Day 01: Fly from Kathmandu to Lhasa. Airplane will
land at Lhasa Gonggar Airport (96 kilometers from
the main city). Early morning you are transferred
to the airport to board the plane for the flight
over the Himalaya to Lhasa. If the weather is clear,
there are wonderful views of Everest, Nuptse, Lhotse,
Makalu, Kanchenjunga and other peaks en route. On
arrival at Gonggar airport (which is 90 km. from
Lhasa), you meet your vehicle and drive east along
the broad Yarlung Tsangpo valley to Tsedang (3400m.).
After checking into your hotel, you drive south to
see the reputed oldest building in Tibet, the Yumbu
Lakhang, a beautiful castle-like dwelling and monastery,
dramatically perched on a spur looking out over the
fertile valley below. If time permits, you may be
able to visit a small monastery close to Tsedang,
or an interesting carpet factory where you can see
the whole process of carpet making.
Day 02-04: Lhasa Sightseeing tour. Enjoy sightseeing
tour of Potala & Norbulinka Palace, Drepung & Sera
Monastery, Jokhang Temple and the Barkhor Bazaar.
One of the highlights is the visit to the symbol of
Tibet; the Potala Palace set high on Red Hill and the
winter home of the Dalai Lama until 1959. The most
sacred temple in Lhasa is the Lokhang, where people
come from all over Tibet to visit and pray in this
spiritual heart of the country. It was used as a military
kitchen during the Cultural Revolution but has now
been beautifully restored, with many priceless thangkas
and statues adorning the chapels and magnificent gilded
roofs.
Another great treasure is the Norbulingka – the
old summer palace of the Dalai Lama, which is alleged
to have preferred to the Potala as the rat population
was less!
Now you visit Jorkhang temple, the center of the Tibetan
Buddhism and the sacred land of Buddhist followers
where innumerable pilgrims come for worship everyday.
The temple, built in 647, is the earliest wood-and-masonry
structure still existing in Tibet. Surrounding the
Jorkhang Temple is the bustling Barkhor Street which
is the religious and social focus of Lhasa. Around
the Barkhor there are numerous stalls selling all sorts
of handicrafts: brightly coloured boots and fur-lined
hats, silver and turquoise jewellery, rosaries, prayer
flags and charms, as well as beautiful Tibetan carpets
and all manner of ordinary household ware.
Next you visit Sera monastery, which was created in
1419, has always been an important Buddhist seminary.
As rose are planted everywhere in the monastery, it
is also called “the court of wild rose”.
Today still 200 Lamas live in there. On the other hand,
Drepung Monastery, is the world’s largest monastery
with around 10,000 monks
Day 05: Fly from Lhasa to Kathmandu. The flight from
Lhasa to Kathmandu takes one hour and during your flight,
you can see Yarlung Tsangpo River, Yamdrok Tso (Lake),
Mount Kanchanjungha (8,586m.), Mount Makalu (8,463m.)
and Mount Everest (8,848m.). But the visibility depends
on the weather condition. Your Tibet Tour ends on your
arrival at Kathmandu Airport.
You
fly or drive across the Himalaya to Lhasa, where you
have plenty of time to visit the main sights in and around
the town including the Potala Palace, the Norbulingka
(the Dalai Lama’s summer
palace) and the Jorkhang Temple which contains Jowo Shakyamuni,
the most holy statue to all Tibetan Buddhists. You also
visit the major monasteries in the Lhasa Valley including
Samye, Drepung and Sera. You then drive along the Friendship
Highway to Nepal, one of the most spectacular road journeys
in the world. You visit the towns and monasteries in
both Gyantse and Shigatse and then have a spectacular
drive across the Tibetan Plateau with great views of
Everest from the north side and Shishmapangma, the only
8,000m mountain situated totally in Tibet. Finally you
drive through the Himalaya and down into a spectacular
gorge back to Nepal and Kathmandu. You can also fly back
from Lhasa to Kathmandu.