Himalayas | Blue Lapis Road

DAY 8 (2/2): PANG LA PASS (加烏拉山口), Mount Everest Road (珠峰路), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.23

After some good rest in the Tent 21 of the Tent Village, we get up at around 7:15am. The plan was to return to Shigatse (日喀則) for the night and visit the Sakya Monastery along the way. Outside the tent, many drivers were getting their cars ready for departure. Some travelers would return to Shigatse just like us. Some would continued heading west to Ngari (阿里) for the sacred Mount Kailash, while others would travel southwest to Zhangmu (樟木) and continued their journey into Nepal. No matter what destination one chooses to go, every car would require to take the Zhufeng Road (珠峰道) and pass by the spectacular Pang La Pass or the Kya Wu Lha Pass (加烏拉山口). At about 5200m, the mountain pass is one of the best spots in the world to enjoy the panoramic scenery of Mahalangur Himal, the section of Himalayas that includes four 8000m+ peaks: Everest (8848m – 1st, ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ 珠穆朗瑪峰), Lhotse (8516m – 4th, ལྷོ་རྩེ 洛子峰), Makalu (8485m – 5th, 馬卡魯峰), and Cho Oyu (8188m – 6th, ཇོ་བོ་དབུ་ཡ 卓奧友峰), plus Gyachung Kang (7952m – 11th, 格重康峰). We wish we had stayed longer at Pang La Pass, but even just a brief stop has already made the journey to Pang La Pass one of the most beautiful roadside lookouts we have ever been to. The scenery was so dramatic that it truly touched our hearts. The thrill of seeing all these world famous mountains was hard to describe in words.

At the Tent Village, the first place every tourists visited after they woke up was of course one of the two toilet facilities. Headlamps were very helpful even in daytime.

Unlike the night before, it was foggy and grey at the Everest Base Camp in the morning.

At 7:45, we took out our backpacks from Tent 21 and prepared for our departure from the Tent Village of the Everest Base Camp.

It was foggy everywhere. We were lucky to had such fine weather the evening before to enjoy the scenery of Mount Everest.

From 5200m at the base camp, our car drove on Zhufeng Road and gradually descended.

Along the way, we passed by highland pastures…

…occasionally farming villages in a arid context;

…fields of Highland Barley where farmers were busy harvesting.

Most areas along Zhufeng Road were dry and rocky. Ruins of abandoned houses along the way revealed the harsh survival conditions on the arid Tibetan plateau.

At 9:30am, we were approaching Pang La Pass. The first glimpse of the Gyachung Kang (7952m – 11th, 格重康峰) and Cho Oyu (8188m – 6th, ཇོ་བོ་དབུ་ཡ 卓奧友峰) excited us.

The section of Zhufeng Road at Pang La Pass includes 64 switchbacks climbing gradually from 4100m and to 5200m. The panorama includes four of the world’s six tallest mountains, including Makalu (8454m), Lhotse (8516m), Everest (8848m), and Cho Oyu (8188m).

A closer look at Gyachung Kang (left: 7952m, 格重康峰) and Cho Oyu (right: 8188m, ཇོ་བོ་དབུ་ཡ 卓奧友峰) was breathtaking.

Left of Gyachung Kang and Cho Oyu, the spectacular panorama continued to Mount Everest (8848m, ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ 珠穆朗瑪峰) and Lhotse (8516m, ལྷོ་རྩེ 洛子峰).

At Pang La Pass, we bid farewell to Mount Everest and the rest of the Mahalangur Himal peaks.

Turning our back to Pang La Pass, we continued the journey on Zhufeng Road towards National Road 318 (China-Nepal Friendship Highway).

