High and Wild Tibet (tc)

Himalayas seen from our flight from Chengdu to Lhasa



Tibet is the land of my dreams, and our time here was wonderful, each of us said on many occasions how much we loved this landscape and people. We stayed in Lhasa at an elevation of 11,500 feet, in a three story hotel with no elevator. The first day we huffed and puffed, the second day it was better and by the third day we were like old hands. We hired a car and driver for two separate trips outside Lhasa. Renee described Lhasa, so I'll give you a view of the country side.


Everyone has their doppleganger: Mount Stuart in the Cascades has its twin on the left.

On October 4th (happy birthday Sue and Dan!) we left Lhasa for Ganden Monastery, about 45 km to the east of Lhasa. We drove up the Lhasa River valley (also called the Kyichu River on one of our maps). The river meanders wide and (at this season) calmly, looping first to one side of the flat valley bottom, then the other. Golden cottonwoods flashed across the valley in the flood plane where they've been planted. No trees grow in the mountains here, apparently it's both too dry and too short of a growing season for them, except for those planted along the permanent rivers.


Crisp fall morning along the Lhasa River

Near Lhasa there are many plastic sheeted greenhouses growing vegetables sold in Lhasa markets. One suspension bridge spanned the river about 15 km above Lhasa, prayer flags were drapped like confetti across the supporting cables, some flags hanging nearly to the water 100 feet below. Near the towns almost any promontory has prayer flags tied to it, flapping in the breezes that pour off the mountains.


A home along the road with prayer flags on the roof


On a mountain near Lhasa, prayer flags drapped along the summit


The mountains are bare of trees, only prayer flags and rocks rise above the tundra

Turning off the paved road and heading south up a farmed valley we bagan to see farmers plowing with two-yak teams in the black soil. Women followed behind scattering seeds of some sort, maybe a cover crop to stabilize the soil, or a pasture crop to be cut early next summer. We asked our driver to stop (mostly using hand signals) so we could take some photos, once out at the edge of the field Renee began a conversation with herself, wondering aloud what the farmer would think if she asked to plow - so as all of us who know her would expect she was soon out in the in the recently turned soil standing with the yaks and the farmer, and soon, too, she was behind the traces, cutting a serpentine furrow next to expertly done straight furrows the farmer had done. The farmer lent a hand when she veered, and when she reached the end of the row he took over to turn the yaks 'round to cut their way back, Renee lifting the single blade plow to reposition it for her return. Yaks resting and Renee glowing (and me thinking "maybe we should get some yaks and a plow for our field at home") we got back in the van to start up the infinitely switchbacking road to Ganden Monastery.

Renee gives the yaks a workout

On the lookout for more yaks

At 13,500 feet we reached the Monastery, and the small village surrounding it. There were many pilgrims, come to visit the monastery at Ganden, we saw some wonderful sights near the village.

Hair adornment is amazing, 50 plus braids often hang curtain-like from the women's heads. The strange round beads on the girl above were a favorite of ours.

From the monastery we followed a path past mud brick houses up the ridge toward a near peak where prayer flags flapped, hung on towers set up in part simply to fly the prayers. The tundra was short, with moss campion and grassy sedges. Occasionally there were wonderful blue Gentians blooming now, just like their autumn kin in the Washington Cascades.


Cushion plants grow close to the soil and survive the frigid winters

We hiked to the top of the peak, (14,220 feet, about the same as Long's Peak in Colorado) surrounded by a sea of mountains 15,000 - 17,000 feet high. The mountain we stood on was almost inconsequential in the landscape, and we were all in awe of the vastness stretching before us. The sense of elevation is different than in the Rockies, at 14,000 feet in Colorado I need to stop and rest after just a few steps if the path is steep, but here we were able to walk indefinately, even up the very steep trail, as long as we paced ourselves. Spending 4 days at 11,500 feet in Lhasa made the summit feel like 8000 feet.


The summit at 14,220 feet - Renee and Dylan hiking past prayer flags


Tom and Dylan at the summit. The rocks on the right contain an incense burner which pilgrims fill with native plants and light when they reach the summit

Hanging our own prayers

Two days later we rented another car for a trip to Kampa La, a pass 15,750 feet high about 100 km SW of Lhasa. We followed the Lhasa River down to its junction with the Yarlung Tsangpo River. The Tsangpo flows easterly, nearly to Sichuan Province before turning south into India, where it's called the Brahmaputra. The river valleys were planted in cottonwoods as they were toward Ganden, and we saw many yak-teams plowing in the fields. We were only just able to restrain Renee, telling the driver to avoid stopping at all costs.


An infinity of peaks, all higher than 14,000 feet

Kampa La Pass is a beautiful, gentle but long climb, winding in and out the folds of the hills, past grazing sheep and cows and yaks. At the lower reaches of the pass we passed fields terraced into the hillsides, which had recently been cut for hay, and then as we drove higher old abandoned fields appeared, the terraces still evident but the ground was slowly returning to native vegetation.


A small village along the road. Ownership of sheep is marked by paint.

The road curved tight and loose around folds of mountain till we were finally at the summit, greeted by a view of Lake Yamdrok, the most beautiful turqouise blue you can imagine. At the top was a small dusty area to park and much to our surprise there were hawkers selling their wares: Buddhas, prayer wheels, jewelry, and so forth. We wandered about for awhile then hiked up to the summit of Kambala, 16,370 feet high.


Dylan on Kambala.


Distant peaks

I am just enthralled by these elevations, and the high Himalaya began to show themselves to the south and west. We had a front row seat of Nozin Kang sa, almost 24,000 feet high. The glaciers hanging down its slopes were glorious.


Nozin Kang sa, 23,670 feet

We drove down to Lake Yamdrok, which is the third largest lake in Tibet, and ate lunch sitting on its shores, and had a cup of tea in a tent with a faded sign hanging from its wall "Divine Lake Restaurant". It was.


Lake Yamdrok, looking Southwest.