Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ley and yellow rapeseed fields, with dense, forested mountains rising across the valley.
Tashigang (Zhāxīgǎng) is as pretty and bucolic a place as you could wish for.
The village is comprised of walled stone Tibetan block homes, which gives you a rare
chance to examine this hardy architecture up close. Do ask if you can visit the attic of a
house. While houses in Lhasa sport flat roofs, in Kongpo they are slanted with open gable
ends. Food and other materials are usually stored in the well-ventilated attic space.
On a knoll above the village is a highly visible
kora
(look for the cluster of prayer
flags). You can complete a circuit and return to your guesthouse in an hour.
Sleeping & Eating
There are 14 guesthouses in the village, all offering similar levels of accommodation and
home-cooked meals. Beds might be a bit hard, but expect to be generally comfortable and
to have flushing squat toilets available. If you don't like the guesthouse your guide has
brought you to, by all means ask to see another.
Guests are charged per person (around ¥60 to ¥80), which includes breakfast. Other
meals are extra. If you stay for dinner be sure to ask to try the local chili paste, used as a
dip for bread. With the rise of mass tourism in the area and the building of the tourism vil-
lage nearby we can't say how this rural experience will change in the coming years, though
prices will likely rise sharply.
Bakha Monastery
Sights & Activities
The road from Tashigang to
Bakha Gompa
( )
, or monastery, situated on an island in the
Parlung Tsangpo River, is alternately one of the most dramatic and bucolic in all Kham.
After Tashigang the Rong-chu river valley narrows and enters a deep canyon where road
washouts are common and delays are to be expected: it could take three to four hours to
drive this route, or double that.
At the village of
Pelung
watch for the water flow changing direction: the Parlung
Tsangpo and Rong-chu rivers (coming from different directions) meet here and then con-
tinue southeast through a canyon that may be the world's deepest. After Tangmi the valley
begins to widen again, the river swells to over a kilometre wide, and stone-house villages
