Tashilhunpo Monastery

Tashilhunpo Monastery

It was another interrupted night sleep due to the altitude. We had a breakfast of toast, fried eggs, milk and coffee at the hotel.

We have some sightseeing to do in Xigaze before the drive back to Lhasa. The first sight was Tashilhunpo Monastery. It is the monastic seat of the Panchen Lama who is second in spiritual authority to the Dalai Lama.

The monastery was very impressive with a 26m high Buddha in one of the temples. There was a huge building or wall several storeys high on the hill face on which a thangka can be hung on special occasions, which are mostly in August.

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Guide’s home

We next visited our guide’s home. It was down an alleyway from a road in the village that was quite dirty with crap (literally) around.

The house was decorated with Tibetan paintings around the wall, shrine and tables that he had personally painted. His parents were there and we were served yak butter tea and also Chinese tea. They have a phone at home but water still comes from a well.

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New Friendship Highway

Our return ride to Lhasa was on the new Friendship Highway which wasn’t as spectacular but faster. One section of the highway had been washed off or damaged. We had to drive on the sand and there were a couple of large dips.

Lunch-stop today was a hole-in-the-wall place on the roadside. We had mapo tofu, gongbao chicken and vegetables. No one was impressed as the chicken looked greyish. When the lady brought the bird in from the outside it looked quite limp rather than fresh.