The road west from Shigatse towards the Nepal border runs across one of the highest and emptiest stretches of country in the world, through Saga and Nyalam to the frontier at Kyirong. It is long, it is mostly above four thousand five hundred metres, and it is scattered with lakes. The largest and most striking of them is Peiku Tso, a wide sheet of water set in open grassland, with the Himalayan range rising beyond its southern shore.
The lake and the mountain
Peiku Tso is a brackish lake fed by snowmelt, its colour changing with the light from grey-green to a deep blue, with no trees and no buildings on its shores - just pasture, boulders, the road, and the wind. On clear days the great peak that dominates the view to the south is Shishapangma, the only mountain of over eight thousand metres entirely within Chinese territory, and one of the highest in the world. Because the lake sits at about four thousand six hundred metres and the land around it is bare, the scale is deceptive: the mountain looks close, and it is not.
The journey
The drive itself is the reason to come. The route passes nomad camps and grazing herds, strings of pack animals on the old trade line, small settlements with one shop and a teahouse, and the great sand dunes and braided river beds of the upper Yarlung Tsangpo. Further west the country becomes drier and more severe, and the road climbs towards the passes that lead down to the Nepal border, where the vegetation changes abruptly and the descent into the Kathmandu valley begins. Almost nothing is developed for visitors; there are basic guesthouses in the towns and nothing at all between them.
Practical notes
This is a route rather than a destination, and it needs a permit, a vehicle and an experienced driver; foreigners require the relevant travel permits, and the border crossings open and close according to their own rules, so arrangements must be made through a licensed operator. Altitude is the main risk: almost the entire drive is above four thousand metres and several passes are much higher, so acclimatisation beforehand matters. The season is short - roughly May to October - and even then snow can close the passes. Bring water, food, sun protection and warm layers; there is nothing to buy for long stretches of the road.
