thomas manning, the first englishman to reach lhasa, visited pagri from 21september until 5november 1811 and had this to say about his room in the town: "dirt, dirt, grease, smoke. misery, but good mutton." pagri was of some military importance in the early 20th century when it was occupied by the british tibet expedition under francis younghusband in 1904. the pagri fortress ("dzong") was located here and was important for the government as it stood between tibet and bhutan. pagri was a staging area en route to gyantse and ultimately lhasa.