My trip to Shigatse via Train from Lhasa

Recently I was on a short 3 days trip to Tingri. I would like to share some of the moments of this short trip. 

Normally I will be staying in Lhasa arranging the tours since September is a busy tourist season but 3 days ago I have to go to New Tingri until the entrance gate of Mount Everest North Face Base Camp national park to pick 3 of my Travelers from Europe. This is a group of 6 Travelers. 3 Travelers are going towards Western Tibet from New Tingri towards Old Tingri and Phikutso lake to Saga. The other 3 Travelers are traveling back to Lhasa through Shigatse, Gyantse to Lhasa.

Photo: Taken in front of Shigatse Tashilhunpo monastery

I have started my day at 6:30 am, I took the train to Shigatse since my Tour Driver Paljor was waiting for me at Shigatse. The Train from Lhasa to the Shigatse seat cost around 40RMB and is very comfortable. The train starts at 8: 30 am from Lhasa. On the way, I have seen beautiful nature including the Yarlung Tsangpo river coming straight from Western Tibet to Central Tibet towards Eastern Tibet. Beautiful villages and trees and colorful fields. The first stop was at Chushul town, the second stop was at Nyemo Town, the third stop was at Rinpung Town.

The beauty of the train ride was only 2 and half hours which is very good as compared to the vehicle route, which takes around 5 hours. They are 3 different tickets available, Soft sleeper, cost around 170RMB and hard sleeper cost around 112RMB, soft seat cost around 83 RMB and hard seat cost around 40RMB, I have taken the hard seat and for 2 and half hours, it's really fine.  they are 2 different types of hard sleepers, 6 people together with 3 people opposite to each other or 4 people together with 2 people opposite to each other.

After enjoying the beautiful nature along the way, I have arrived at Shigatse train station, which is around 10 minutes from Shigatse city.

I have spent the afternoon at Shigatse having some lunch with Driver Paljor. We then drove to New Tingri through Tso la Pass and Gyatso Pass. After arriving at New Tingri town Pelber, we choose to stay around 5km from New Tingri town Pelber at Lolo Hot Spring, where they were few local Tibetans guest houses with Hot springs inside the corridor. The guest house was basic and clean. Few locals were there, Guesthouse Manager said more locals will come soon after a few days since they are going to finish the harvest. No tourist at the Hot spring, It is a good option to stay here a night if Travelers love to be with locals. Tibet Travelers can arrange this for you in your travel itinerary.

The next day we went to Mount Everest national park entrance to pick our 3 Travelers from Europe arriving back from Mount Everest North Face Base Camp. After meeting them, I was happy that they have great weather at Mount Everest base camp. After having some chat with other Travelers, we drove all the way to Shigatse and to Gyantse. Stayed a night there. The next day was also one of the highlights. We visited the Gyantse Kumbum stupa and Palkor chode monastery. The Gyantse Dzong Fort was in construction. After visiting Gyantse, we drove back to Lhasa through the Southern friendship highway by visiting Ralung monastery, which was around 5km from the highway. Ralung was once the main or the central monastery of Drukpa Kagyu sects school in Tibetan Buddhism. So many of my favorite Tibetan Yogis Maha Siddha's were from this monastery. Je ling Repa, Je Tsangpa Gyare, Je Drukpa Kunley, Je Gotsangpa and many others. Monk at the Ralung monastery told us that once they were around 30 thousand monks and 2800 Rinpoches (Teachers) in this monastery. We can still see the ruins. The main relic was the Je Tsangpa Gyare, which after entering the chapel, the monk told us that if you have too much bad karmic, his face will be seen sad if you have lots of good karmic, his face will be seen happy and if you are great being like Rinpoches, he will have chat with you. This was very special. We also got the blessing of the 4-year-old footprint of Son of Je Drukpa Kunley, named Shing Kyong Drukdra. 

After visiting the Ralung monastery, we stopped near Karo la Glacier and did a short hike nearby, we then drove to Nagartse to have lunch in Lhasa restaurant. We then drove to Yamdrok lake, very blue and beautiful. 

After 2 hours drive from Yamdrok lake, we finally got back to Lhasa. 

This was one very beautiful 3 days journey for me, I have got a chance to share my limited knowledge on Tibetan Buddhism and Yogis with 3 Travelers from Europe, who were very nice people. After arriving at the hotel they thanked me and gave me some gifts and actually it was I who have to thank them, still I was so pleased and I thanked them and wish them a safe journey home. 

So, this was my 3 days tour in Tibet with Travelers from Europe, a few moments which I was thinking about sharing with all. Thank you for your time. If you are planning to visit Tibet, you can send us an Email at info@tibettravelers.com