Explore Tibet
From Shigatse, the Friendship Highway west to Zhangmu on the Nepalese border is now surfaced all the way to the border. The only public buses in this direction are the Shigatse to Sakya, Lhatse and Tingri services. From the broad plain around Shigatse, the road gradually climbs to the pass of Tsuo La (4500m) before the steep descent to the Sakya Bridge and the turn-off to Sakya village. If you have time, a detour off the Friendship Highway to Sakya is worthwhile; the valleys are picturesque, the villages retain the rhythm of their rural life and Sakya Monastery is a dramatic sight, unlike anything you’ll encounter elsewhere in Tibet. Further south, the side-trip to Mount Everest Base Camp is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
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Sakya
Sakya
The small but rapidly growing village of SAKYA (萨迦, sàjiā), set in the midst of an attractive plain, straddles the small Trum River and is highly significant as the centre of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. The main reason to visit is to see the remaining monastery, a unique, Mongol-style construction dramatically visible from far away. The village around is now a burgeoning Chinese community, full of ugly concrete, and has been corrupted by tourism; children everywhere will try to sell you quartz, fossils or, sometimes, just rocks, and food is expensive.
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Mount Everest Base Camp
Mount Everest Base Camp
Everest Base Camp (珠峰大本营, zhūfēngdàbĕnyíng; 5150m) is often a bit of a surprise, especially during the climbing seasons (March–May, Sept & Oct), when you’ll find a colourful and untidy tent city festooned with Calor gas bottles and satellite dishes, though at other times of year it’s almost completely deserted, save for a perpetual detachment of Chinese troops keeping an eye out for potential “trouble”. Don’t be surprised if you suffer with the altitude here – breathlessness and headaches are the norm. However well you were acclimatized in Lhasa, base camp is around 1500m higher, so be sensible and don’t contemplate a trip here immediately after arrival up on the Tibetan plateau.
