Last night was a full moon but we didn't get a chance to fully appreciate the beauty from the roof of the world because the weather just got nasty with blistery wind and cold rain. This morning wasn't any better - rain and wind. At breakfast, we asked our guide the same question we ask every day - what's the route like? And we get the same answer, "it's easy"...followed by "oh there's a pass you have go over". Hum...rain, wind, pass...WTF?!?
Mat and I just sat in our tent trying to figure out if it's worth riding in the rain or taking the support car to Gyantse, as we wait out the rain. No such luck...so we decide it's not worth getting sick before reaching Everest. We load up the support car and drive to Gyantse, feeling defeated by the rain and wind. And of course, as soon as we start driving the rain stops. Mat and I look at each other with the same thought - let's ride from Simu La pass if it's not raining there. We figure it'll be about 35km to Gyantse (mostly downhill), easy. Not so fast, there's a small pass we need to climb over....ugh!
We get to Simu La and sure enough, the rain has stopped and we can even see blue skies. We tell our guide that we'd like to ride to Gyantse from here...he had this dumbfounded look on his face, as if we're crazy. Snap...snap...snap, we take couple of photos of Simu La, and we're off! Would you believe the day turned out to be gorgeous and we had an amazing ride to Gyantse. We quickly forgot about the nasty rain and wind, instead we just soaked in the warm sun, beautiful countryside terrain and long stretches of the road to ourselves.
Since we got to Gyantse early, we had an opportunity to visit Kumbum Monastery in the afternoon. Kumbum Monastery has the largest stupa (chorten) in Tibet with 77 chapels built into the walls along six floors. Unfortunately, Kumbum Monastery is no different from the other touristy attraction; just outside of the Monastery, dozens of street vendors are lined up selling every trinket one can imagine.
The evening ended with a hot shower and comfortable bed at the Tibet Gyantse Yu Tuo Hotel.
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