Lhasa - Mt. Kailash and Guge Kingdom

Spring Itinerary

Day 01: Arrival in Lhasa Gonagkar airport and transfer to Lhasa (3,650m./60km). Hotel in Lhasa
You will be warmly welcome by our Tibetan guide and driver and accompany you to the holy city of Lhasa along with the view of Bharmaputra, known as YarlungTsangpo in Tibetan.

Day 02: Lhasa sightseeing: Potala, Jokang temple and Bharkor. Hotel in Lhasa
Sightseeing Potala Palace, winter Palace of the Dalai Lama, Jokang temple, the oldest and most sacred temple of Tibet, Bharkor, the ancient market of Lhasa and the most oldest and sacred pilgrimage path in Lhasa.

Day 03: Lhasa sightseeing: Drepung and Sera monasteries. Hotel in Lhasa.
Sightseeing Drepung monastery, the largest monastery in Tibet and one of the six biggest monasteries of Gelukpa sect in Tibetan Bhuddhism. Sera monastery, the scond largest monastery of Tibet and it is very interesting to watch the monks debating in the monastetry.

Day 04: Lhasa - Yamdrok - Gyantse - Shigatse (3,900m./350km) Hotel in Gyantse
You will start your tour at around 9Am from your hotel and then drive towards Gyangtse through 3 big mountain passes, Kampa La, Karo La, Simila respectively. Karola is the highest pass among them which is over 5000 meter with it's most beautiful glaciers, beautiful Yamdrok lake emerged as coral color from the top of Kampala pass. You will have your lunch at Nakartse country which is just between the Yamdroklake and Karola glaciers. Afternoon, Visit Palchoe monastery and Kubum Pagoda stupa. was founded in 14 th century by local Chieftain, RebtanKunsang for funeral of his mother's death and it was once a complex of 15 monasteries that brought together three different Tibetan Buddhist sects in the one compound. Nine of the monasteries were for Gelukpa Sect, Three were for Sakyapa Sect and the rest three were for Botonpa Sect which is one of the minor orders in Tibetan Buddhism. At the present day, the monastery is composed of one main assembly hall and some small chapels, inhabited by 70 monks. The Kubum Pagoda stupa was also built in 14th century by RabtenKunsang. The Stupa is nine storey high and 75 chapels, dedicated to the murals and statues, describing the tantric Tibetan Buddhism. After the sightseeing Gyantse, continue your Kailash journey to Shigatse by passing one of the biggest farming land in Tibet where people grow barley, wheat, different kinds of vegetables.

Day 05: Drive from Shigatse to Sakya monastery (4,050m./250KM )Hotel in Sakya
Morning, visit Tashi Lhunpo monastery and drive from Shigatse to Sakya monastery through two big mountain passes, Tsola 4,500m./Gyatso la 5,220m. and some beautiful villages and the first view of Mount Everest from the foot of Gyatso la pass. You will have your lunch in Sakya and visit the Sakya monastery and walk around the monastery.

Day 06: Drive from Sakya - Drangthang - Dingri - Rongbuk Monastery. (5000m./270Km Guest house
You will start your tour at 9Am and drive through Pangla pass 5000m. from which you will have a fantastic view of Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu respectively which are over 8000m. After the lunch in Rongbuk monastery, you will visit the world's highest monastery, Rongbuk. Walk up to Everest base camp which takes you an hour and half. Explore Everest base camp and back to Rongbuk Monastery. When the sun sets, you will have a fantastic view of Mount Everest in the red colored sun shade.

Day 07: Two hrs trek from Rongbuk to Everest Base Camp.(5,200m./8Km ) Guest house
You will start your trek from Rongbuk monastery at around 10Am and it will take you to two hrs to get there. On the way you can visit a miraculous cave of Mila Repa. After two hrs trek, you get to the Everest base camp. It is the best point of enjoying the world's highest mountain and taking photos of it. You can have a basic lunch at Everest Base camp since there are many local tented tea houses where they sell instant noodles or bread etc.

Day 08: Drive from Rongbuk monastery to Old Tingri-Pekutso-Dargyeling Monastery 4,700m./350Km. Guest house
Enjoy the morning sunrise view on the Everest top, have breakfast and then drive towards old Dingi. Old Dingri is one of the popular places to stop a night in order to view mount Everest for tourists, especially for those who are unable to go to Mount Everest because of altitude problem. Continue drive to Dargyeling monastery via Pekutsolake and the Shisha Bangma mountain range. Crossing the Bharmaputrariver and getting into the vast land of Jiangthang after the pass of Saga.

