File11-west--loc-tib8 Book Initial Mapping Date Road tibet 8 AndrewS 23/9/2010 Scale All key roads labelled?Hierarchy Hydro Chapterwestern tibet Editor Cxns Date Title Spot colours removed?Hierarchy Symbols Author MC Cxns Date Nthpt Masking in Illustrator done? Bradley Mayhew Book Off map Inset/enlargement correct?dest'ns Borderlocator Key Author Cxns Date Notes Basefiletibet 6 Final Ed Cxns Date KEY FORMAT SETTINGS New References Number of Rows (Lines) Editor Check Date

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Western Tibet (Ngari) མངའ་譲ས་ Includes  Why Go? Saga ...... 167 Vast, thinly populated and with an average altitude of over Zhongba ...... 167 4500m, Ngari is a rough and ready frontier occupying one Hor Qu ...... 168 of the remotest corners of Asia. For most travellers the main Tsochen ...... 169 attractions of what is likely to be a two- or three-week over- land trip are the almost legendary destinations of Mt Kai- Gegye ...... 170 lash and Manasarovar. Indeed, many of the Tibetan Ali ...... 171 and Indian pilgrims on this road have been planning a visit Mt Kailash ...... 173 all their lives. For those less fussed by the spiritual signifi- . . .. 175 cance of Mt Kailash, travelling over the Changtang (the high Guge Kingdom . . . .. 178 plateau), with its endless steppes and impossibly high snow- capped peaks, is likely to be an attraction in itself. Khojarnath ...... 184 Freshly paved roads and a new airport are opening up the Purang ...... 185 region in a way unimaginable a mere decade ago. There’s no escaping mass Chinese tourism now, but the faster routes do open up all sort of possibilities for detours to still-off-the- beaten track destinations. Best Views ¨¨Humla Karnali Valley When to Go from Shepeling (Simbaling) Monastery (p185) ¨¨May to June and mid-September to early October are the best times to head to Ngari, though June and July see huge ¨¨Tagyel-tso (p168), or convoys of Indian pilgrims booking out entire hotels on their anywhere along the northern way to Mt Kailash. route ¨¨April to October is best for the Drölma-la pass on the Mt ¨¨Mt Kailash floating over the Kailash , as it’s normally blocked with snow during other waters of Rakshas Tal (p175) months (though you wouldn’t be permitted into the region during these other months in any case). ¨¨The festival of Saga Dawa in May/June is a particularly Best Places off popular time to visit Mt Kailash, and hundreds of pilgrims and the Beaten Track tourists descend on the mountain. Unfortunately, this is also ¨¨Gossul Monastery (p177) a potentially sensitive time due to the Chinese government’s control over the area, so the region may be closed to foreign ¨¨Ruins of Shangshung travellers. (p178) in the Khyunglung Valley ¨¨Old Rutok (p184) N

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