Gyirong Port Tibet

Located 490km southwest from Shigatse Prefecture, Gyirong Valley is known as the “SecretGarden of Mount Everest” for its abundant forests and a lot of wildlife. In the Tibetan language, Gyirong means ”village of comfort and happiness”. Gyirong Port borders Nepal in the south and for more than 1000 years it has been functioning as a very important port for business, trade and culture exchange between Nepal and Tibet. The famous Princess Bhrikuti who married to the Tibet King Songtsganpo travelled from Nepal to Lhasa exactly via the Gyirong Port.

 
Gyirong Port Administration Building

The location of Gyirong Township is really good as its 24km from the border (Rasuwa Bridge) and from the border it’s about 170 km to Kathmandu. The China Gyirong and Nepal Rasuwa bilateral port was opened officially on 1st December, 2014. Gyirong used to be a huge trade port through which China and Nepal exchanged goods and after the opening of the port the two countries tried to reinstitute that. Unfortunately shortly after the opening, Nepal was struck by a devastating earthquake in April 2015, which also seriously damaged Gyirong. The Gyirong Port had to be closed due to the earthquake and after 6 months of reconstruction it was ceremoniously reopened on October, 2015, but only for trade. Yet, the reopening was mostly symbolic and only a beginning for the full recovery of the port. It was then supposed to open in June 2016, which wasn’t possible due to the debris flow and the poor road condition. In addition the aftershock of the earthquake, the supply of water, electricity and communications networks remained limited. After another year’s effort on facilities reconstruction, finally the Gyirong Port was opened to all international tourists from September 2017.

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