Day 09: Drive to Mansarovar east or Horchu (4,590m./385km). Guest house
We follow the road towards Kailash in breathtaking landscapes with some beautiful nomad camps and many animals on the grass lands. Reaching Lake Mansarovar and Kailash, it is an amazing landscpae the view from the point called Chaktsalkang where we can first see the Lake Mansarovar right infrot of us and Mt Kailash in the distance. It is extremely beautiful to see Lake Mansarovar and Mt Kailash in the distance which could be called as heaven.

Day 10: Mansarovar east-Chiu Gompa, 4,590m./45Km. Guest house
Enjoying the conservative bus ride along the Lake Mansaorvar with the beautiful of Mt. Kailash and GurlaMadata holy snow mountain.

Day 11: Dahrchen trek to Dhiraphuk (5,210m./18Km) Lodge
Today is the first day of your KailashKora which is totally around 53Km . You start your Kora from Darchen and after like 2 hrs walk, you will face DarpoChe where there is a huge prayer flag pole which is annually replaced by the pilgrimages on 15 th of forth Lunar month, known as Saga Dawa festival, As well as Trulku monastery on your leftside up on the hill side. You can also see ibex and blue sheep running in the rocky hillside while you are walking and then you will reach DhiraPhuk which was a monastery before but nowadays you can only see the ruins of the monastery as the monastery was destroyed in the cultural revolution. Tented Camp.

Day 12: Trek to Zutrulphuk (4,810m.) via crossing Drolma la pass (5,636m./15KM) Lodge
Today is the second of your KailashKora which is indeed the hardest day of your three days trek. You will have to climb up to the top of Drolma La pass which is more than 5000Mt. There will be three sloppy hike to get to the top of Drolma La pass from DhiraPhuk and then pretty steep down hill with rocky path all the way to the valley. On the right side of the down hill path, there is a small lake called Thuje Lake, meaning compassionate lake.ZutrulPhuk was the cave where Mila Repa and NagroBonchung debated for their religion sects and nowadays, it is a small monastery.Camp

Day 13: Trek to Dharchen and drive to Tirthapuri, 4,330m./120Km. Camp
Trek around Kailashand we drive back, enjoying the spacious plateau profiting to enhance our daily meditations.

Day 14: Tirthapuri – Shangshonng-Tholing. 3,660m./240Km. Hotel in Tholing
Morning, excursion to Kyunglung Guru Gyam and then You will be driving across one of the biggest passes during your journey called Jiangla pass (5100Mts ) and from the top of the pass, you will enjoy a unique land view resembling to a pool as it is just consumed it's water from the pool or similar to Egypet mud towers.

Day 15: Tholing- Guge Kingdom, 20Km, Visit Guge Kingdom- Tholing, Visit Tholing Monastery. Hotel Tholing
GUGE KINGDOM was founded in the late 10 th century by lineages of Lang Dharma, King PalkorTsen's son Kyede Nyima Gon after the Tsenpo period was diminished in the late 10 th century and it was resided by 16 lineages of the Kings respectively. The citadel of Guge is situated up on a giant cliff and it has (3000m) in height and 18,0000 square Meters in length. Eventhough the citadel of Guge was heavily destroyed, it still remains important Buddhist arts in Tsaparang. The wall paintings and the statues paint were influenced by Kashmiri style in 11 th century, Newari style in 14 th and 15th century, and Tibetan style in 17 th century respectively. The least damaged temples now are White, Red and Demchok temples and you can see damaged heads or shoulders of the statues and destroyed wall paintings on the wall in those temples. THOLING MONASTERY the temples and religious buildings of Tholing are the most significant in far west Tibet . The monastery was constructed under the guidance of the great Tibetan translator RinchenZangpo in around 11 th century although some historian refers to the date of 996.During his life time, he is said to have built 108 temples throughout far west Tibet and Ladhakeventhough few still exist, those at Tholing are considered to be the best examples of Guge style of Buddhist art. Tholing was the main religious centre prior to the visit of the great Indian PanditAtisha due to the influence of RinchenZangpo. Atisha was invited by RinchenZangpo under the instruction of the Guge King Yeshe-O. As the history goes by, Yeshe-O was very devoted to RinchenZangpo's activities and he himself founded the monasteries in Tholing. Yeshe-O sent his men to India to invite Atisha several times but they returned after being refused their request several times. Yeseh-O sacrificed all his life in order to invite Atisha. He was captured by invading troops from Qarloq who demanded ransom. When Yeshe-O's nephew Jangchub O tried to save his life, Yeshe- O responded to his nephew by saying " I am an old man. My life now is short. Use the ransom to invite and assist Atisha to come to Tibet . When Atisha was moved by Yeshe-O's dedication to Buddhism, Atisha finally agreed to visit Tibet and he was amazed to see Buddhism flourishing when he arrived in Guge. Hotel

