Yamdrok Lake, Gyantse and Shigatse

Our first day on our overland started out great. Paved roads, nice and smooth...I even didn't mind the mountainside roads...maybe I'm getting more used to the heights, who knows.

The car kept going up and up and up, switchback after switchback until I could swear we were even with the tops of the surrounding mountains.

The first mountain pass was Kangbala Mountain. From the top was an amazing view of Yamdrok Lake below.

We stopped and were exposed to breathtaking scenery and also locals trying to get us to ride Yaks or give them food or money.

It was cold and my GPS was reading 4800 m. We were so happy that we could make use of our North Face jackets!

A quick stop at the lake for some photos and we were off towards Gyantse, which our lonely planet said was one of the least Chinese influenced towns in Tibet. I guess a lot can change in the 7 months the book has been out because it looked very Chinese and pretty much no Tibetan!

A quick stop, Jenni snapping a quick photo of the local monastery without paying and we were off to Shigatse.

My thoughts of why they needed Toyota Land Cruisers for this trip soon came apparent as our driver (Ge Sang) steered towards some dirt and pebble road. Needless to say, the remaining 5 days were full of non-stop vibration and spine compressing bumps!

Shigatse is the second largest city in Tibet and once used to rival Lhasa as a captial. It is pretty big, and the city blocks are long. And since we got lost on the way back to the hotel, it made it even longer!

We thought we'd try some local Tibetan cuisine while out here and so we went into a Tibetan restaurant. We were greeted with stares from everyone! I don't think I've ever felt more uncomfortable. It was almost a "What the hell are you doing in here" type of stare. I know there's no love lost between Tibetans and Han Chinese but shoot man I felt like I was going to get my butt kicked! After perusing the menu, we settled on Sheep sausage and a fried rice. Well, at least the fried rice was edible. When the sheep sausage came out and I saw it, I pretty much gagged before I even tried it. After trying a little piece I really really nearly threw up. There was no taste and all I could think of was that to make the sausage, they just take the intestine while full and fry it up! Gross! Needless to say the plate was still full when we left. We had debated to give the food to some beggars but I'm skeptical they would even eat that stuff!