It’s good to have a Plan B in Tibet, since individual travel is so difficult. It’s also a good thing I didn’t buy that permit, because my plan to go to Sakya turned into a complete fiasco.

Polgrims at Pelkor Chode

There were no busses where the Lonely Planet said there would be (which actually happens a lot, as the info in them is old, and things change), so I took a taxi to the bus station, which was crowded and chaotic. I said “Sakya” to random people, but nobody understood me. By 8:30 all the vans left and the place was deserted.

Plan B went off without a hitch. I killed an hour, came back, got on a van to Gyantse with one seat left, and we immediately departed. If only that would have been my Plan A.

Two hours through the plains (it’s amazing how flat it is, but then there are mountains walling the plains in), and we arrived in the big town of Gyantse, which has a Chinese core, and extensive Tibetan houses all around.

Gyantse only has two sights, and despite Lonely Planet’s claim that “it’s worthwhile spending a couple of days exploring Gyantse,” I was ready to leave after four hours. There’s nothing to do here besides see the sights, and Lonely Planet doesn’t elaborate on what’s so great.

Gyntse from above

The first sight was the Pelkor Chode Monastery. Today there’s not much left of the place. The highlight was the Kumbum, an interesting seven tiered chorten (stupa). Each level has chapels devoted to a different deity, with fascinating murals. The longer you look at the murals, the more details you see. There are 77 chapels in total.

The other sight was the ruined dzong, or fort, up on a big hill north of town. This place was the sight of a strange British incursion into Tibet, in which the government ignored the invaders. Today the dzong features an “anti-British imperialism museum” with confusing misinformation about the episode. There are also mannequins depicting the “evil feudal aristocracy” who ruled from the dzong before the Chinese “liberated” the peasants from them. There are scenes of dungeons, torturers, and tax collectors. Despite the propaganda, you are free to climb through the ruins, and the view from the top was superb.

Other than those two sights, Gyantse is an unremarkable town, and I am eager to leave.