Day 16: Tholing-Dungkar Peyang, 4,250m./80Km. Tented Camp
Today you will be driving back through the same pass of Jiangkyi la pass (5,100m.) get into the valley of Dungkar. DUNGKAR PIYANG has around 1100 years history and the murals in the cave are possibly the oldest in Ngari region. The oldest temple at Dungkar is attributed to Princess LheiMetok, daughter of King Yeshe-O in the 10 th century, but the building that is most prominent nowadays is Tashi Choling. Tashi Choling was built for Tsongkapa's student NgawangDrakpa in the 15 th century. Piyang is around 3Km from Dungkar at the far end of the valley. The oldest building in Piyang was the KarsakLhakhang, attributed to King Yeshe-O. Both Dungkar and Piyang have extremely gorgeous paintings. Lodge

Day 17: Dungkar and Peyang to Lake Mansarovar - Baryang. 4,750m./350Km. Tented Camp
Morning at Lake Manasarovar to visit the small Chiu Gompa, then we drive towards Nepal enjoying the spacious plateau profiting to enhance our daily meditations. Tented Camp

Day 18: Baryang - Saga - Sangsang. 4,676m./375Km Tented Camp
It's in the vastness of the Changtang, Tibetan plateau, that we measure the Tibetan space from where suddenly emerge herds of gazelles or Kyang, wild donkeys.

Day 19: Drive to Shigatse (3,900m./420Km) Hotel in Shigatse
After passing several mountain passes, suddenly emerge flocks of Tibetan villages and their farming lands where people basically live on farming which is a different way of surviving from the people in Kaialsh area that they live on rearing animals.
Day 20: Drive from Shigatse to Lhasa (3,650m./280Km ) Hotel in Lhasa

You will start your tour at around 9.30Am from your hotel and drive along the Bharmaputrariver with a landscape of sandy hills, villages, and RulakYungdrung ling at the otherside of the river. You will have lunch in a small town called Nyenmo which is the border point between Shigatse and Lhasa . Free afternoon for shopping.

Day 21: Drive from Lhasa to Lhasa Gongkar airport.(3,650m./60Km.) End the trip

Autumn Itinerary

Day 01: Arrival in Lhasa Gonagkar airport and transfer to Lhasa (3,650m./60km). Hotel in Lhasa
You will be warmly welcome by our Tibetan guide and driver and accompany you to the holy city of Lhasa along with the view of Bharmaputra, known as YarlungTsangpo in Tibetan.

Day 02: Lhasa sightseeing: Potala, Jokang temple and Bharkor. Hotel in Lhasa
Sightseeing Potala Palace, winter Palace of the Dalai Lama, Jokang temple, the oldest and most sacred temple of Tibet, Bharkor, the ancient market of Lhasa and the most oldest and sacred pilgrimage path in Lhasa.

Day 03: Lhasa sightseeing: Drepung and Sera monasteries. Hotel in Lhasa.
Sightseeing Drepung monastery, the largest monastery in Tibet and one of the six biggest monasteries of Gelukpa sect in Tibetan Bhuddhism. Sera monastery, the scond largest monastery of Tibet and it is very interesting to watch the monks debating in the monastetry.

Day 04: Lhasa - Yamdrok - Gyantse - Shigatse (3,900m./350km) Hotel in Gyantse
You will start your tour at around 9Am from your hotel and then drive towards Gyangtse through 3 big mountain passes, Kampa La, Karo La, Simila respectively. Karola is the highest pass among them which is over 5000 meter with it's most beautiful glaciers, beautiful Yamdrok lake emerged as coral color from the top of Kampala pass. You will have your lunch at Nakartse country which is just between the Yamdroklake and Karola glaciers. Afternoon, Visit Palchoe monastery and Kubum Pagoda stupa. was founded in 14 th century by local Chieftain, RebtanKunsang for funeral of his mother's death and it was once a complex of 15 monasteries that brought together three different Tibetan Buddhist sects in the one compound. Nine of the monasteries were for Gelukpa Sect, Three were for Sakyapa Sect and the rest three were for Botonpa Sect which is one of the minor orders in Tibetan Buddhism. At the present day, the monastery is composed of one main assembly hall and some small chapels, inhabited by 70 monks. The Kubum Pagoda stupa was also built in 14th century by RabtenKunsang. The Stupa is nine storey high and 75 chapels, dedicated to the murals and statues, describing the tantric Tibetan Buddhism. After the sightseeing Gyantse, continue your Kailash journey to Shigatse by passing one of the biggest farming land in Tibet where people grow barley, wheat, different kinds of vegetables.

