Shigatse

On June 25 We hired a Toyota Land Cruiser from Khada Travel Agency near the Barkhor for our trip to Mount Everest base camp. We got a Tibetan driver with 25 years of experience; he had already been to the Everest base camp five times this year. We got on the road toward Shigatse in early morning, following the course of Lhasa River, then upstream along the Yarlung Tsangpo (Bramaputra River, the main river in central Tibet). After an hour or so the road deteriorated into a dirt road clinging to the side of a scenic canyon of the Tsangpo. By about 1 pm we arrived in Shigatse (3900 m./12,700 ft), the second largest town in Tibet, the capital of fertile Tsang region and the traditional rival of Lhasa. However, despite its many modern buildings, Shigatse looked like a sleepy place in the harsh midday sun, without a lot of people or bustling commerce. Here the Tibetans are dressed in clean, neat traditional robes; apparently they are locals, not pilgrims from far away places. The pace here is much slower than Lhasa, and not many local Tibetans spoke fluent Chinese.
The highlight of Shigatse is Tashilhunpo Monastery, Tsang region's premier Gelugpa monastery and the seat of Panchen Lamas. Panchen Lamas were traditional rivals of Dalai Lamas; the current (11th) Panchen Lama is controversial because the exiled 14th Dalai Lama considers him illegitimate. Tashilhunpo monastery, with its golden roofs and beautiful row of large white stupas, is better maintained than all the Gelugpa monasteries in Lhasa, likely because it is the seat of the one high lama, or god-priest still residing in Tibet (14th Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959, along with many others). In Tashilhunpo hundreds of monks attended rituals presided by Panchen Lama; we also saw the Panchen Lama close-up in a blessing ceremony; he's a smiling boy of about 10 years of age protected by many security guards.