Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Gertse to Gegye (368km)
It's a seven- to eight-hour drive from Gertse to Gegye, the next town of any size. The ini-
tial landscape is a dreamy blur of lake and sky, cut by salt rings and brooding mountains of
rust, mustard, turmeric and green barley. Around Oma-chu (kilometre marker 982), a
small village huddled beneath a rocky splinter, keep your eyes open for the round, tomb-
like buildings that are actually tsampa (roasted-barley flour) storage bins.
The road passes some impressive peaks to the south and then the village of Sherma,
squeezed between the two lakes of Rali-tso and Loma Gyari-tso. After more peaks the
road drops down to large and photogenic Peri-tso and the nearby village of Wenbu Dang-
sang, two hours from Gertse. It's another 50km past a stony plain and a huge salt lake that
looks like it's full of icebergs to ramshackle Tsaka (Cākā), a small salt- and sheepskin-
processing community. The centre of town has simple food and guesthouses if you need
them.
From Tsaka one route continues northwest to meet the Ali-Kashgar road just north of
Pangong-tso . The road to Ali branches south and climbs a side valley to the 4895m
Gya-la, then descends past yak-hair nomads' tents to curve around salty Sher-tso (Bar-tso).
After another pass (4855m) with a large cave on one side, the road descends to the pas-
tures of Zhungba (Shungba; Xióngbā) via a Gobi-like stony desert. There's food here if
needed.
At kilometre marker 1202, near Drungba, the road enters a gorge and follows the
fledgling Indus River to Gegye. The Indus has its source in the northern flanks of Mt
Kailash and is known here as the Sengge (or Sengye) Tsangpo, or Lion River. It's astonish-
ing to think that this little stream continues through Ladakh and Pakistan, crossing the
world's highest mountain ranges to become one of the great rivers of Asia.
Gegye
0897 / Elev 4520m
The mildly interesting little town of Gegye (Géjí), nestled below a ridge, is a logical
overnight point, though there's little to actually do except drink beer and play pool with
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