In the early morning of day 4 we left Lhasa to head towards Shigatse with stopover at Yamdrok Tso and Gyantse. There are two high passes along the way, Khamba La (4,794m, between Lhasa and Yamdrok Tso) and Karo La (5,010m, between Yamdrok Tso and Gyantse). I made my highest 'ascent', surpassing Annapurna Base Camp (4,200m) a couple of years ago. (but only to be surpassed again the next day at Gyatso La (5,220m) the next day.
After leaving Lhasa, the road goes south along the Lhasa River towards the Yarlung Tsanpo river. After Yarlung Tsanpo river the the road ascends to Khamba La. At the highest point of Khamba La is the viewpoint for Yamdrok Tso. The road then descended to drive along Yamdrok Tso, which itself is at 4,440m. The road then goes along the northern short of Yamdrok Tso before climbing up to Karo La, where there is a glacier just by the roadside. It was very cold and windy at Karo La. After the glacier the road descends to Gyantse, which is at 3,950m.
Yamdrok Tso is one of the three largest sacred lakes in Tibet. It is also Tibet's largest freshwater lake and is over 72 km long. It is a turquoise lake fed by melted snow through numerous small stream sand has a outlet stream at its far western end. The lake is surrounded by many snow-capped mountains, the most notable of which is Kula Kangri (7,554m) which is visible on the horizon on the Bhutanese border. From this vantage point you can see why the Tibetans consider Yamdrok Tso to be a sacred lake. Unfortunately when we were there it was very cloudy. Otherwise Kula Kangri can be seen on the far side of the lake in photo 5.
1. Lhasa River, just outside Lhasa
2. Just before going up the Khamba La (4,794m, in the photo is the 5 landcruisers of my tour group
3.Roads leading up to the Khamba La pass
4. Looking bakc at the Yarlung Tsangpo river from Khamba La
5 to 8. The Yamdrok Tso
9. Glacier at Karo La
10 & 11. An artificial lake created by a dam
12 & 13. Scenery along the way
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