WESTERN (NGARI) 215 Tagyel-tso Dawa-tso Peiku-tso © Lonely Planet Publications Planet Lonely © Mt Kailash Ali Tsaparang

Tagyel-tso Lake Lake Peiku-tso ) to Ali ) and ), or just marvel at the ), or just marvel at the ( p221 p221 ( ) ( p223 ( ), one of Asia’s unknown unknown ), one of Asia’s ( p229 ( ( p235 ( p226 ( Dawa-tso ), ) northern route the Tsaparang Tsaparang scape, but especially by the lakes ( p222 wonders a lifetime on the three-day trek around holy around holy on the three-day trek a lifetime Mt Kailash Manasarovar turquoise waters and snowcapped-mountain and snowcapped-mountain turquoise waters backdrop ( p220

and blue sheep on Spot wild asses, gazelle the ruins of an ancient kingdom Explore at in this otherworldly land- anywhere Camp of sacred Hike the sandy shores Join the pilgrims looking to erase the sins of

„ „ „ „ HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS „

Travel in Ngari is still not easy or comfortable, but improved roads and telephone lines roads and telephone in Ngari is still not easy or comfortable,Travel but improved Days are long in transit, and until recently, Western travellers were quite rare. Even now few now few Even rare. quite were travellers Western and until recently, long in transit, Days are The landscape of Ngari is dominated by the Himalaya salt range to the south and the huge landscape of Ngari is dominated The

2010. Change is coming, which makes now the time to visit Ngari. Lhasa to Ali, a small but growing network of public transport,Lhasa to Ali, a small but growing network of an airport and planned for (and mobile-phone reception) have made it more accessible. There’s a bus service from There’s accessible. made it more (and mobile-phone have reception) monasteries, hidden valleys and isolated archaeological sites can be counted on one hand. can be counted sites archaeological hidden valleys and isolated monasteries, kingdom at Tsaparang, a day’s journey from Mt Kailash. The truly intrepid who visit secluded a day’s journey from Mt Kailash. truly intrepid The kingdom at Tsaparang, travel the more out-of-the-way northern the more or visit the otherworldly ruins of the ancient travel route of the most isolated and beautiful corners of the globe is likely and beautiful corners of the globe is to be an attractionof the most isolated in itself. and green. For those not overly fussed by the spiritual significance of Mt Kailash, fussed by the spiritual significance of Mt going to one For those not overly and green. dusty badlands, sandy deserts, and the mineral-rich trans-Himalayan purple, rust ranges stained lakes of the Changtang plateau to the north. In between are immense stretches of yellow steppe, steppe, of yellow to the north. stretches immense lakes plateau of the Changtang In between are world. Many of the pilgrims on the road have been planning a visit all their lives. lives. been planning a visit all their on the road have world. Many of the pilgrims and Lake Manasarovar are two of the most far-flung and legendary travel destinations in the destinations and legendary travel two of the most far-flung are and Lake Manasarovar trip are a mountain and a lake – but what a mountain and what a lake! Sacred Mt Kailash a mountain and a lake a mountain and what a lake! – but what Sacred trip are one of the remotest corners of Asia. The main attractions main of what is likely The a three-week to be corners of Asia. one of the remotest  is a frontier in 4500m, Ngari of over altitude and with an average populated scarcely Vast, Western Western Tibet (Ngari) WESTERN TIBET (NGARI) ised as to almost disappear fromthe history asto almostdisappear ised oned. TheGuge kingdom collapsed. king wasoverthrown andthe Jesuits impris- to Tsaparang. Withinamonththecity fell, the inlayingsiegelisted thesupportof Ladakhis increasing enthusiasmforanaliencreed, en- outraged bytheirking’s to convert. , ofto thedemise thekingdomtheysought butalso led notonlytotheirowndemise in Tibet waslaidbythe king himself. foundation stoneof thefirst Christianchurch upaJesuitset missionthefollowingyear. The king agreed toallowdeAndrede toreturn and and respect fortheChristianfaith.TheGuge withsurprisingtolerance theless, hedidmeet Never-waiting forhim,hewasdisappointed. de Andrede, hadexpected tofindChristians attempts, butiftheirleader,Father Antonio reached Tsaparang in1624after twofailed kingdom intheFar TheJesuits East). finally tohaveking whowasbelieved ruledover a Prester John (alegendary priestand Christian ofit forthelong-lostChristiancivilisation in theremote kingdom of Guge, mistaking intheenclavebased of Goatookaninterest them now in ruins. was hometoover 100monasteries, mostof revival ontheTibetan plateau andatitspeak withnearbyIndia,ledaBuddhist its contacts and MtKailash. TheGuge kingdom,through dom atTsaparang, westof Manasarovar Lake thisking- sons, NamdeWosung,established oneof theking’s kingLangdharma, Lhasa After of theassassination theanti-Buddhist was the Guge kingdominthe9thcentury. springs, marksthesite of the old kingdom. ley, ontheSutlejRiver nearTirthapuri hot in modernTibet, Val- theKhyunglung though ofmaterial evidence theShangshung kingdom withBuddhism.Thereearliest contacts islittle asa conduitforTibet’s may alsohave served Tibet fromhere. TheShangshung kingdom Bön religion madeitswayintotherest of before this.Accordingtosomescholars, the ruled theTibetan centuries plateau forseveral zhung) kingdomof western Tibet probably thattheShangshungit isthought (orZhang- tion of centralTibet inthe7thcentury.But of theYarlung Valley region andtheirunifica- 216 Most historiesof Tibet beginwiththekings History Ironically, theevangelical zealof theJesuits In thelate 16th century,Jesuit missionaries The nextregional powertoemerge inNgari At thispoint, Ngaribecame somarginal- ETR IE NAI • Hsoy (NGARI)••History WESTERN TIBET Security Bureau (PSB;Security Gong’anju)office. In rendering immediately yourself tothePublic getting toAli(byhitching orbus)andsur- ( p324 the region withjustanAlienTravel Permit week. a take foryoubutitcanwill organise allthese thetravel agency tripinLhasa, Cruiser Land mit, foreign permit…Ifyouarrange affairs a permit, Tibet per- TourismBureau (TTB) permits: anAlienTravel Permit, military Foreigners are tohave supposed afistfulof Permits Manasarovar. lake, Rivers. wasKailash Themountain andthe ge Tsangpo) Tsangpo) andSutlej(Langchan Brahmaputra (Yarlung Tsangpo), Indus(Seng- the Karnali (amajor of tributary theGanges), Tibet theyoccupiedwasinfactthesourceof and such alake, andthattheremote partof that proved there such wasindeed amountain explorer Sven Hedin returned fromajourney cartographers. in1908theSwedish However, Indonesia, waslargely ridiculedbyWestern which hadpercolated as farafieldasJapan and of Asia’s rivers mightiest flowed.Thelegend, andalakea holymountain fromwhich four ers begantotake aninterest inthelegend of Victorian era,ahandfulof Western explor- exception.Inthelate books –withonenotable May or Juneisaparticularly populartime early April. from late October orearlyNovember until Kailash koraisnormally blocked withsnow cheapest inNovember. Drölma-laon the Mt hire Cruiser are forLand out toNgari.Rates October are probably thebesttimestohead May, toearly Juneand frommid-September Go to When borders of China,IndiaandPakistan. tension alongthecontestedkora ormilitary either topoliticalunrest ontheMtKailash toforeigners,and isperiodicallyclosed due the latest wordbefore you headoff. travellers were beingturnedback,socheck for and Tsochen). Atthetimeof research some Purang, theGuge kingdom,Rutok,Gertse the prefecture (egMtKailash, Manasarovar, receive atravel permitformostplacesin return forafine(Y300to350)youwould Technically youcanget aroundmostof The festival of Saga Dawa( p229 Western Tibet isapoliticallysensitive area ). In the past, you could obtain oneby ).Inthepast,youcouldobtain lonelyplanet.com )during www.lonelyplanet.comlonelyplanet.com Western RUNNINGHEAD Tibet (Ngari) •• ••RunningSubhead Western Tibet 217 To Lhasa (250km) To Nagchu (450km) Lhatse

