Day 40 Shigatse to Zhangmu

Day 40                        Tuesday 4 October 2011         Shigatse to Zhangmu

Set off about 9.30 in our big bus for the 390 km ride to Zhangmu.  Noticeably there were no police speed checks today.

Today we drove over 3 mountain passes. The first was Tolazi at 4090 metres. As you reach the top of the pass, masses of prayer flags flutter across the road & a great view of the snow covered peaks.

The next was the Everest Nature Reserve with a magnificent view of Everest from the Freedom Highway
 Not far from here you can detour to Base Camp (with appropriate permits).  We were at 5,200 metres here so couldn’t exert ourselves too much. Again, lots of prayer flags fluttering & it was very cold but brilliant sunshine.

Mt Everest

Final pass was Nyalam, again with wonderful views of the snow covered mountain ranges.

About 30km from Zhangmu, it felt as if the barren hill switch was turned off & all of a sudden we were in a landscape of deep gorges & green forests, waterfalls, & rushing rivers. The road though was a nightmare. Narrow, hairpin bends, road badly in need of repair (even though it is newly completed), overhanging rocks & stones falling from above.

On way to Zhangmu

Reaching Zhangmu, the buildings were hugging the hillsides. There is only one main road through town & far too narrow for 2-way traffic. At the entry to the town we came across an overturned truck. How it got there we don’t know but no doubt it was overloaded. A little while later & further on we were held up for quite some time while a military earth moving excavator was trying to get up the hill to move the truck.

The buildings clinging to the hillside reminded us very much of Shimla in India, although Zhangmu seems a lot more haphazard. A lot of tourists here as it is a staging point for treks to Everest.

Zhangmu

It’s also the border crossing town on the China side and a rest point either way.

Plenty of western style cafés and eating houses to cater for tourists.

Intermittent electricity supply went off during night, back on mid morning.