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Yangpachen
 Yangpachen,
87 kilometers (54 miles) north of
Lhasa, is famous for its hot springs.
It was said that long time ago, before
the sky and the earth was separated,
the whole world was in total darkness.
People living at the foot of Mt. Nyainqentanglha
were suffering. One day, a golden
phoenix flied to the area, determined
to create brightness by sacrificing
itself. It threw one of its bright
eyes onto the ground. A fairy caught
the eye, and then a bright lamp arose
in the air. Snow capped peaks of Mt.
Nyainqentanglha appeared; grassland
like huge carpet emerged; happiness
came into Tibetan people. However,
a greedy man near Yangpachen coveted
the lamp. He took a witch man's idea
to sharpen his hatred into an arrow
to shoot the lamp. The lamp was broken
then, the pieces of the lamp dropped
onto the ground, turning into hot
springs and burned the man to his
end. People said that the hot springs
were the fairy's tears.
 The
town lies at high and cold plateau.
However, people approaching will see
some hot springs blowing out smokes
going up to sky. While the surrounding
area was barren and extremely cold,
Yangpachen is green with grass and
highland barley growing exuberantly.
Smokes emitting
from the springs cover the small town.
Now it has a thermoelectricity plant,
green houses and hot spring bathrooms,
attracting more and more tourists.
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