Route through Tibet by car

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Day 13: Tibet route by car: Lhasa - Tsedang - Yungbulakang Palace

Today we meet up with Pasang and Tre at 8:30 in the morning to start the Tibet route by car which will take us to the Everest Base Camp in 5 days, but that today will lead us to Tsedang, where we will visit Yungbulakang Palace, one of the places we most want to know on this trip to Tibet in 19 days.
After breakfast and check out at the Tashitakge Hotel Lhasa, where they have said goodbye to us and treated us with incredible love and where we will return to stay on the last day of the trip, we hang our backpacks and go to the road where Pasang and Tre are waiting for us.
Today the day will be quieter than yesterday, at least as far as driving hours are concerned. We start the Tibet route Road to Tsedang, surrounded as yesterday by incredible landscapes, which we do not stop surprising ourselves, in addition to hallucinating with the blue of the sky, dotted with clouds and mountains that look like a decoration.
Today's journey will be about 200 kilometers, passing through the Samye Monastery, which we will visit tomorrow and arriving at Tsedang at 12 noon, before making a technical stop at a spectacular river viewpoint.

Route through Tibet by car

Route through Tibet by car: Lhasa - Tsedang - Yungbulakang Palace

As it happened yesterday when we went to visit Namtso Lake in Tibet, Pasang and Tre take special care that we always stay well hydrated, giving us bottles of water every little time, in addition to changing the ones we carry in the car for new ones at every stop we make, so we always have fresh water.
In addition, we have to say that we carry an oxygen tank in the trunk, in case at some point we are bad and we need it, something we have to say, it gives us enough peace of mind, especially for the days when we are in the Camp Everest Base, which we will be at 5200 meters altitude for a couple of days and one night.

Stop on the route through Tibet by car

Amazing overview of Tibet's landscapes

Our car on the entire route through Tibet by car

As soon as we arrive in Tsedang at noon, the first thing we do in the city is to approach the police to manage the permits we need to visit this area and then the Everest Base Camp.
In this police station, as Pasang tells us, they are very nice, so he invites us to enter with him, to see how the whole process is managed, something we have to say, we find the least curious, since the process and the behavior of the police, little or nothing has to do with what we imagined, being much less rigid than we expected.
Once we have all the permits in hand we go to the Tsedang Hotel, where we will stay tonight.

Hotels in Tibet

Something that must be taken into account is that the hotels in Tibet, both in the infrastructures and in the services they offer catering, do not have the same category that we could find in any other Asian country.
This is something we should be very aware of, since even if we stay in a 4-star hotel, we probably won't find the same amenities we would do in another country. In the same way we have to say that in a very high percentage of accommodations, the rooms are clean, there is wifi signal (better or worse), the bathrooms are western type and have catering service, although this, for the most part, is quite Scarce, especially if you travel in low season, so it is worth the guide to recommend a place outside the hotel, where we are safe, you will enjoy much more Tibetan cuisine.


The Tsedang Hotel is a large hotel, in the middle of the city, where we check in with Pasang, something that accelerates a process that in Tibet, except in Lhasa, we see that it is a fairly slow process and after leaving the backpacks we go with Pasang and Tre looking for a restaurant to eat something before going to Yungbulakang Palace.
In Tsedang there are not many options, if not any, in which to eat western food, so Pasang recommends a small place that is right next to the hotel, where we eat one a kind of ravioli stuffed with vegetables, which They are like some momos but not fried and they eat some noodles, which we really have to say, they look very good all for 75RMB, a more than adjusted price, in addition to eating it watered with hot water, as styled in Tibet.

Eating in Tsedang

After lunch we return to the car, which is parked at the hotel and we go to Yungbulakang Palace, which is located about 15 minutes from Tsedang. Upon arriving at the parking lot we find that the sky is quite cloudy, something that partly dazzles the incredible attraction that the place has, to which Pasang tells us not to worry, that he is sure that in less than 10 minutes, the sky will turn blue, something that we will later check, happens as if by magic. And, as Pasang has explained to us on several occasions, in this area of ​​Tibet, being a high plateau, time changes very quickly due to the wind, taking the clouds in minutes.

