Shigatse

Lovely day out of Gyantse. We're on our way to Shigatse, Tibet's 2nd largest city.

Snow peaks!

Village of sorts along the way.

Common form of good transportation. 5 hp @ 2 rpm.

Lovely day. Lovely scenery.

Look at the clouds below the peaks.

This is Ta Shi Lung Po Monastery, the seat of the Panchen Lama - the highlight in Shigatse. Celebrations marking the birth, death and enlightenment of Buddha were still ongoing.

Pilgrims doing the kora around a stupa.

We saw these on rooftops of temples, but weren't able to find out what they are. Our guess was that they contain scriptures or prayers, which will be "sent" as they spin in the wind. Similar to the concept of spinning prayer wheels.

The Tibetan calendar.

That little boy ain't for sale. Not that we asked.

The clouds and the blue sky! Reminds me of the opening sequence of "The Simpsons".

Mosaic art - lotus.

The walls were covered with these images.

Peach!

Walking around the monastery grounds.

Snow peaks in the far background.

This monk attracted our attention as he was grunting rather loudly while moving along at a good clip. The sack must be very heavy.

Prayer wheels that lined the perimeter of the monastery marking the pilgrim (kora) route.

Closeup.

Colorful inscriptions along the pilgrim route.

Colorful mani stones.

View of Shigatse from the kora trail.

View of Ta Shi Lung Po Monastery from the top.

The locals call this the mini Potala.

More views of the city from the kora trail (which was quite long).

Even the sheep's doing the kora.

Ingenious way to boil water in that climate. We see this everywhere. Simple idea for a place that has plenty of strong sun.

Back in the city - locals playing billiards. It seemed like the most popular game in Tibet. We saw this everywhere. There would be billiard tables in the most unexpected places...like a hole in the wall.

There was this odd modernish looking sculpture thingy outside our hotel. No idea what it is, but it looked so out of place I took a pic of it.