"Typical farmhouse on the long fertile valley between Gyanste and Shigatse.
 
After having made enquires at the hotel and nearby shops as to what time I might get a bus to Shigatse, a question that failed to bring a sure answer, I decided to go to the place where I had got off the bus from Lhasa. After a short wait some locals arrived with baggage and indicated they too were going my way. After another short wait a truck pulled up and we climbed up onto the back, and a man came round for the fare. Five minutes later we were on our way. Very good I thought! All went well till about half way when the truck caught up with a convoy of army vehicles. For some reason our driver decided to try and overtake them, and for the next 30 miles we were to travel in a constant cloud of dust that they threw up. It was so bad all I could do was sit with my back to the cab holding a handkerchief over my face. About a mile from Shigatse we finally passed the front vehicle. Due to the dust I saw little of that part of the journey, it had all seemed quite mad. On leaving the truck the dust that had collected on everything was so thick I had a job to find my bag.
 
On my first night in Shigatse I stayed at the towns new hotel, a large modern looking building on the outskirts of the Chinese part of the town. Despite being far more expensive than the hotel in Yangste, there was no hot water in my room, and few other comforts. For although the building had all the looks a smart western hotel, few things seemed to work. The next day I moved into a more basic hotel in the town, which met all my needs for a fraction of the cost. On the evening of that second day, the once a week bus from Lhasa, on route to the Nepalese border, arrived for its overnight stop. On the bus was a Dutch couple who had been staying at the Yak hotel. As they knew I planned to join the bus in Shigatse, they had been able to tell the driver to save a seat for me. The next morning, to my surprise, I saw the German also waiting to join the bus. He had, like me, just spent the previous few days in Shigatse. At the top of the pass, and at 5220m, we all had to get off and walk the last mile, while our bus crept along behind us and just about made it to the top. For most of the day the route was through barren rolling hills, that to me, had a beauty all of their own. " - MH