Ali — known in Tibetan as Senge Tsangpo, in Chinese as Shiquanhe — is the administrative capital of Ngari Prefecture and the only proper town in western Tibet. At 4,270 metres, it is a harsh frontier city of Chinese-built blocks and wide dusty streets, not pretty, but absolutely essential as a logistics base for everything in the region. Here you sort out permits, hire vehicles, resupply, and sleep in something more comfortable than a trekking tent before or after the long journeys to Kailash, Guge, or the border areas.
Ngari Gunsa Airport, 26 kilometres outside town, is the key transport link — flights to Lhasa cut a week of overland travel to ninety minutes, though weather cancellations are frequent. The town has ATMs (which accept foreign cards, unlike many remote Tibetan towns), a hospital, fuel, and a reasonable selection of equipment shops. The Indus River — the Senge Tsangpo — flows through the valley below the town, one of four great Asian rivers that rise within 30 kilometres of this general area.