Zangdo Lulung Hwy To Everest

Ngamring-tso

Tagtse-tso Base Camp (60km) Sali Friendship Jaido Checkpoint tso Ngamring Kaga S H I G A T E Ngangtse- P R E F C T U Ombu Shegar Xijiakonglong Lhadrong Tsangpo Tingri 00 150 km 90 miles tso Gutso

Sangsang e To Zhangmu (60km) Dangra-

N A G C H U

g Gomo-tso Yarlung Dzango Tsangon P R E F C T U Raka King Tiger Hot Springs

n (4845m)

Peiku-tso Zhangmu Short Cut to La Lung-la Zhari Checkpoint Nam-tso tso Siling

a (5500m) Kangro Song Ma-la (5000m) Tagyel- Nor Gwa-la thern Route or Saga R N Dargyeling Tsochen Changtang Dzongka (Northern Plateau) 6185m Dung-tso Dawa-tso Checkpoint Chendiloma (4900m) (8162m) Manaslu C h a n g t Nor Chung-la Checkpoint N a t u r e P s v

Zhongba

Darok-tso i New

e k a

Zhongba

Gertse d

n (8090m) Route a

Annapurna s G E Lunggar Tuoya Mustang

i Paryang Southern

tso G (8167m) Ngangla- Dhaulagiri Oma-chu A L I Gunmidengli d

N (6883m)

g Kanjiroba

P R E F C T U A Samsang Denglong

n Checkpoint R Tsaka Zhigon Daman a (5216m) G Mayun-la Gung Yagra A Gyu-tso Simikot Pongba

N E P A L Y Hor Qu Lake

Chaktsakha A Manasarovar Gurla (7728m) Mandata Barkha L r Saipal Gegye

e Darchen iv (7050m) Kangri (6714m) (6596m) R Mt Kailash

Nganglong A s Sher u

d Toyo Tal To Xinjiang; Tsaphuk n Gurla-la

I (4700m) Rakshas M Purang Kashgar (1170km) Yecheng (920km); Checkpoint Khojarnath I Chiu Monastery Songsha Moincer 4938m H Namru Dormar Rumudong Ali Gurugyam Monastery Tirthapuri

Gar River r Hot Springs

Jaggang e Rutok Xian iv Mahendranagar R (7817m) T

j Nanda Devi

ὈὈὈὈὈὈὈὈ ὈὈὈὈὈὈὈὈ e ὈὈὈὈὈὈὈὈ

Gar l (5300m) t Lalung-la u Piyang Dongpo

Dungkar A S WESTERN TIBET (NGARI)

Rutok r ive Zanda E

R Pithoragarh s Tashigang R Lurulangkar u nd Checkpoint

Pangong-tso I Kamet

(7756m) G Tsaparang Rampur I N D A

iver

s R and may not be correct nge Ga The external boundaries of India I N D A on this map have not been authenticated WESTERN TIBET (NGARI)