Blogs from Zhigatse, Tibet, China, Asia
December 4th 2007
03-DEC-2007 I survived the night even though it's -3degC in the room in the morning. I brush my teeth with leftover tea from last night because it's clean (though I do have to spit out quite a bit of leaves). Breakfast consists of a runny egg sandwich- certainly not the best. I unknowingly leave my favorite flip flops of all time in the room because I certainly did not pack them. It's only a short drive to the next town called Zhigatse. The room is so fancy but is colder than outside and the bathroom smells funny. We feel like movie stars. My hair is an absolute rats nest from the combination of dry air and being subjected to my hat for the last three days. I lose 1/2 of my hair in an attempt to ... read more
October 27th 2006
Shigatse - well named! Asia » China » Tibet » Zhigatse By Steviec October 27th 2006 Stephen Carroll Before arriving at our first overnight stay my stomach started to feel a bit iffy and by the time we got to our 4 person bedroom I was running to the gents down the hall. What followed was 12 hours with fever, chills, headache and every ten minutes running down to the mens cubicles until I had used the toilet paper in all 3 and had to delve into our own private luxury supply. It was one of the worst doses I had ever been afflicted with and I can only put it down to the very delicious, but very rare Edmund Hilary yak steak... read more
September 12th 2006
Originally, the itinerary had us staying in Gyantse tonight & doing a long drive to Lhasa via Yamdrok Tso & Karo La tomorrow, however due to road works, we are now staying in Shigatse an extra night & taking the short route to Lhasa in the morning. There has been a lot of controversy over this change as some group members have heard from other travellers that it is possible to get through the long way via a small off road detour, which should be no problems in our Landcruisers. Much of the Tibetan landscape is similar & it would have been nice to see the lake & the glacier next to Karo La. There is a possibility of paying the drivers extra to make a detour to the lake; however it will be dependant on ... read more
September 11th 2006
I felt much better this morning, managing to eat most of my breakfast, except for the drowned in oil, pitiful excuse for an omelet. The sweet Tibetan bread was very nice & I was thanking God for the Vegemite because it would have been pretty plain without it. After a shorter drive on a much better road than yesterdays, we arrived in Tibet's second largest city Shigatse. I sat in the very back of the Landcruiser the whole journey I'm not sure if it was the fumes or the altitude, but I began feeling sick again around lunchtime. After arriving in Shigatse (3800m), a group of us headed out to find somewhere for lunch. We explored the area surrounding our hotel; only to discover it wasn't anywhere near the centre of town & the restaurant pickings ... read more
August 1st 2006
All will be explained!! And you may note that the keys stick more over here than at home and that is the sole reason for poor spelling....... Well, last time we spoke I was off on my travels to the border. Now to any normal country that would include showing your passport and getting a stamp with the group visa. Hmm, not only are these people the owners of the filthiest toilets ever imaginable (sqatting in amongst other people with no walls, no flush and a combination of long drops/drain running through room or just a big pile of stinking pooh) but they are very pedantic and rules rule and no-one can make a decision as to wether they can even blow their own nose! So we arrive on the "Friendship Bridge" between Nepal and Tibet ... read more
May 8th 2006
Day two was another stunning drive through the Tibetan desert, past tiny whitebrick villages and fields full of yaks, all dressed up and ribboned in the sun - pretty cool. Arriving in Shigatse we had some Tibetan food at last for lunch (it was ok) then set off to explore the Tashilhunpo Monastery - one of the most important in Tibet. Set against the hillside and with golden rooves it is a pretty impressive sight from afar. Inside everything is on a grand scale - buddhas that are several stories high and tombs so elaborate they could bankrupt the nation. The highlight was being there at prayer time. We chatted with some of the younger monks and then entered into the Assembly hall as the monks (without their monk-slippers) chanted amidst the smell of juniper smoke ... read more
February 25th 2006
From the lap of luxury in Kathmandu, back to rugged roads of Tibet. In just a few hours, the ride to the Nepal border at Kodari took us out of the smog, past a series of check posts, and up to terraced fields of the Himalayan foothills. Delayed by four hours at the border due to irregularities in our group permit, my colleagues and I reach Tingri after nightfall in a deluxe landcruiser supplied by my favorite Lhasa travel agency, Windhorse Travels. We enjoyed thukpa (Tibetan noodle soup) around the fire and had to track down extra covers to stave off the alpine chill. The morning greeted us with stunning views of snow-capped mountains, including Everest in the distance. But I could barely lift my head to look. After boasting of my imperviousness to altitude after ... read more
Now online: Many photos I took while travelling
Published: March 17th 2006Asia » China » Tibet » Zhigatse
February 16th 2006
Hey Dudes! This is not a travel blog, nor am I in Tibet... but I have created this page as I have uploaded most of my travel photos, and anyone interested in seeing photos - see below:- 1 For South Africa, Australia and New Zealand 2 For USA, Fiji, some Nimbin- Australia, The Blue Mountains, Australia and my chosen Favourite photos I highly recommend links below as these are the most awesome ones from the huge batch of photos I've uploaded:- my favourite ones are here:- 3 only the best ones from each place I saw (my favourite ones) (35 Photos) and my recommended/favourite photos of a particular place:- (i) New Zealan... read more
June 22nd 2005
There was a famous Tibetan festival going at the time we were in Lhasa, and we of course could not miss this opportunity. Since it was called Tashilunpo Thangka Festival and Zhigatse, the town where the Tashilunpo Monastery is situated, is not extremely far from Lhasa, we decided to check out of our hotel and spend some time there. This festival is explained as follows: the huge appliqué thangkas of the Buddhas of the Three Eras are displayed on two consecutive days. Already when we passed through Zhigatse on our way from Kathmandu to Lhasa, we had sworn to come back, and the festival formed a perfect incentive. So we took a public bus, which left even earlier than scheduled, maybe because all the tickets had been sold (no question here of allowing people to stand ... read more