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More blog posts on Tibet 2017:
JOURNEY ABOVE THE CLOUDS, Tibet 2017 (西藏之旅2017)
DAY 1: TOUCHDOWN ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD, Lhasa
DAY 1: TRICHANG LABRANG HOTEL (赤江拉讓藏式賓館), Lhasa
DAY 1: KORA AT BARKHOR STREET (八廓街), Lhasa
DAY 2: FIRST GLIMPSE OF POTALA (布達拉宮), Lhasa
DAY 2: KORA OF DREPUNG MONASTERY (哲蚌寺), Lhasa
DAY 2: DREPUNG MONASTERY (哲蚌寺), Lhasa
DAY 2: JOKHANG MONASTERY (大昭寺), Lhasa
DAY 2 : SPINN CAFE (風轉咖啡館), Lhasa
DAY 2: NIGHT VIEW OF POTALA (布達拉宮), Lhasa
DAY 3: POTALA PALACE (布達拉宮), Lhasa
DAY 3: SERA MONASTERY (色拉寺), Lhasa
Day 4: KORA OF GANDEN MONASTERY (甘丹寺), Lhasa
Day 4: GANDEN MONASTERY (甘丹寺), Lhasa
DAY 4: TEA HOUSE AND FAMILY RESTAURANT, Lhasa
DAY 5: ON THE ROAD IN TIBET
DAY 5: MORNING IN SHANNAN (山南)
DAY 5: SAMYE MONASTERY (桑耶寺), Shannan
DAY 5: SAMYE TOWN (桑耶鎮), Shannan
DAY 6: YAMDROK LAKE (羊卓雍錯)
DAY 6: PALCHO MONASTERY (白居寺), Gyantse
DAY 6: WORDO COURTYARD (吾爾朵大宅院), Shigatse
DAY 7: ROAD TO EVEREST BASE CAMP (珠峰大本營)
DAY 7: EVEREST BASE CAMP (珠峰大本營)
DAY 7: STARRY NIGHT, Everest Base Camp
DAY 8: PANG LA PASS (加烏拉山口), Mount Everest Road
DAY 8: SAKYA MONASTERY (薩迦寺)
DAY 9: TASHI LHUNPO MONASTERY, (扎什倫布寺) Shigatse
DAY 9: ROAD TO NAMTSO LAKE (納木錯)
DAY 9: EVENING AT NAMTSO LAKE (納木錯)
DAY 10: SUNRISE AT NAMTSO LAKE (納木錯)
DAY 10: LAST DAY IN LHASA, Tibet
EPILOGUE: FACES OF LHASA, Tibet

January 21, 2018 | Categories: China, China: Tibet 2017, Tibet | Tags: ཇོ་བོ་དབུ་ཡ, ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ, ལྷོ་རྩེ, barley, Base Camp, Cho Oyu, 珠穆朗瑪峰, 珠峰道, Everest, 馬卡魯峰, farm, Gyachung Kang, Himalayas, Kya Wu Lha, Lhotse, Mahalangur Himal, Makalu, Mount, mountains, Pang La, pass, Shigatse, tent, Tibet, Tibetan, Zhufeng, 加烏拉山口, 卓奧友峰, 格重康峰, 洛子峰 | Leave a comment

DAY 7 (2/3): EVEREST BASE CAMP (珠峰大本營), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.22

Formed by Everest’s Rongphu Glacier (絨布冰川), the Rongphu Valley offers us a designated natural approach to the majestic Mount Everest from its north side. The valley stretches from Rongphu Monastery (རྫ་རོང་ཕུ་དགོན་ 絨布寺) in the north to Mount Everest in the south. In front of Rongphu Glacier sits the base camp for professional climbers. Somewhere between the climber’s base camp and Rongphu Monastery lies the Tent Village catered for the rest of the visitors. At the terminus of Zhufeng Road (Mount Everest Road), the Tent Village is the closest spot to Mount Everest accessible by vehicle.

Thanks to Google Maps, we can now obtain a clear three dimensional birdeye’s view of the Tent City of Everest Base Camp and Mount Everest.

Slightly after 6pm, we had finally entered the Tent Village of Everest Base Camp. The first impression was like arriving at a busy parking lot in a valley.

Crafted by the Rongphu Glacier (絨布冰川), the base camp is flanked by peculiar rock cliffs towering up the sky.

Our driver Sangzhu parked the car and led us into Tent 21. Apparently all tents were pretty much identical with similar price per bed.

Inside Tent 21, there were about 8 bed spaces in a common dorm setting, a shelf of food and drinks, a stove, a few tables and a counter selling tourist souvenir. The owner also stayed with us in the tent.

In the middle of the Tent Village, there was the world’s highest post office where a few tourists were waiting for the postman’s return. Apparently the post office doesn’t sell postal stamps there but can mail out postcards if a postal stamp is already attached.

Behind the Tent City, we could see Mount Everest emerging from the fast moving clouds. Perhaps the time was too late, the environmental friendly shuttle bus between the Tent Village and the climber’s base camp was not running when we were there. We followed other tourists to walk along the rocky path towards the mountain, and reach a stone plaque after 15 minute’s walk.

