09 Days Overland
from Lhasa to Kathmandu
This tour itinerary has been adopted
by more and more tourists. It is fabulous. First
we fly to Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous
Region, with sightseeing of Potala palace, Jokhang
temple, Sera monastery's debating and Drepung
monastery. Drive over the Tibetan Himalayas
by way of the incredible Highway between Lhasa
and Kathmandu that connects Nepal with Tibet.
Enjoy the Fabulous mountain scenery en route,
visit mystical Buddhist monasteries of Tashilumpo
at Shigatse, the Kumbum Stupa at Gyantse, and
drive past the beautiful Turquoise lake.
Outline Itinerary :
Day 01 : Kathmandu -Lhasa
(3650 M), 90 KMS
Transfer to airport to connect SZ 408 KTM-LXA
flight.
Upon arrival you will be met by our Tibet representative
& transfered to Hotel.
Day 02 : Potala Palace,
Jokhang Temple, Barkhor street
The first day of sightseeing starts from Lhasa's
cardinal landmark- Potala Palace, a structure
of massive portions. Its towering image already
appearing on various occasions, but your first
sight of the Potala will still be an awe-inspiring
moment. It takes at least a good 2-hour to visit
those rooms, halls and chapels
In the afternoon, we will drop a visit of the
Jokhang Temple, the spiritual center of Tibet.
Everyday, pilgrims from every corner of Tibet
trek a long distance to the temple. The temple
is the product of Han, Tibetan and Nepalese
architectural techniques. Then we will visit
Barkhor, the oldest street in a very traditional
city in Tibet
Day 03 : Drepung Monastery,
Sera Monastey
About 8km west of central Lhasa is the Drepung,
once world's largest monastery with about 10,000
monks. This day's sightseeing begins with these
white monastic buildings piled up on the hillside.
Walking up to the hill is a pleasant thing,
an easy break from the solemn ambience inside
the halls and chapels. At the plat roof of hillside,
you can have very good views of the whole Lhasa
city and the distant mountains.
Drepung is one of Lhasa's two great Gelugpa
monasteries, the other is Sera. Around 5km north
of central Lhasa, Sera may not be as grandiose
as Drepung, but is more serene surrounded by
many small temples. The 'Buddhism Scriptures
Debating' in Sera is very famous.
Day 04 : Lhasa-Gyantse
Today you will drive about 300KM to Gyangtse.
Take a look at YamzhogYumco Lake on the way
and overlook Kalais Kora Glacier. Yamdrok Lake
is a coiling, many-armed body of water shaped
like a scorpion. It doubles back on itself on
the western side, effectively creating a large
island within its reaches. For Tibetans, it
is one of the four holy lakes of Tibet. And
the home of wrathful deities. The lake lies
several hundred metres below the road, and in
clear weather is a fabulous shade of deep turquoise.
Far in the distance is the huge massif of Mt.
Nojin Kangtsang (7191m).
In the afternoon, you will arrive in Gyangtse
and go for the tour of Palkhor Temple, built
in the 15th century, is situated in the west
of Gyantse Town with mountains enclosing form
three sides of the east, west and north. Its
uniqueness is that its three sects of Buddism-Shaja,
Ningma and Guolu stayed harmoniously under one
roof.
Day 05 : Gyantse-Shigatse
Drive about 90KM to Shigatse which is the second
largest city in Tibet. It's also the home town
of Banchen Lama. In the afternoon, you will
drop a visit of Tashilumpo monastery. Tashilumpo,
sprawls on the slops of Mt. Niser, southwest
of Shigatse. It covers an area of about 300,000
square meters. There are many valuable and rare
historical articles in the monastery En route,
visit Shalu monastery, which the construction
was started in 1027. Its architecture is of
typical combination of the Tibetan and Chinese
styles with archways, carved pillars, tilled
roofs and the Song and Yuan style murals.
Day 06 : Shigatse-Shegar
Today we drive to Shegar and overnight here.
En route visit Sakya monastery, which is divided
into the south and north two parts. It is of
typical Yuan Dynasty style of resembling castles.
There are a lot of historical articles in the
monastery, among them are found a lot of the
imperial certificates, gold signets, crowns,
costumes bestowed by the Yuan Dynasty emperors.
It has over 10,000 volumes of Tibetan books
on astronomy, medicine, calligraphy, and history.
So the Sakya monastery enjoys the title 'the
second Dun Huang Cave.'
Day 07 : Shegar-Rongbuk
Monastery-Mt. Everest
Although it's just 100km from Shegar to Base
Camp(5200m), it takes about 4 hours since the
cracked winding roads demand much caution. But
the views are stupendous on a clear day, and
feature a huge sweep of the Himalaya range including
peaks over 8000, Makalu, Lhotse, Everest, Gyachung
and Cho Oyu. When you finally get to Base Camp,
the first sight of the mighty Everest simply
leaves you speechless. All the hardship you
bear along the way makes sense at this while.
The best moments to watch Mt. Everest's are
early morning and late evening when Everest
is shining like a goddess in the sunglow.
Day 08 : Mt. Everest-Tingri-Zhangmu
Take about 5 hours on bumpy road to Tingri,
then may forward another 5 hours to Zhangmu.
Zhangmu town is located in the border with Nepal
is a very different place from the other ones
you see on the way. All year round it is green
with rains most of the time. You will think
it is out of Tibet if not mentioning you but
you're behind China Customs, as there are Sherpa
people and Nepalese speaking a different language
here.
Day 09 : Zhangmu-Kathmandu
Drive to Friend ship bridge at the border, our
tour guide well see you off here, and you need
cross the border by yourself. And you can take
a minibus, taxi or ask us for arranging border
transfer for you. Tour ends.
