"Tagong, whose altitude of about 12,000 feet makes it one of the highest towns in the world, offers an unfettered window onto the Tibetan people and culture. The region was part of Tibet until 1955 * * * And it was easier than traveling to the Tibet Autonomous Region, which in addition to the visa and passport required to visit China, also requires a special entry permit that doesn’t promise unrestricted travel.
"There has been a monastery in Tagong since AD 652, when the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo built the last of a series of 108 monasteries he had ordered constructed across his kingdom. (It is said to be where his Chinese bride had stopped on her way to their wedding in 640.)
Note:
(a) The English surnames Gillett/Gillet/Gillette (the latter a brand of men's safety razors) are "from a pet form of the personal names Giles, Julian, or William."
(b) Lhagang Monastery 塔公寺
(c) Tagong 四川省甘孜藏族自治州康定县 塔公乡 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagong
(also known as Lhagang; is a small town in Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of western Sichuan Province)
(d) Songtsän Gampo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songts%C3%A4n_Gampo
(Died 649; founder of the Tibetan Empire 吐蕃; In the Chinese records, his name is given as 松贊干布 or 棄宗弄贊; one of his wives was Chinese Princess Wencheng 文成公主 [who left China in 640, according to records, arriving the next year in Tibet to marry], or Munchang Kongcho)