Nyalam Town

Nyalam (Chinese: 聂拉木; Tibetan: གཉའ་ལམ[1]) is a small town in and the county seat of Nyalam County in the Shigatse Prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region, near the Nepal border. It is 35 km from Zhangmu town in the same county, which is the point of entry to Nepal. Nyalam is situated at 3,750 metres (12,300 ft) above sea level.

Nyalam Town
གཉའ་ལམ་གྲོང་བརྡལ · 聂拉木镇
Town
Nyalam Town is located in Tibet
Nyalam Town
Nyalam Town
Coordinates (Nyalam Town government): 28°09′26″N 85°58′45″E
CountryPeople's Republic of China
Autonomous regionTibet
Prefecture-level cityXigaze
Elevation
3,750 m (12,300 ft)
Nyalam Town
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese聶拉木鎮
Simplified Chinese聂拉木镇
Tibetan name
Tibetanགཉའ་ལམ་གྲོང་བརྡལ

Once a town of stone buildings and tin roofs, Nyalam was known as Tsongdu[2] (Tibetan: ཚོང་འདུས[1]) and was part of the historical Tsang Province of Tibet before the annexation by China. Nepalese trans-himalayan traders called it Kuti (Nepali: कुती) and also 'The Gate of Hell' because the old trail down to the Nepalese border was very treacherous.

Today Nyalam is a fast-growing little town made of concrete buildings located on the Friendship Highway between Lhasa and the Nepal border. South of Nyalam the road drops abruptly through the gorge of the Matsang Tsangpo (a.k.a. Poiqu, Bhotekoshi River), which is the upper section or main tributary of Sun Kosi in Nepal.[2][3] The town is about 40 km from the Nepalese border and 150 km from Kathmandu.

See also
  • Outside Milarepa's Cave, about 10 km north of Nyalam Town
    Outside Milarepa's Cave, about 10 km north of Nyalam Town
  • "Police Attention: No distributing any unhealthy thoughts or objects." A trilingual (Tibetan - Chinese- English) sign above the entrance to a small cafe in Nyalam Town, Tibet, 1993.
    "Police Attention: No distributing any unhealthy thoughts or objects." A trilingual (Tibetan - Chinese- English) sign above the entrance to a small cafe in Nyalam Town, Tibet, 1993.

Footnotes
  1. "Xigazê prefecture-level city (Tibet AR, China)". Institute of the Estonian Language. 2018-06-03. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  2. Dorje (1999), p. 305.
  3. Mayhew, Bradley and Kohn (2005), p. 193.

References
  • Dowman, Keith. (1988). The Power-places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim's Guide, pp. 73–79. Routledge & Kegan Paul. London. ISBN 0-7102-1370-0
  • Gyume Dorje. (1999). Footprint Tibet Handbook with Bhutan. Footprint Handbooks, Bath, England. ISBN 0-8442-2190-2.
  • Mayhew, Bradley and Kohn, Michael. (2005). Tibet, 6th Edition. Lonely Planet. ISBN 1-74059-523-8.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Nyalam.


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