The rewarding moment had finally arrived as the clouds began to thin out. The tallest mountain on Earth was right in front of us. At 8848m the summit of Mount Everest was still over 3600m above us, despite we had reached 5200m above sea level.

Our rewarding minutes ticked by as the sun began to set. Everywhere was getting dark quickly except the snow-capped Everest that was tall enough to receive the day’s last bit of sunlight.

At 8pm just before sunset, Mount Everest stood silently under the yellow spotlight of the setting sun. Looking at the shear beauty of the snow-capped summit, recalling all the past expedition stories and absorbing the legendary aura and spiritual power of the Everest, it was truly magical.

It was time for us to retreat into the tent and shook off the cold. We had a simple meal of instant cup noodles and canned sardines.

At 9pm, the boy of the owner was already sleeping soundly in bed under thick comfortable blankets.

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January 20, 2018 | Categories: China, China: Tibet 2017, Tibet | Tags: base, camp, Chomolungma, 珠穆朗瑪峰, 珠峰, 絨布冰川, Everest, Glacier, highland, Himalayas, Mount, mountain, post, Rongphu, scenery, tent, Tibet, Tibetan, village, Zhufeng, 大本營 | 2 Comments

DAY 7 (1/3): ROAD TO EVEREST BASE CAMP (珠峰大本營), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.22

Referred by Tibetans as “Goddess Mother of Mountains,” Chomolungma (ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ 珠穆朗瑪峰) which commonly known as the Mount Everest, towers beyond the rest of the Himalayan peaks along the border between China and Nepal. From the north, tourists can come close to admire Everest’s majestic north face from the Tent Village (珠穆朗瑪峰大本營), where a cluster of tent structures were set up to serve tourists, while the real base camp for climbers at 5200m is off limit to normal tourists. At 5150m above sea level, the Tent Village of Everest Base Camp was the highest point in our entire journey. Arrived in Tibet for a week’s time and we were well acclimatized for the high altitude. Our plan was to stay the night at the Tent Village to boost our chance to see the world’s highest peak. Weather was of course the biggest unknown. It was not uncommon for tourists to be let down by poor weather and find the snow-capped Everest well concealed in the clouds.

At about 8:30am we left Shigatse for Tibet’s Everest Base Camp. In the car, we were excited and kept our fingers crossed to hope for a moment of clear sky when we arrived at the base camp. We spent most of the day to cover the 350km distance from Shigatse to the base camp. The route was mainly well paved along the China-Nepal Friendship Highway, except the last 100km of gravel road before reaching the Tent Village.

Shigatse is known as the “fertile land”. Along the journey, we often passed by golden fields of Highland Barley (青稞).

Political slogan such as “strengthen ethnic unity, create a beautiful Tibet” could be seen everywhere in Tibet, even on remote mountain slope.

As we headed west on the National Highway 318 (China-Nepal Friendship Highway), we passed by a number of roadside shrines and mountain passes with colourful prayer flags.

Despite Tibet is mainly arid in climate, its river valleys are fertile and heavily cultivated.

The National Highway 318, known as the China-Nepal Friendship Highway, is a nicely paved road that connects Shigatse with the Zhangmu border town.

Some parts of the valley seems like a semi-desert, covered with sand, gravel, salt and moss.

At around 2:30pm, we stopped by a restaurant at the intersection of National Highway 318 (China-Nepal Friendship Highway) and Country Road 216 near Shelkar/ New Tingri (ཤེལ་དཀར། 協格爾鎮) for lunch.

After lunch, we journey continued southwest towards the Everest Base Camp. Before our car left the National Highway 318, we passed by some highland pastures.

In less than an hour, we finally left the highway and arrived at the gateway of Everest National Park. Sangzhu dropped us at the admission office to get our admission tickets.

We continued to drive on Zhufeng Road (Mount Everest Road) for another 2 hours. The sun was moving west as we get closer to our destination. We were a little nervous because of the unpredictable weather, but also full of anticipation. At 5:20pm, we were just minutes away from Rongbuk Monastery. Beyond the clouds in front of us we could barely make out the profile and tip of Chomolungma or Mount Everest (ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ 珠穆朗瑪峰).

At 4980m above sea level, Rongbuk Monastery (རྫ་རོང་ཕུ་དགོན་ 絨布寺) is the highest monastery in the world. It offers tourists simple accommodation.