Yungbulakang Palace

And so we find that halfway up, you have to take it easy since the climb is almost 400 steps that go zigzag to the palace area, the sun appears and gives us an incredible visit and exceptional views of the surroundings of the Yungbulakang Palace.

Access stairs to Yungbulakang Palace

Views of the surroundings of Yungbulakang Palace

Yungbulakang Palace is the oldest palace in Tibet, although today little or nothing is preserved from its beginnings, as it has been restored several times and what we can now see dates from 1982.
Today 8 monks live here, who watch over the chapel, which was once a fortress, and keep the Yungbulakang Palace in perfect condition.

Yungbulakang Palace

What stands out most on the horizon is the tower of Yungbulakang Palace, although it is only 10 meters high, but being located at the top of the hill, it presents a perspective of being much taller.
As in the rest of the places we have visited and we will visit the Tibet route by car, photographs are not allowed inside, so when the time comes, we forget the cameras and enjoy the visit, accompanied by Pasang, who explains each detail of what we see.

Prayer wheels of Yungbulakang Palace

The visit begins with the chapel on the ground floor, where we can see an incredible statue of Buddha. On the upper floor we also visit a chapel where we see an image of Chenresig, which reminds us a lot of what we could see in the Potala Palace days ago.
After the visit, we head to the back of the Yungbulakang PalaceFrom where we have an incredible perspective, both of the palace and the surroundings, which we have to say, leaves us totally amazed by its incredible beauty.

Yungbulakang Palace

After one of the most incredible visits that we have made so far and it is that although in Lhasa there is practically no tourism, compared to this, there was a lot and it is that here and as of now in the Tibet route by car, we will cross with so few tourists that we could count them with the fingers of one hand, and with little desire to say goodbye, we asked Pasang for a few minutes to finish enjoying the place, then start the descent again to the parking lot, where we wait Tre.

Yungbulakang Palace

After almost two hours of visit and before returning to Tsedang, we stopped before at the Tashi Chöeden Monastery, where we follow the kora, surrounding the monastery clockwise, enjoying unique views.

Tashi Chöeden Monastery

Kora Tashi Chöeden Monastery

It's almost 6 in the afternoon when we return to the Tsedang Hotel, to rest for a while and recover energy after the start of this Tibet route by car.
Our initial idea is to dine at the hotel, since it is a huge complex that is listed as a four-star hotel, with three restaurants inside. But when we go down to look at the letters of the three restaurants they tell us or try to tell us, since nobody speaks English, that there is only one restaurant open, that it is not even a restaurant but the area where breakfast is served, which is right in the middle of a corridor, and that of a whole menu only two dishes can serve us, which we cannot recognize either.

So seeing the plan, we left the hotel and decided to go to the small place where we went at noon to try to ask the guy for a type of meatloaf, which is a kind of hamburger to put it some way, which Pasang has recommended us this morning . Before our request and the affirmation of the boy, we think that we can dine what we ask, but nothing is further from reality, since they end up serving us a couple of bowls of a kind of noodles, which we have to say are quite good, but they sting a lot for 30RMB, so I practically can't even taste them, staying with the desire of that beef roll that Pasang had recommended.
And so, we conclude the day, returning to the hotel to rest and tomorrow, continue with this incredible Tibet route by car.

Remember that any foreign traveler who wants to travel to Tibet must do so through an agency (IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO TRAVEL TO TIBET FOR FREE), either by adding to a group or privately and having, before entering Tibet, a fixed route, that the agency will have submitted and must be approved by the Chinese authorities.
To obtain the visa and all permits, it is necessary that this itinerary be approved by the authorities. It is also not possible to modify the itinerary on the fly, something very important to keep in mind, as it will force you to be clear about what you want to visit from the first moment, since based on that, the agency will manage the permits.
In our case we have traveled with The China Guide, who managed all the permits after designing a personalized itinerary together, with a guide in Spanish and that has led us to enjoy as we had never imagined this magical place.

Day 14: Tibet with guide in Spanish: Tsedang - Samye Monastery - Yamdrok Lake - Kambala Pass - Kalais Kora Glacier - Gyantse

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