this is the first of a series of blogs on the great tourism/pilgrimage visit to tibet -- lhasa, gyantse, shigatse, manasarovar and mt. kailash. there were 13 of us in the trip.. prabhu ram + rita bhandary, sajan ram + sanjeeta bhandary, yadav + prabha pradhan; shambu man + ajita singh; thakur + deepa dhakal; dr. mahesh khakurel; baba+ myself and tej birji from snow leopard treks. we left on the 13th of june 2013 and returned back to kathmandu on the 24th. we flew in to lhasa then drove to gyantse, shigatse, and then headed to manasarovar and mt. kailash. we drove back to kathmandu via dzanghmu (khasa).. a 12 day trip.
our trip began with a flight on air china airbus to lhasa. it was a 90 minute flight of pure delight and wonder. i was lucky to get a window seat on the left.. thus got a view of the mountains on this trans-himalayan flight. below is the flight path o the map. we entered chinese airspace after everest, then turned east from shigatse.. followed the brahmaputra (yarlung tsangbo) turned right over it, flew back west over the airport and then once again headed east at gonggor airport! what a flight!
yankila sherpaji of snow leopard treks came all the way inside the departure lounge to greet us bon voyage. here she is with the menfolk...
...our plane...
... boudhanath upon take off... we got to see a bit of the influence of this type of architecture in the gyanstse's kumbum palchen monastery
squeezing out green spaces in kathmandu valley
...houses dot the valley floor...
... a bit of greenery in the pashupati bankali area...
... over the tribhuvan international airport...
... the airport is said to be one the stable points i the otherwise liquefaction prone kathmandu valley in case of an earthquake... heaven forbid such a scenario in this chaotic, overcrowded and yet so beautiful valley
.. as we fly eastwards the himalaya start popping their heads above the clouds.. behind is shisha pangma.. 8013 m high peak in tibet.. and in the front must be dorje lakpa...
... a massive landslide area in the hills below...
... gauri shankar (7145 m) pop their dual heads over the clouds...
.. gauri shankar and the tama koshi below.. just shows how high these himals are...
the icy cliffs of melungtse (7181m)
.. then sagarmatha, chomolongma or mt. everest (8848m) makes her appearance just below the wings of the aircraft...
.. all angular... everest, lhotse (8516m) and nuptse (7861m)...
.. closer still...
and makalu (8481m)
... makalu still...
... everest and makalu from the east...
.. showing how the mountain rises from the mahabharat foothills.. and the rivers below...
flying past everest and makalu
.. and now everest from the northeast...
makalu...
.. everest and sisters...
... mountains and clouds play hide and seek...
... crossing over to the other side.. the land rises up first of all, dwarfing the tall mountains and then also become extremely barren... what a contrast... once can see the remains of glacier below...
.. in the rainshadow...
...brown and blue...
... some mountains seem to say.. wait a sec.. we're here too....
the landscape is dotted with lakes of various sizes.. from these small ones...
.. to this huge one in the distance.. this must be the nam co .. one of the highest salt water lakes of the world...
.. or this arm of the yamdrok tso.. that we later drove past on our way from lhasa to gyantse..
we were heading northeast until we reached shigatse...
zooming in i could see the shining roofs of the tashilunhpo monastery complex.. we would visit there five days later...
our plane made a couple of turns over shigatse area. due to traffic at gonggar airport i reckon... so we got to see different views... this one to the south.. i guess kanchanjangha...
.. and sometimes these peaks to the north...
.. ahh.. so that was what made the delay.. a plane that has just taken off from gonggar airport and is flying over lhasa river.. just near the confluence of the river with yarlung/brahmaputra
.. the green valley irrigated by lhasa river heading northwards...
.. our plane follows the brahmaputra eastwards
.. this is what bagmati used to look like at thapathali when we were kids... thin and spread out from bank to sandy bank
.. a tight turn over he river as we now head westwards...
.. we pass the airport again...
.. past the bridge over the yarlung / brahmaputra.. the road disappears into a tunnel heading north towards lhasa...
we fly behind the ridge that divides the two river valleys...
amazing landscape.. blend of hills, sand dunes, rivers..
..landing at gonggar airport...
... all geared up to protect border areas...
.. our group in front of the terminal...
driving across the expanse of brahmaputra.. strange to think that this river has travelled the distance across the tibetean plateau that we will be driving a couple of days later...
... mountains to the east as we drive across the river...
.. and head towards the tunnel...
the other side of the tunnel... almost like a flag of some country... green brown and blue....
... barley fields and rocky outcrop past the tunnel...
swanking new highway. silhouette of our guide tashi...
.. what seems like a vineyard...
.. fragrant mustard fields and a chorten...
at lhasa. a fun park...
.. and potala palace in the distance...
...crossing the clean kyichu (river of happiness)...
.JPG)
.. the clean clean roads of lhasa.. it was difficult to spot litter in these streets
... shops in the tibetean part of the old city ...
... a traditional old doorway...
.. open marketplace selling worship items in front of the holiest of shrines for tibetean buddhists.. the jokhang temple...
... proof that 'lhasa ma soon chha!'
pedal-powered riksha.. almost all 2-wheelers i the city were battery operated.. and what a difference that made to maintaining peace and quiet...
.. old part of town .. even new buildings retaining the old style...
...prayer flag trees flutter stop buildings...
our comfortable room at the kyichu hotel...
.. and a special welcome note by yankila's team in the hotel room!
.. and that was the first part of our trip...
No comments:
Post a Comment