In Dreary Damxung

Trip Start Aug 27, 2006
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Trip End Sep 16, 2006


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Sunday, September 10, 2006

We left on schedule from Shigatse at 9:30 am, ready for our 7-8 hour ride to Damxung along the northern route. We saw many exciting things along the way besides the breathtaking scenery of the green valleys and mild whitewaters of the glacial rivers that flowed below. We tried to get close to yaks (no luck there), get pictures of the elusive burrowing rodents that pepper the landscape with holes, and even tried our hand at the Tibetan sling - a weapon made of yak hair used to sling rocks. Kelsang, our guide, showed us how it was done, and it was cool, but it definitely needs lots of practice!

Highlights:
1. The north face of the sacred Mt. Chomolongma along the northern route is amazing.
2. The hot springs in Yangbaijing are incredible
01. Gorgeous scenery along the northern route
01. Gorgeous scenery along the northern route
. The thermometer we dipped in the water registered 169 degrees! Some of us bought boiled eggs cooked from the springs... great stuff!
3. View of the new railway that connects Chengdu to Lhasa.

We reached the highest altitude of our trip so far - 17,711 ft at the mountain pass along the northern route. Everyone at this point seems well-acclimated to the higher elevations.

We arrived at Damxung at 7:30 p.m. and checked into our 1-star hotel. After the guesthouse in Rongbuk, we weren't expecting much from a 1-star hotel, but the dinner was delicious!

I'm sitting in an internet cafe two blocks from the hotel since the hotel computers are acting up, and one of the workers didn't want us (computer geeks with more combined computer experience than the entire Tibet Autonomous Region) fixing them. ;)

Tomorrow should be an easy travel day - 1.5 hours to Nam Tso lake where we will spend the night at another guesthouse... Needless to say, we stocked up on goodies from the supermarket next door.

-e-
Xigaze hotels Slideshow

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