Day 05: Drive from Shigatse to Sakya monastery (4,050m./250KM )Hotel in Sakya
Morning, visit Tashi Lhunpo monastery and drive from Shigatse to Sakya monastery through two big mountain passes, Tsola 4,500m./Gyatso la 5,220m. and some beautiful villages and the first view of Mount Everest from the foot of Gyatso la pass. You will have your lunch in Sakya and visit the Sakya monastery and walk around the monastery.

Day 06: Drive from Sakya - Drangthang - Dingri - Rongbuk Monastery. (5000m./270Km Guest house
You will start your tour at 9Am and drive through Pangla pass 5000m. from which you will have a fantastic view of Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu respectively which are over 8000m. After the lunch in Rongbuk monastery, you will visit the world's highest monastery, Rongbuk. Walk up to Everest base camp which takes you an hour and half. Explore Everest base camp and back to Rongbuk Monastery. When the sun sets, you will have a fantastic view of Mount Everest in the red colored sun shade.

Day 07: Two hrs trek from Rongbuk to Everest Base Camp.(5,200m./8Km ) Guest house
You will start your trek from Rongbuk monastery at around 10Am and it will take you to two hrs to get there. On the way you can visit a miraculous cave of Mila Repa. After two hrs trek, you get to the Everest base camp. It is the best point of enjoying the world's highest mountain and taking photos of it. You can have a basic lunch at Everest Base camp since there are many local tented tea houses where they sell instant noodles or bread etc.

Day 08: Drive from Rongbuk monastery to Old Tingri-Pekutso-Dargyeling Monastery 4,700m./350Km. Guest house
Enjoy the morning sunrise view on the Everest top, have breakfast and then drive towards old Dingi. Old Dingri is one of the popular places to stop a night in order to view mount Everest for tourists, especially for those who are unable to go to Mount Everest because of altitude problem. Continue drive to Dargyeling monastery via Pekutsolake and the Shisha Bangma mountain range. Crossing the Bharmaputrariver and getting into the vast land of Jiangthang after the pass of Saga.

Day 09: Drive to Mansarovar east or Horchu (4,590m./385km). Guest house
We follow the road towards Kailash in breathtaking landscapes with some beautiful nomad camps and many animals on the grass lands. Reaching Lake Mansarovar and Kailash, it is an amazing landscpae the view from the point called Chaktsalkang where we can first see the Lake Mansarovar right infrot of us and Mt Kailash in the distance. It is extremely beautiful to see Lake Mansarovar and Mt Kailash in the distance which could be called as heaven.

Day 10: Mansarovar east-Chiu Gompa, 4,590m./45Km. Guest house
Enjoying the conservative bus ride along the Lake Mansaorvar with the beautiful of Mt. Kailash and GurlaMadata holy snow mountain.

Day 11: Dahrchen trek to Dhiraphuk (5,210m./18Km) Lodge
Today is the first day of your KailashKora which is totally around 53Km . You start your Kora from Darchen and after like 2 hrs walk, you will face DarpoChe where there is a huge prayer flag pole which is annually replaced by the pilgrimages on 15 th of forth Lunar month, known as Saga Dawa festival, As well as Trulku monastery on your leftside up on the hill side. You can also see ibex and blue sheep running in the rocky hillside while you are walking and then you will reach DhiraPhuk which was a monastery before but nowadays you can only see the ruins of the monastery as the monastery was destroyed in the cultural revolution. Tented Camp.

Day 12: Trek to Zutrulphuk (4,810m.) via crossing Drolma la pass (5,636m./15KM) Lodge
Today is the second of your KailashKora which is indeed the hardest day of your three days trek. You will have to climb up to the top of Drolma La pass which is more than 5000Mt. There will be three sloppy hike to get to the top of Drolma La pass from DhiraPhuk and then pretty steep down hill with rocky path all the way to the valley. On the right side of the down hill path, there is a small lake called Thuje Lake, meaning compassionate lake.ZutrulPhuk was the cave where Mila Repa and NagroBonchung debated for their religion sects and nowadays, it is a small monastery.Camp

Day 13: Trek to Dharchen and drive to Tirthapuri, 4,330m./120Km. Camp
Trek around Kailashand we drive back, enjoying the spacious plateau profiting to enhance our daily meditations.