If the sky was clear, we could see the Mount Everest from the stuba at Rongbuk Monastery (རྫ་རོང་ཕུ་དགོན་ 絨布寺). Yet, luck was not on our side. All we could see was a thick layer of clouds.

We knew Chomolungma or Mount Everest (ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ 珠穆朗瑪峰) was right in front of us, but we just couldn’t see it with our own eyes. The Tent Village of Everest Base Camp (珠穆朗瑪峰大本營) was just minutes away. All we could hope for was a moment of clear sky before sunset.

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January 17, 2018 | Categories: China, China: Tibet 2017, Tibet | Tags: ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ, barley, Chomolungma, 珠穆朗瑪峰, Everest, 青稞, highland, Himalayas, landscape, mountain, road, scenery, Shigatse, tent, Tibet, Tibetan, village, 大本營 | Leave a comment

DAY 1: ENROUTE TO LEH, Ladakh, India

After 5 hours and 50 minutes on a Jet Airways plane from Hong Kong, we arrived at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at 16:30 local time. The next connecting flight to our final destination Leh was scheduled to depart at 5:40 the next morning. We decided to spend the night at Delhi Airport, where armed security guards were presence 24 hours. Dealing with money exchange, dropping by an eatery to taste our first chicken biryani, chilling out at Costa Coffee in the arrival hall, lounging on the chairs in the departure lounge among other local travelers, and reading magazines that we brought along, the 13-hour layover in Delhi Airport seemed passing quickly. At around 2:30 in the morning, we joined the queue for domestic transfer check-in, hoping that the weather up on the mountains would be fine and our flight would depart on time. The boarding gate of our flight was at the far end of a deserted waiting area. It was a long walk but we had plenty of time. As boarding time approached, more travelers arrived at the gate, most were local travelers except a few Western tourists.

This short-haul flight from New Delhi to Leh is considered by many one of the finest flights for mountain scenery. Although we were seating on the side with windows facing the morning sun, the glare didn’t diminish our excitement over the views of the mountains and occasional glaciers passing below us. For about 15 minutes the plane cruised through the Indian Himalayas. Before landing, the plane meandered through the Indus River Valley and made the final turn over the Tibetan monastery (Spituk Gompa) on a rocky mount at the end of the runway.

Our flight, Jet Airways 2368, landed on the runway of Leh Airport at around 7:05am, a little earlier than scheduled. We stepped out of the aircraft, breathed in the crisp air and alighted the air-stairs with great excitement. After roughly twenty hours from leaving Hong Kong, we finally made it to Leh, the central hub of Ladakh at the altitude of 3600m. On the runway, we could clearly see the distant mountains, different shades of brown in this arid world. After picking up our backpacks from the luggage belt, we headed out of the small Leh Airport and immediately spotted a driver holding up a sign with our names. Sooner than we thought our taxi had sped through the winding and bumpy roads of Leh and reached the poplar-lined driveway of our guesthouse Hotel Ladakh Greens.

Feature decorations at the passenger arrival hall in Delhi Airport.

The small eatery at the arrival hall of Delhi Airport where we had our first Indian meal.

15 minutes of mountainous landscape before reaching Leh.

Not much snow was presence because of the summer season.

The sky wasn’t particularly clear when our plane approached Leh.

Mountain view from the runway of Leh Airport.

Outside Leh Airport.

Poplar lined driveway into our guesthouse – Hotel Ladakh Greens .

