Shigatse, Tibet 1987 and the 2025 earthquake

 In early January 2025 there was a massive earthquake near Shagatse, in the Himalayas in Tibet. 

From BBC

Map from Reuters -

Shigatse city is the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, one of the most important figures in Tibetan Buddhism.

In 1987 I travelled through Tibet. I went from Kathmandu in Nepal up to Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region. It was quite a tough journey, travelling by bus and when that wasn't available, hitching rides in back of trucks. Also had to walk some distances when the road had been washed out. I was suffering from the altitude.

From Zhangmu to Nyalam we had a terrifying ride in the back of a truck, going fast up hairpin bends.

At Nyalam we discovered the truck was going on to Shigatse, so negotiated a price, this time sitting in the cab. From Nyalam at 4000 m we began climbing a high pass and saw the first snow capped peaks (30 Sept). 

We saw Mt Xixabangma, at 8012 m is the only 8000 m totally in Tibet. Reached the Tibetan plateau, a really beautiful but desolate area with no vegetarian, barren rocks and clear blue sky. 

We drove along the Friendship Highway to Tingri West at 4300 m. Past Cho You then my first close view of Everest. We stopped that night at a Tibetan truck stop hotel where the Xegar road turns off. We were at 4300 m and I was suffering from the altitude. 

Thankfully Shigatse is lower as I couldn't afford to go any higher. But we had to go up first. We climbed the Lak Pa La pass at 5220 m, the highest I've been. Then over the Po La pass at 4500 m. The journey was a bit of a blur for me. I experienced the first really smelly Tibetan toilet when we stopped for salt tea.

We eventually reached Shigatse and were dropped off outside town. We walked in really slowly as both felt lethargic. We got a 3 bedded room in the Tibetan Hotel No 1 for 83p each, then collapsed exhausted. I later had my first wash for 4 days, in the courtyard from a cold water tap, mixing it with a bowl of hot water meant for tea, and the locals thought it was a spectator sport! There is not much water in the mountainous areas of Tibet. 

The next morning, after trying to get rid of an altitude headache, we set off for Tashilhunpo Monastery. But we weren't allowed in as we were wearing shorts - having washed our trousers that had accumulated several days worth of dust - the atmosphere is very dusty in the dry air. The Tashi Lhunpo Monastery was founded in 1447 and was formerly the home of the Panchen Lama. More than 4000 monks used to live here. 

So we crawled into town, unable to go any faster in the altitude. Shigatse is at 3860 m and the oxygen content of the air is only 67% of that at sea level. We ambled around the market. Many stalls were selling odourful yak cheese, wrapped up in skin -

Meat stalls were selling every part of the goat, from the head to the fur and there were many split heads along with legs, stomachs etc, but most of the meat looked really dry. Dogs sat below the stalls.

We walked down the road towards the fort. The Shigatse Dzong, also known as Samdruptse Dzong was dismantled during the Cultural Revolution in 1959 and very little remained. But it was rebuilt in 2007.

This is the rebuilt fort, photo from Wikipedia -

The town was quiet and peaceful, considering it is Tibet's second largest city. We saw no cars at all and very few bikes. There were some nice  buildings but it was all typically Chinese. We looked at some of the local stores and bought a tin of pineapple! It was a slow crawl back to the hotel, slightly uphill.

After lunch we changed into trousers to tackle the monastery. We were in luck, even though it is officially closed in the afternoons. Paid the entry and went in - it is like a small town in itself.

The Panchen Lama was the leader of the Yellow Sect. The Panchen is the most important reincarnation after the Dalai Lama. We walked around the main courtyard and complex which was being rebuilt. There are many halls, all containing hundreds of tiny Buddhas but few big ones. We saw the kitchen containing huge cauldrons and implements, then the printing works. 

It was really hard work climbing the steps  up to the back to get a view over Shigatse, which is quite small, in a plain surrounded by barren hills. 

I was feeling really lifeless and everything was hard work, not being acclimatised to the altitude. We ambled round to the Hall of the Maitreya which contains the 27 m high Champa or Buddha, but it was closed. Saw many other halls that contained pictures of previous Dalai and Panchen lamas. 

The next morning, as we left and walked past the monastery we saw several prostrators doing kjangchag outside, throwing themselves flat on the ground , although some were using inner tubes or blankets for protection. 

We started hitching for a ride but no trucks stopped, so we walked out of town and after about 3.5 hours one finally stopped and we set off for Gyantse. 

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Tashi Lhunpo Monastery on Wikipedia