Tashilhunpo Monastery, Shigatse, Tibet

Tashilhunpo is one of the six great Gelugpa monasteries along with Drepung, Sera and Ganden. Founded in 1447 by a disciple of Tsongkhapa, Genden Drup, who was retroactively named the first Dalai Lama. When the fifth Dalai Lama declared his teacher, then the abbot of Tashilhunpo, to be a manifestation of Opagme (a deification of the Buddha's faculty of cognition and perception), the monastery's importance rose and Tashilhunpo became the seat of the Panchen Lama. 'Panchen' literally means 'great scholar' while 'lama' means 'higher monk'.

Shigatse, Tibet

It's a two-hour bus ride to Shigatse, Tibet's second largest town. The big draw here is Tashilhunpo Monastery, the seat of Panchen Lama, although he actually lives in Beijing.

Shigatse reminds me of a smaller version of Lhasa: the same street sellers, shops and Tashi restaurants.

Gyantse, Tibet

View of Pelkor Chode Monastery and Gyantse Kumbum from the fort

Gyantse Dzong, Tibet

This 14th century fort looms over the town and the surrounding Nyang-chu Valley. It's a 20 minute walk up a snaking path plus a further hike up some very steep steps to reach the top. The views are worth the effort.

At the foot of Gyantse Dzong is the 'Memorial Hall of Anti British', a room filled with a warped account of the 1904 British invasion stating 'Tibet is an inalienable part of the motherland...' and how content the people are now that it's under communist rule.

Gyantse, Tibet

Gyantse Kumbum, Tibet

Gyantse Kumbum, Tibet

Gyantse Kumbum, Tibet

In the monastery complex is the famed Gyantse Kumbum, (kumbum means '100,000 images') the largest chorten in Tibet. Designed in layers as a three-dimensional mandala or model of the Buddhist universe, it has five levels (plus a 6th-floor viewing platform) which represent the five stages to enlightenment. The golden dome rises over four sets of eyes that gaze out in the directions of the cardinal points. A clockwise route leads pilgrims up dingy staircases to the next level. The chorten has 77 chapels in total, some containing well-preserved murals and buddhas, although many of them are dark.

Pelkor Chode Monastery, Gyantse, Tibet

Pelkor Chode Monastery, Gyantse, Tibet

Pelkor Chode Monastery, Gyantse Tibet

Pelkor Chode Monastery, Gyantse, Tibet

I'm in Gyantse to see the Pelkor Chode Monastery, founded in 1418, and which brought together three different orders of Buddhism in one place.

The assembly hall is dark but atmospheric with monk robes piled high on benches. The chapels adorned with various images of Buddha are thick with the smell of yak-butter candles.

Tibet

Drive to Gyantse, Tibet

Leaving Yamdrok-tso via the same road we drive to Gyantse, once again passing through the most dramatic landscapes.

Yamdrok-tso, Tibet

The road leads up to Kamba-la Pass at 4950 metres where there are dazzling views of the deep turquoise Yamdrok-tso lake. In the distance, the snow-capped Himalayas and the huge massif of Mount Nojin Kangstan (7191 metres) pierce the clouds. I've never seen mountains of this grandeur before.

Yamdrok-tso is a coiling scorpion-shaped body of water. Tibetan pilgrims circumambulate the sacred lake in seven days. Controversially the Chinese government wanted to utilise gravity to create a hydroelectric supply and by the mid-1980s had a agreed a plan to build a six-kilometre tunnel 10km below the surface of the lake that would send the waters dropping 846 metres into the Yarlung Tsangpo river. Work was temporarily halted after opposition from the Panchen Lama, but in 1997 the turbines had started generating electricity. The project is controversial not only because the lake is sacred to Tibetans, but because Yamdrok-tso is a dead lake with no outlet and no perennial source of water, which means that the water drained can never be replenished.

Leaving Lhasa

I spent last night in the hotel watching Tibetan TV, which more or less consists of fifty-odd channels shamelessly promoting the greatness of China, from incredible feats in surgery to engineering. I flick through the entire range several times amazed that there are no international news channels or English-speaking programmes.

I didn't sleep well last night but I'm revived by my new addiction: masala tea.

Today we're driving to Gyantse via Yamdrok-tso, one of Tibet's four holy lakes. As we leave Lhasa we travel though wide open landscapes of mountains, rivers and yellow trees, all resplendent under a bright cobalt-blue sky. Soon we climbing into scenery not unlike that of the Atlas Mountains.

Ganden Monastery, Tibet

Blue flowers

Kyi-chu Valley, Tibet

View from the high kora

High Kora, Ganden Monastery, Tibet

The Ganden kora (pilgrim's path) is a stunning walk around the monastery offering fantastic views of the Kyi-chu valley. There are two parts to the walk - the high kora which climbs Angkor Ri and the low kora which follows an even track around the back of the monastery. As everyone else is taking the hard option, it seems only fair that I attempt the same.

My guide book allows 40 minutes to climb to the top of Angkor Ri at 5050 metres but it takes me an hour. It's steep, rocky and the air is thin. I need to stop every few paces as I feel winded. The summit is deceiving. When you think you can see the end, you are only half way.

As I stumble with great relief towards the multi-coloured prayer flags on the summit, third-last in my group, I feel it was all worth it for the view.

Ganden Monastery, Tibet