Day 14: Tirthapuri – Shangshonng-Tholing. 3,660m./240Km. Hotel in Tholing
Morning, excursion to Kyunglung Guru Gyam and then You will be driving across one of the biggest passes during your journey called Jiangla pass (5100Mts ) and from the top of the pass, you will enjoy a unique land view resembling to a pool as it is just consumed it's water from the pool or similar to Egypet mud towers.

Day 15: Tholing- Guge Kingdom, 20Km, Visit Guge Kingdom- Tholing, Visit Tholing Monastery. Hotel Tholing
GUGE KINGDOM was founded in the late 10 th century by lineages of Lang Dharma, King PalkorTsen's son Kyede Nyima Gon after the Tsenpo period was diminished in the late 10 th century and it was resided by 16 lineages of the Kings respectively. The citadel of Guge is situated up on a giant cliff and it has (3000m) in height and 18,0000 square Meters in length. Eventhough the citadel of Guge was heavily destroyed, it still remains important Buddhist arts in Tsaparang. The wall paintings and the statues paint were influenced by Kashmiri style in 11 th century, Newari style in 14 th and 15th century, and Tibetan style in 17 th century respectively. The least damaged temples now are White, Red and Demchok temples and you can see damaged heads or shoulders of the statues and destroyed wall paintings on the wall in those temples. THOLING MONASTERY the temples and religious buildings of Tholing are the most significant in far west Tibet . The monastery was constructed under the guidance of the great Tibetan translator RinchenZangpo in around 11 th century although some historian refers to the date of 996.During his life time, he is said to have built 108 temples throughout far west Tibet and Ladhakeventhough few still exist, those at Tholing are considered to be the best examples of Guge style of Buddhist art. Tholing was the main religious centre prior to the visit of the great Indian PanditAtisha due to the influence of RinchenZangpo. Atisha was invited by RinchenZangpo under the instruction of the Guge King Yeshe-O. As the history goes by, Yeshe-O was very devoted to RinchenZangpo's activities and he himself founded the monasteries in Tholing. Yeshe-O sent his men to India to invite Atisha several times but they returned after being refused their request several times. Yeseh-O sacrificed all his life in order to invite Atisha. He was captured by invading troops from Qarloq who demanded ransom. When Yeshe-O's nephew Jangchub O tried to save his life, Yeshe- O responded to his nephew by saying " I am an old man. My life now is short. Use the ransom to invite and assist Atisha to come to Tibet . When Atisha was moved by Yeshe-O's dedication to Buddhism, Atisha finally agreed to visit Tibet and he was amazed to see Buddhism flourishing when he arrived in Guge. Hotel

Day 16: Tholing-Dungkar Peyang, 4,250m./80Km. Tented Camp
Today you will be driving back through the same pass of Jiangkyi la pass (5,100m.) get into the valley of Dungkar. DUNGKAR PIYANG has around 1100 years history and the murals in the cave are possibly the oldest in Ngari region. The oldest temple at Dungkar is attributed to Princess LheiMetok, daughter of King Yeshe-O in the 10 th century, but the building that is most prominent nowadays is Tashi Choling. Tashi Choling was built for Tsongkapa's student NgawangDrakpa in the 15 th century. Piyang is around 3Km from Dungkar at the far end of the valley. The oldest building in Piyang was the KarsakLhakhang, attributed to King Yeshe-O. Both Dungkar and Piyang have extremely gorgeous paintings. Lodge

Day 17: Dungkar and Peyang to Lake Mansarovar - Baryang. 4,750m./350Km. Tented Camp
Morning at Lake Manasarovar to visit the small Chiu Gompa, then we drive towards Nepal enjoying the spacious plateau profiting to enhance our daily meditations. Tented Camp

Day 18: Baryang - Saga - Sangsang. 4,676m./375Km Tented Camp
It's in the vastness of the Changtang, Tibetan plateau, that we measure the Tibetan space from where suddenly emerge herds of gazelles or Kyang, wild donkeys.

Day 19: Drive to Shigatse (3,900m./420Km) Hotel in Shigatse
After passing several mountain passes, suddenly emerge flocks of Tibetan villages and their farming lands where people basically live on farming which is a different way of surviving from the people in Kaialsh area that they live on rearing animals.
Day 20: Drive from Shigatse to Lhasa (3,650m./280Km ) Hotel in Lhasa

You will start your tour at around 9.30Am from your hotel and drive along the Bharmaputrariver with a landscape of sandy hills, villages, and RulakYungdrung ling at the otherside of the river. You will have lunch in a small town called Nyenmo which is the border point between Shigatse and Lhasa . Free afternoon for shopping.

Day 21: Drive from Lhasa to Lhasa Gongkar airport.(3,650m./60Km.) End the trip

Photo Gallery