Shigatse (Chinese: 日喀则, roughly read as Ri Ka Ze) means “a manor of the most fertile soil” in Tibetan, an area that is full history in politics, religion and culture from the latter days of Tibetan Empire. Located in southwestern Tibet Autonomous Region, southwest China, it is bordering Ngari, Nagqu, Shannan (Mountain-South) and Lhasa, as well as neighboring states of Nepal and Bhutan. It has 182,000 square kilometers of land area with an average altitude over 4,000 meters above sea level. More than 90 percent of 662,000 people in Shigatse are Tibetans. Most of the population here is engaging in agriculture. The natural environment in Shigatse is suitable for farming that the climate is not as harsh as middle regions, the Himalayas and Ngari. Abundant sunshine, fertile steppe and water resources make Shigatse a good name – The Barn of Tibet. Natural resources of plants and herbs for traditional Chinese medicine are very rich too. 

The regional government is located in Shigatse City in eastern part, where sees the northern side of the Himalayas and Brahmaputra (Yalung Tsangpo) River. 

Shigatse is in the area of a vast river valley, the weather is quite moderate compared with central and western Tibet. The average temperature is ranging from 2 to 12 degrees Celsius in the coldest month and in the warmest month is 10 to 18 degrees. Rainfall concentrates in July and August. In the area where the Mt. Everest (Mt. Qomolongma) located, it will be extremely cold from October to April and it rains a lot in July and August, even though it will be much warmer, the wet air naughtily veils the magnificent view to the world’s highest mountain. The ideal time to see and explore the Mt. Everest and its neighboring areas is between late April and June.

The explorers’ camp of the Mount Everest and Rongbok Monastery (绒布寺) are located at 5,200 and 4,980 meters above sea level respectively, there without any mobile phone signal and even no electricity supply. Be prepared, bring more spare and fully charged batteries for your digital gadgets. The explorers’ camp, where the starting point to challenge the world’s highest peak, is the safest and the best position to appreciate the great scene of the Mt. Everest. 

Rongbok Monastery is not far away from the Mt. Everest base, located Basong Village, Dingri County of Shigatse. Built in 1899 in this cold and bleak area, it has been known as the Monastery of highest elevation in the world hitherto. During its heydays, there had been about 500 monks of Ningma Sect in Tibetan Buddhism, but today just 50 monks and nuns living inside. Massive repair work has been done in 1983. The highlights in Rongbok Monastery are the religious murals, statues of Sakyamuni Buddha and Lianhuasheng Master. The Mt. Everest, regarded as the ultimately holy mountain by Tibetan Buddhism, is clearly seen here and it looks like a gigantic and silvery pyramid. Admission for the monastery is 25 RMB each person.

Bangongcuo Lake (班公措) 

Located in the northwest of Shiquanhe Town (Lion Fountain River) along the Xinjiang-Tibetan Highway, it takes 3 to 4 hours to reach there. Road condition will be bad especially in rainy season. 

Tibetans call it “Cuomu’anla’renbo”, which means Swan with a Long Neck. It covers an area of 604 sq. km with length about 150km but width just only 2 to 5 kilometers and the narrowest part only 5 meters. There are many fish and birds living in the lake and in the area respectively. You can rent a boat in the lake for sightseeing or watching birds on the bird-viewing island. It is interesting to know that the lake’s one part in China and the other in India. The former part is of fresh water and the latter part is salty and no fish inside. 

It is reminded that the birds there are the endangered species and protected by the state, you cannot bring the bird eggs home. The boat for rent will charge you 80 RMB per capita but you can bargain. A kind of fish without scales that grows slowly due to the harsh plateau climate, but so delicious. 

Tuolin Monastery (托林寺) (Ticket: 30 Yuan per capita) 

The monastery lies in the north of Zheda County besides the bank of Xiangquan River. It was built by Yixiwo (益西沃) the Emperor of the Guge Kingdom in 11th century. Because the kingdom promoted Buddhism so Tuolin Monastery became the center of the religion at that time. The scale and style imitated the ancient Tibetan Samye Monastery (桑耶寺). Although the monastery was damaged a lot in the past centuries, it has still been greatness with many temples and pagodas. 

Kejia Monastery (科加寺) (Ticket: 30 Yuan per capita) 

Kejia Town, 100 km southeast of Alipulan (阿里普兰) County and 19km from the Pulan city center. You need to hire van as far as there. 

Kejia in Tibetan means “settled down in one place”. Kejia Monastery was established in early 12th century and its name had appeared in many books and novels in 14th century. The origin of the monastery is quite interesting: one day the people in Ge’er (噶尔) area who mastered the technique of making Buddha statues were bringing the Goddess of Mercy (Kwan-yin) statue to another place by horse carriage, when they reached the Peacock River’ bank, it was stuck by stones and the problem couldn’t be solved by any method, so they built a monastery there and named it “Kejia”. 

Wenquan’hu’wenquan (Hot Spring Lake) 

The spring in the lake area is one of the three pilgrimage places in western Tibet. It was said that a monk had attained highest state of enlightenment in Buddhism there. The pilgrims who came here thought that they could free themselves from sin. There are many Buddha sculptures in the monastery. Although the Kejia Monastery is small, the efficacious power of Buddha has attracted many pilgrims to pray peace and wealth for nearly a thousand years. 

Tangga (唐嘎) International Market 

Trade activities in Ngari are mainly engaged in Tangga International Market in Pulan. It opens from 15 July to 15 October annually. Shops are owned and run principally by Indian, Nepalese and Tibetan merchants. It has just a 2km distance from Pulan Custom and Quarantine Complex, the Peacock River is just located between them. The Indian and Nepalese sell cloth, wool, bed sheets, brown sugar, perfume from France and India, hair gel, cosmetic products and jewelry etc. Some merchants also sell sugar or other merchandises to exchange wools from Tibetans. 

Qiaotou (桥头) Market 

There are two hanging bridges can reach the Tangga International Market. A small market near the entry of the bridge in older part of the city called “Qiaotou Market”, run by locals and Nepalese.