), as we had seen it from the sky upon our arrival at Gonggar Airport by plane.

We hit the road out of Lhasa before 8:30am.

Under the morning sun, the highland barley fields and distant mountains signified we had entered the southern countryside of Lhasa.

On Provincial Highway 101, we stopped by a lookout by the Yarlung Tsangpo River (雅魯藏布江).

As the longest river in Tibet, Yarlung Tsangpo River originates from the Angsi Glacier in western Tibet. From the lookout, the Yarlung Tsangpo River continues to run downstream into India and Bangladesh known as the Brahmaputra River. From the lookout, we could see the desert environment of large sand dunes along Yarlung Tsangpo River.

We continued to drive along the south side of Yarlung Tsangpo River until reaching Tsetang (澤當), the capital of Shannan region and the fourth largest city in Tibet. Sangzhu stopped the vehicle at the regional security office to register our travel plan.

Near Tsetang (澤當), Sangzhu drove us to the nearby Yungbulakang Palace (雍布拉康 ཡུམ་བུ་བླ་སྒང།) to check out the supposedly the oldest structure in Tibet, and the legendary palace of Nyatri Tsenpo, the first king of Tibet in the second century BC. Later in the 7th century AD, it became the summer palace of Songtsen Gampo and Wencheng Princess, and turned into a Gelug monastery in the 17th century.

Erected atop a high ridge, the legendary Yungbulakang Palace was heavily damaged during the Cultural Revolution. The palace then went through extensive reconstruction in 1983.

As we saw the long flight of stairs up to Yungbulakang Palace, we began to discuss how long it might take to reach the palace from the parking lot. We soon realized that the palace was closed to the public due to a $1.5m restoration work. That left us no choice but to turn back to the car.

Our visit to Yungbulakang turned out to be a brief photo stop. We soon returned to the Tsetang (澤當) for lunch. Sangzhu took us to Abba Home Tibetan Restaurant, one of the Lonely Planet recommended local restaurant.

Featuring traditional seating, the interiors of Abba Home Tibetan Restaurant was cosy and welcoming. Almost all customers were locals.

We ordered three dishes, including the local yak beef, and invited Sangzhu to join us.

For touring in Shannan, many jeep tours would stay at Tsedang for the night. Sangzhu suggested to stay in a smaller town further down the journey so we could save an hour’s drive at the next day. We decided that we would stay at Samye (桑耶鎮), the village where we would visit Samye Monastery, the first monastery in Tibet and probably the most important attraction in Shannan. After lunch, we were on our way to Samye at the north side of Yarlung Tsangpo River. On the way, we stopped by another beautiful lookout filled with vivid prayer flags.