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Other posts on 2016 Ladkadh & Delhi:
Introduction – LADAKH – The Land of High Passes, India
Day 1.1 – ENROUTE TO LEH, Ladakh
Day 1.2 – WALK TO MAIN BAZAAR, Leh, Ladakh
Day 1.3 – LEH PALACE, Leh, Ladakh
Day 1.4 – HOTEL LADAKH GREENS, Leh, Ladakh
Day 2.1 – NAMGYAL TSEMO GOMPA, Leh, Ladakh
Day 2.2 – LALA’S CAFE AND TIBETAN CUISINE, Leh, Ladakh
Day 2.3 – SPITUK GOMPA, Leh, Ladakh
Day 3.1 – MONASTERIES OF THE INDUS VALLEY DAY ONE, Ladakh (with map)
Day 3.2 – THIKSEY GOMPA, Indus Valley, Ladakh
Day 3.3 – CHEMREY & TAKTHOK GOMPA, Indus Valley, Ladakh
Day 3.4 – HEMIS & STAKNA GOMPA, Indus Valley, Ladakh
Day 3.5 – MATHO GOMPA & SHEY PALACE, Indus Valley, Ladakh
Day 4.1 – ON THE ROAD WEST OF LEH, Indus Valley, Ladakh
Day 4.2 – LAMAYURU GOMPA, Indus Valley, Ladakh
Day 4.3 – ALCHI & LIKIR GOMPA, Indus Valley, Ladakh
Day 4.4 – FORT ROAD IN THE EVENING, Leh, Ladakh
Day 5.1 – SHORT HIKE NEAR PHYANG, Ladakh
Day 5.2 – PHYANG VILLAGE, Ladakh
Day 5.3 – NOMADIC WOOLLEN MILLS & BON APPETIT, Leh, Ladakh
Day 6.1 – ZINGCHEN GORGE, Ladakh
Day 6.2 – SHANTI STUPA, Leh, Ladakh
Day 7.1 – LEH AIRPORT TO RED FORT, Delhi
Day 7.2 – RED FORT, Delhi
Day 7.3 – JAMA MASJID, Delhi
Day 7.4 – FAREWELL OLD DELHI, Delhi
Day 7.5 – UNITED COFFEE HOUSE, New Delhi

July 4, 2016 | Categories: India, India: Ladakh and Delhi 2016, Ladakh, Leh | Tags: flight, highland, Himalayas, hotel, India, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Ladakh Greens, Leh, mountains, poplar, Travel | Leave a comment

LADAKH – The Land of High Passes, India

Another journey begins…

Bounded by Himalayas to the south and Karakorum/ Kunlun Mountains to the north, for 900 years Ladakh had been an independent kingdom deeply rooted with influences from neighboring Tibet. On one hand, the jagged, mountainous Ladakh was a profound Tibetan Buddhist society where lamaseries flourished in almost every corner. On the other hand, centuries of being a trading outpost along the Silk Road between Tibet, Xinjiang and Central Asia opened Ladakh to other Asian influences especially the Islamic culture. It is the charm of such a unique melting pot of traditions and cultures of Central Asian highlands that led us to make a short trip to this high-altitude desert in Jammu and Kashmir State of Northern India. Ladakh’s breathtaking scenery of arid moonscapes, snow-capped mountains and picture perfect blue sky was just another reason why we were so keen to reach this magical “Land of High Passes”, a remote snow county in India where thick snow and -40 temperature virtually close off the region for many months of a year. After years of dreaming to visit India, we finally made up our mind to take Ladakh as our first taste of the Indian Subcontinent. It was late June when much of India was baked in Pre-Monsoon heat of 40+ degrees, except high up in the Himalayas where even forces of the mighty South Asian Monsoon cannot reach. For six full days, we stationed at Leh, the ancient capital of the Ladakh Kingdom, and explored the landscapes and nearby lamaseries in the Indus Valley.

Location of Ladakh in Northern India.

Like many travelers, we took the ancient city of Leh as the base to explore the nearby villages and monasteries of Ladakh.

Throughout Ladakh, we saw how the traditional local culture cope with the modern age.

Outside Leh, Tibetan lamaseries rise above the Indus River Valley against the dramatic backdrop of Ladakh’s arid mountains.

Inside each lamasery, Tibetan Buddhist monks continue their century-old traditions to pursue for a simple way of life and spiritual enlightenment.

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July 3, 2016 | Categories: India, India: Ladakh and Delhi 2016, Ladakh, Leh | Tags: Buddhism, Buddhist, culture, Delhi, heritage, hiking, Himalayas, India, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, lama, lamasery, landscape, Leh, mountains, Tibet, Tibetan, Travel | Leave a comment

Blue Lapis Road ultramarinus – beyond the sea

Posts tagged “Himalayas”

DAY 8 (2/2): PANG LA PASS (加烏拉山口), Mount Everest Road (珠峰路), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.23

DAY 7 (2/3): EVEREST BASE CAMP (珠峰大本營), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.22

DAY 7 (1/3): ROAD TO EVEREST BASE CAMP (珠峰大本營), Tibet (西藏), 2017.09.22

DAY 1: ENROUTE TO LEH, Ladakh, India

LADAKH – The Land of High Passes, India