The Third Qinghai-Tibet Loop Touring the Good Rivers and Mountains of the Motherland Day 21 Lazi-Yamdrok Yongtso

Day 21

August 11, 2020
Departure place: Lazi
Destination: Yanghu Polar Inn, Langkazi County, Shannan, Tibet
Main attractions: Manla Reservoir, Simila Mountain, Ningjin Kangsha Peak wild scenery, Karola Glacier
Height: The accommodation site is 4,449 meters above sea level, and the highest point, Karola Glacier Pass, is 5,051 meters above sea level.
Weather: Overcast to cloudy to overcast to light rain

The owner of Joy Hotel in Lazi County is from Hubei.

Chatting with him yesterday afternoon, he said that he took his wife and two children to see Mount Everest in 2018. When we walked to Lazi County, it was dark and it was raining heavily. He searched for a long time but could not find an available bed. hotel, and finally had no choice but to stay in the car for one night.

Later, he decided to open a hotel in Lazi in anger. The room should be big enough and the bed should be wide enough. Even a twin room could accommodate a family of four.

So in the second half of 2019, his Joy Hotel opened.

The boss is such a proactive person, I admire him.

His hotel is indeed what he said, the beds and rooms are big enough to accommodate a family. However, the facilities are a bit rudimentary and the sanitary conditions need to be improved. However, this kind of hotel is already pretty good for this small county.

In the morning we left the hotel and came to the county town, found a breakfast shop to fill our stomachs, and then headed towards the Wanrun Resort Hotel in Shigatse.

Why return to this hotel?

Because when I stayed the night before, I forgot the tea cup in the room, and then when my second uncle checked out (I wonder if he had a premonition that I would forget the tea cup on purpose) he forgot to give her the room card. So we made an agreement with the hotel to hand over the card in one hand and the cup in the other at 1 o'clock this afternoon.

Fortunately, when we went to Yamdrok Yumcuo, we also had to pass through Shigatse, so there was no detour.

We arrived at the hotel on time at 1 in the afternoon and we successfully completed the transaction. Afterwards, we had lunch in the suburbs of Shigatse and then drove forward along Provincial Highway 204.

This is our trajectory for the day

From Lazi to Shigatse, we walked back. We saw all the scenery we should see and didn’t stop to take photos.

After leaving Lazi, we climbed up a mountain and looked back at this small county town from the mountain pass. Yesterday we were stuck in traffic here for a while because there was a large mudslide here two days ago. When we arrived, the local road crews were still cleaning it up.

On cloudy and rainy days, the mountains are dark and humid, but some people still have to humidify others.

Going further, encountering the 5000KM monument on National Highway 318 makes people feel a bit absurd. This place is actually about 50KM away from the 5000KM road monument, so this monument is not worthy of its name. I want to report it.

The old driver was also very confused, but since he got out of the car, he still reluctantly pretended to punch in.

There is a temple on the low hill next to here, which is very attractive.

Have lunch and move on. The blue circle on the way is the Manla Reservoir, which is not that attractive from the map.

Walking along Provincial Highway 204, there will be sections involving mud from time to time. This is really surprising.

It was fun to drive, but the car was very dirty and the license plate was completely covered by the mud. I originally planned to go to the hotel in the evening and use some water to clean the license plate to avoid being punished by the police. However, when I passed a security checkpoint, the police asked me to get out of the car and clean it immediately. I had no choice but to use 5 or 6 wet wipes to pack the license plate properly.

It's open, the sky is clearing up. We came to a place with good scenery, parked the car quickly, and took advantage of this rare scene to take photos.

The road also looks very pure, perfect for filming

So everyone took turns

After having enough fun, we continued to drive forward and came to Manla Reservoir. The water in this reservoir is turquoise and very distinctive, but the surrounding scenery is really average.

We first met the Manla Reservoir in the blue circle. We thought it was a bronze, but when we came to the green circle, we discovered that the Manla Reservoir turned out to be a king

We parked the car in a spacious place, and then walked towards the hill next to Manla Reservoir, only to find that it turned out to be a sacred mountain.

Standing here and looking at the Manla Reservoir, the feeling is completely different (look left and right)

Do you think it’s a bit awesome (this is looking forward)? Say yes, hurry up! Otherwise it will be too late!

Photographers are definitely not willing to give up the opportunity

Saying goodbye to Simila Mountain and Manla Reservoir, we continued to move forward. Gradually, Ningjin Kangsha Peak, where the Yasha God lives, gradually appeared in front of us. However, the sky turned gloomy again at this time

The snow-capped mountains are shrouded in clouds and mist, looming, which makes people feel regretful.

Even so, everyone is still quite excited

The surrounding scenery is actually pretty good.

It looks like the rain has already caught up with me. Let’s go quickly.

While walking on the road, I couldn’t bear to take two pictures.

Not long from here, we came to the Karola Glacier. The Karola Glacier is part of the Ningjin Kangshafeng Glacier in the four major snow mountains in Tibet. It is the largest glacier around the peak. Karola Glacier is also one of the three largest continental glaciers in Tibet.

Karola Glacier is the glacier closest to the road in Tibet, so you can see this magnificent scenery on the road. Of course, if you want to enjoy the glacier more closely and climb to the pavilion in the photo, you need to pay a conscientious ticket price of 50 yuan. We didn’t have much time that day, so we didn’t climb up (didn’t pay)

I zoomed in a little closer to take two more pictures and then left.

When we arrived in Langkazi County, it started to rain lightly and the sky was extremely gloomy. At 7:20 in the evening, we arrived at a viewing point (blue circle) in Yanghu Lake. There were no traces of the usual vendors, tour operators, and those holding Tibetan mastiffs for tourists to take pictures. We took two photos here despite the rain and quickly continued on to our hotel.