WHEN I arrived at Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region from Ge’ermu, Qinghai Province by train on the evening of June 20, I decided to visit the prefecture of Nyingchi.

That afternoon, a female employee of the Tibet China Travel Service (TCTS) had boarded the train at Naqu Station, the first stop of the newly built Qinghai-Tibet Railway within Tibet.

Upon hearing that it was my first visit to Tibet, she advised me to make a two-day trip to Nyingchi from Lhasa.

She told me the greenery in the east of Tibet was totally different from what I had seen in the barren northern part of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau along the railway. And more importantly, the trip would help me quickly acclimatize to the high altitude of Tibet, she said.

The scenic spots on the trip include the Lhasa River, Mila Pass, Nyang River, Basomtso Lake, Great Cypress Nature Reserve and Bayi Township.

A two-day trip to Nyingchi from Lhasa costs 600 yuan each person, which covers bus fares, four meals and a night’s stay in a three-star hotel in Bayi Township as well as a 100-yuan ticket to the Basomtso Lake and a 15-yuan ticket to the Great Cypress Nature Reserve.

At around 8 a.m. June 21, I borded a bus from near the Potala Palace in Lhasa, along with more than 30 tourists from all over the country. After we left Lhasa, we began our trip on the 318 highway, which winds its way along the Lhasa River.

The 318 highway, also called the Sichuan-Tibet road, starts in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province and ends in Lhasa.

The riverbed of Lhasa River is covered with glacial gravel in its upper reaches. The river is broad during early summer, in some places spreading several hundred meters wide, and in others narrowing and flowing rapidly against the slopes and cliffs.

The views along the river are impressive especially of the masses of white clouds along the mountain ranges.

After about a three-hour drive, we got to the Mila Pass, at 5,013 meters, the highest point of our two-day trip.

When our bus drove down the Mila Mountain, the Nyang River, the longest tributary of the Yarlung Tsangpo River, came into view.

The Nyang River originates in the west of Mila Mountain. The river flows from west to east and joins the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Zemen of Nyingchi County.

With more trees and crops, the valleys along the Nyang River look much more fertile than those along the Lhasa River.

At around 2 p.m., we got to Basomtso Lake, which is more than 360 kilometers from Lhasa and about 50 kilometers from the 318 highway. As the largest freshwater lake in the east of Tibet, the Basomtso Lake was definitely the highlight of our two-day trip.

The lake is also known as Tsogao, which means “green water” in Tibetan. It is an alpine lake in the middle and upper reaches of the Ba River, the largest tributary of the Nyang River.

At a height of 3,469 meters, the lake covers an area of about 26 square kilometers with a maximum depth of 60 meters.

The blue, limpid lake water and the verdant mountains around the lake combine to create a tranquil and splendid scene all year around.

The Basomtso Lake is a holy lake for the Nyingmapa order of Tibetan Buddhism. Nyingmapa, also called the Red Hat Sect, is the oldest Tibetan Buddhist school which was founded during 7th and 8th centuries on the shores of the lake.

On a small island in the center of the lake, tourists can find a monastery, which was founded in the 17th century.

Before sunset, we went to visit the Great Cypress Nature Reserve, which is located in Pagqi, a village about 10 kilometers southeast of the Bayi Township.

Great cypresses, also known as Yarlung Tsangpo River cypresses for being peculiar to the river area, are commonly seen along the lower reaches of the Nyang River and the Yarlung Tsangpo River.

Covering a total area of about 10 hectares, the nature reserve was established in 1982 to protect the remaining cypresses, most of which are more than 1,000 years old, 30 meters high and one meter wide.

The king cypress in the reserve is nearly 50 meters tall, 5.8 meters wide and about 2,500 years old.

As the largest and oldest tree in the forest, the king cypress is believed to be the “life tree” of Tonpa Shenrab, founder of the aboriginal Bon religion.

The cypress forest is venerated as holy land by Bon believers, and colorful prayer flags are hung from the trees in the reserve.

We stayed overnight in Bayi Township, capital of Nyingchi Prefecture, which is situated 406 kilometers east of Lhasa.

At 2,900 meters, the township is a developing industrial city surrounded by green mountains. The Nyang River flows south of the township.

Formerly called “Lhabagar,” the township received its present name to commemorate the People’s Liberation Army’s contribution to its construction in the 1960s. At present, the township is the only major city in Tibet to have a Mandarin name.

My most interesting experience during the two-day trip happened on the second day when we went through the Mila Pass on the way back to Lhasa.

The first day was sunny and clear. But it was snowing heavily on the pass when we reached it June 22.

The snowflakes flying around the pass seemed to take us back to winter.