Tailored Trips

A visit to one of Tibet’s smaller monasteries could well be a highlight of your trip. The monasteries are more intimate, the monks tend to be friendlier, and it’s often possible let to spend the night and attend prayer meetings after all the tourists have melted away.

Between Lhasa and Samye, Mindroling Monastery is a friendly place that’s easily accessible. The surroundings offer some enjoyable walks and it’s possible to stay the night.

A short and scenic ferry ride across the Yarlung Tsangpo is Dorje Dark Monastery. The monastery guesthouse and dramatic desert kora feel a million miles away from bustling Lhasa, though a planned road looks set to change this soon.

En route between Shigatse and Lhatse is the remote and little-visited Phuntsoling Monastery. The monastery has a superb location and there are lots of ruins to explore, both at the site and a couple of hours’ walk away at the ruined Jonang Chorten. Permits are required here.

Along the friendship Hwy, Shegar is just 7km off the main road, not far from the turn-off to Mt Everest, and has a charming monastery at the base of the impressive ruined ‘Crystal Fort’.

Almost everywhere in Tibet offers superb scenery, but let’s start at the top: Mt Everest. Views of the north face from Rongphu Monastery are simply unsurpassed.

Nam-tso offers a very different landscape, more characteristic of northern Changtang than of central Tibet. The huge tidal lake is framed by the jagged white peaks of the Nyenchen Tanglha range.

The scenery of the east is different again. Rawok-tso is possibly the prettiest lake in Tibet, fringed by both sandy beaches and snowy peaks. Draksum-tso, further west, is another gorgeous alpine lake, with a superbly photogenic island monastery.

Tagyel-tso and Dawa-tso are two of the most impressive of the lakes in the far west, with great camping en route to Mt Kailash.

Yading Nature Reserve near Daocheng in southwestern Sichuan offers sublime mountain scenery without the need for pesky travel permits Stay overnight in tourist tents and then hike up to meadows and glacial lakes or do the full mountain kora.

Peiku-tso near the border with Nepal is another of Tibet’s awesome mountain lakes, this time with impressive views of 8012m Mt Shishapangma to the south. Further west the remarkable sight of Mt Kailash rising behind the deep blue waters of Lake Manasarovar is unforgettable.

Mt. Kailash is the most sacred pilgrimage path in Tibet. The 53km trek is generally done in three days by foreign trekkers and takes you over the 5600m Drolma-la and past several monasteries and sacred sights.

Lake Mansarovar is another sacred kora, but is less popular with foreigners. Still, it’s possible to just walk a section, such as the day hike from Chiu Monastery to Hor Qu.

Ganden Monastery has one of Tibet’s most interesting monastery koras and the views of the Kyi-chu valley below are just wonderful. The Tsurphu kara is also worth walking for its meditation retreats and valley views.

Tashilhunpo Kora in Shigatse is always full of pilgrims. The trail passes Chortens and rock paintings, and offers the best views of the old town and Shigatse Dzong (fort). Sakya Monastery also has an interesting kora around the ruins of its northern monastery complex.

Tirthapuri Kora is another short kora, but is full of interesting medicinal sites, hot springs and pilgrim action.

Perhaps shortest of all is the Barkhor, the fascination circuit that surrounds the Jokhang in Lhasa.

As early myths of the origin of the Tibetan people suggest, the Yarlung valley was the cradle of the civilization of central Tibet. The early Yarlund kings, although glorified in legend, were probably no more than chieftains whose domain extended not much further than the Yarlund valley itself. A reconstruction of Tibet’s first fortress, Yumbulagang, can still be seen in the Yarlund valley, and it is here that the 28th king of Tibet is said to have received Tibet’s first Buddhist scriptures in the 5th century AD. According to legend, they fell on the roof of Yumbulagang.

Credible historical records regarding the Yarlung valley dynasty date only from the time when the fledgling kingdom entered the international arena in the 6th century. By this time the Yarlung kings, through conquest and alliances had made significant headway in unifying much of central Tibet. Namri songtsen, the 32nd Tibetan king, continued this trend and extended Tibetan influence into inner Asia. Defeating the Qiang, tribes on China’s borders. But the true flowering of Tibet as an important regional power came about with the accession to rule of Tibet as an important regional power came about with the accession to rule of Namri Songtsen’s son, Songtsen Gampo.

Under Songtsen Gampo, central Tibet entered a new era. Tibetan expansion continued unabated. The armies of Tibet ranged as far a field as northern India and emerged as a threat to the Tang dynasty in China. Both Nepal and China reacted to the Tibetan incursions by reluctantly agreeing to alliances through marriage. Princess Wencheng, Songtsen Gampo’s Chinese bride, and Princess Bhrikuti, his Nepali bride, became important historical figures for the Tibetans, as it was through their influence that Buddhism first gained royal patronage and a foothold on the Tibetan plateau.

Contact with the Chinese led to the introduction of the sciences of astronomy and medicine, and Tibetan scrip was developed from Indian sources. It was used in the first translations of Buddhist scriptures, in drafting a code of law and in writing the first histories of Tibet.

For two centuries after the reign of Songtsen Gampo, Tibet continued to grow in power and influence. By the time of King Trisong Detsen’s reign, Tibetan influence extended over Turkestan, northern Pakistan, Nepal and India. In China, Tibetan armies conquered Gansu and Sichuan, and controlled the great Buddhist cave complex of Dunhuang.

A Sino-Tibetan treaty was signed in 822 during the reign of King Tritsug Detsen Ralpachen. It was immortalsed in stone on three steles: one in Lhasa, outside the Jokhang; one in the Chinese capital of Chang’ and one on the border of Tibet and China. Only the Lhasa stele still stands Signatories to the treaty swore’…the whole region to the east …being the country of Great China and the whole region to the west being assuredly that of the country of Great Tibet, from either side of that frontier there shall be no warfare, no hostile invasions, and no seizure of territory.