Tibet Adventures

Explore and imbibe the sights, sounds and tastes of Tibet! Visit the Potala Palace in Lhasa. Then you can go to the Drepung and Sera Monasteries and go on a pilgrimage to the sacred Jokhang temple. On the Barkhor circuit you can barter for turquoise and silver. Get out of Lhasa and head off to the Samye Monastery and spend the day with monks and nuns in the meditation caves at Chimpsu. In the Northern area of Tibet you can visit the Namsto Lake, and see the sky burials at Dregung Monastery. The meditation caves of Yeshe Sogyal and Guru Rinpoche are at Tirdrom.

Tibet lies in the top of the Himalayan mountains, the highest country in the world. It is a land shrouded in mystery and access has never been easy. You can get a flight from Katmandu and there is a reasonable road into there now. Other places to visit in Tibet are the Ganden Monastery, the Yarung Tsango Valley, Yongbulakhang, Gyantse, Shigatse, and the Kailash Pilgrimage.

It is possible to do the pilgrimage to Mount Kailash by four wheel drive all the way to Darchen at the base of Mount Kailash. You can then finish the circuit or Kora by foot. You start out from Katmandu and drive to Zhangmu on the Tibet side of the border. Continue on through Nyalam to Paiko Tso to Zhangba. From Zhangba you can follow the Matsend Tsangpo river past Shue and Paryang. Thence to Samsang, Mayum La, Kongyu Tso, Thongchen , Lake Mansarovar and finally the base of Mount Kailash at Darchen.

Tibet Resources

Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History of a Lost Land - there is a great deal of pain in this finely woven blend of travelogue, reportage, and political analysis. In recounting his difficult journey across Tibet in 1999, he still shudders over the risks people took to speak with him, a foreigner and "known activist," then skillfully connects today's perils with the horrific, still festering wounds of Mao's reign of madness.

The Mountains of Tibet - This story of the death and reincarnation of a Tibetan woodcutter is a beautifully gentle look at one human being dealing with life's choices and possibilities.

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