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Asia » China » Tibet » Shigatse
June 21st 2010
Published: July 4th 2010
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Weird dreams again last night, the altitude playing tricks on me again and on Boris and Russ as well. We had free breakfast today at the hotel as they did not clean our toilet last 3 days and Russ was upset. We got picked up at 8am Sofie our guide and the driver Tenzig, we dropped by the China Bank ATM to get some money. The drive out of Lhasa was quick huge highways they have here , the scenery is dramatic, clear blue skies, brown arid looking hills, green valleys. We stopped at Yamdrok lake a gorgeous green lake, we took some fotos and we way above 4,000 meters, the winding roads to get here is well paved, I call it an engineering marvel, how they built the road in this terrain is incredible. Lots of Chinese tourists in mini buses, we tried to avoid them but we always end up alongside them. Supposedly you have to pay 40 yuan to stop at the viewpoint, we bypassed that and stayed on the road at the lookout point, some locals offer their yak for foto for a fee, we declined we just took fotos when they're not looking!

We stopped near the shore of the lake and walked down to get better fotos, we saw western bikers coming from the other end, Russ paid to get a foto on top of the yak near the lake, cheesy but he has never seen a yak before, was his defense. Then from there we continued on the friendship highway and ended up at Nagarze for lunch, we had a buffet lunch which was good, We stopped by a gorgeous green lake /dam thing the name of which we don't know, fantastic colors!then off again to Gyantse to visit the Palkhor Chode monastery,, huge complex and again we paid an entrance fee of 40 yuan and have to pay extra money for each room if we want photos. After that we drove 90 kms to Shigatse, we ended up staying at Tenshin hotel, we got a good bargain for triple room at 25 yuans each! Our room is in the 4th floor and toilet on the 3rd, not bad for the price, clean but basic. We chilled out and had a freezing cold shower then walked the town to find water and food, we ended up at this restaurant for locals, when we came in the waitress pointed us to another entrance, she thought we got lost and meant to go to this restaurant above which when we went up found out westerners frequent, the food here is tad bit expensive but fabulous and enjoyed our great meal whilst watching the World Cup on tv, after the dinner and game we walked back to get ready and pack for tomorrow, EBC, Boris lent me his warm socks, I lent him thermal pants, and thermal tops to Russ, Russ shared his sunscreen lotion with us, we work as a team, we share everything, beer, food, water, soap, and we have kitty for daily expenses, works out best and we save some dibdobs.


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downtown
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our hotel
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Russ and Boris sorting their stuff in our room
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our fave restaurant, excellent food!
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view of the fortress from our hotel
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getting ready to leave
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the hotel Tenzin
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back of our 4wd
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view of fortress
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breakfast
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Tibetan noodle
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market
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market


4th July 2010
Yamdrok Lake

LOL
i thought you were exaggerating when you called it cheesy. but cheesy it is indeed! a jaded redhead yak!

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