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Brief Introduction of Shigatse Area

Shigatse , meaning the best manor in Tibetan  , is situated in the central part of Tibet as Lhasa, at the junction of the Yarlung Zangbo River and its main branch named the Nianchu River. And it is 280 km west of Lhasa, 5 hours drive. The lowest altitude is this second largest city, 3800 meters above sea level. There  are  six mountains whose altitudes are over 5500 meters. The city has a population of 82'000, covering an area of 3658 square kilometers. It is wet and warm in summer, while it is dry and cold in winter.

The city of Shigatse is an old city with the history of six hundred years. It is also politics, economics, traffic and religion center in this area as Lhasa.  Shigatse  has  been  the  seat  of  Panchen Lamas, whose traditional and native monastery is  Tashilumpo.  Tashillumpo Monastery, one of the six famous monasteries in Tibet is one of Tibet's highlights and Shigatse 's foremost attraction. ,  Xalu Monastery, Sagya Monastery, Mt. Everest Base camp,  and the New Palace for Panchen Lama are also its main sightseeing worth visiting.

Brief Introductions to Main Sightseeing in Shigatse City

Tashilumpo Monastery  sprawls on the slope of Mt.Niser, southwest of Shigatse .It covers an area of about 300,000 square meters with a floor space about 30,000 square meters .Painted in red and white, the buildings in the monastery stand closely together in terraced rows , offering a grand and majestic view. The monastery was founded in 1447 by Gendun Zhuba, one of the principal disciples of the Founder of the Yellow Sect Zongkaba, and was then enlarged consistently by different successive Panchen Lamas until it acquired its present dimensions. There are many valuable and rare historical articles in the monastery, among them are found a lot of gold and jade signets, and imperial certificates bestowed by Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties as well as a seal of "Daitu" of the Yuan Dynasty scribed in the new Mongolian language reformed by Basba .They are of great value for the study of history.                                                                 

Xialu Monastery is situated in Rikuozuo. The construction was started in 1027. Its architecture is of typical combination of the Tibetan and Chinese styles with archways ,carved pillars ,tiled roofs and the Song and Yuan style murals. Besides the various sorts of statues of Buddha , it also has 4 treasures to be enshrined. The first is a scripture printing board carved out of sandalwood .The 2nd is a copper jar to contain holy water . It is said that the water is changed every other 12 years , but the quantity and quality of the water do not change even if it has been in the jar for 12 years .The 3 rd is a stone basin which is said to be used by Shaja Banzhida .The 4th is a stone Board with the 6-character principle engraved on it .On the 4 corners of the board are also engraved four claret pagodas .It is said that when the construction first started , the board was Unearthed.

Sakya Monastery  is divided into the south and the North two parts . The construction of the monastery was started in 1073 by Kung GungQuijiepuo with the order from basba . It is of typical Yuan Dynasty style resembling castles. There are a lot of historical articles in the monastery, among them are found a lot of the imperial certificates, gold signets ,crowns, costumes bestowed by the Yuan Dynasty emperors . There are also a lot of statues of Buddha ,ritual articles ,and articles of lections of handwritten scriptures in gold powder or cinnabar . It has over 10,000 volumes of tibetan books on astronomy, medicine, calligraphy, and history. So the Sakya Monastery enjoys the title " the Second Dun huang Cave".

The Other Main Tour Places and Sightseeing in Shigatse Area

Drive along the bumpy road for around 8 hours to west of Shigatse you will reach Tingri or named Shegar county 240 km distance. Tingri is a place where you have to stay over night if travel overland to Kathmandu Nepal, also stay in order to visit Mt. Everest which is 110 km to south of Tingri. By reaching the Base camp from Tingri, it will take a day time to get  a round trip. There is only a star hotel but without shower and you have no choice.

Zhamgmu Town, located in the border with Nepal is a very different place from the other ones you see on the way if overland to Nepal. All year round it is green with rains most of the time. You will think it is out of Tibet if not mentioning you but you are behind China Customs, as there are Sherpa people and Nepalese speaking a different langage here. The best hotel is Zhangmu Hotel, 3 stars. You have to stay in this town for going through China Customs in the morning of the following day because of the late arrival from Tingri which is 260 km away and after 8 hours bumpy road drive. And a whole day to follow the zigzag but good condition road to Kathmandu Nepal which is only 120 km away from this town, including the time going through the formalities   See Zhangmu' picture