Kathmandu - Lhasa Tour

Trip Overview

A remarkable experience, climbing slowly by road out of Nepal, through high passes, visiting the major towns of this once forbidden Kingdom of Tibet.

We start early morning EVERY TUESDAY and SATURDAY a week to drive northwards through the hills & rice paddies. If weather conditions have been bad, we may walk several kilometers to arrive Tatopani, although porter will carry our bags. After spending a night in this border village, we cross the Friendship Bridge and walk up to Zangmu, The Tibetan border post. The following day we begin our drive over the plateau, crossing a high pass of roughly 17,000ft. to reach Xeger Zong. This is an isolated village and the highest one we visit; hopefully we will catch a glimpse of Mt. Everest on the way up. We continue across the stark landscape of bare mountains, glaciers & lonely hamlets to Xigatse, once the home of the Panchen Lama and 2nd largest city in Tibet.

We spend a morning visiting the Tashilhumpo Monastery and the market, then drive to Gyanste. This town was largely untouched during the Cultural Revolution, and the monastery here contains some particularly fine examples of Bon-Buddhist deities. Once again through picturesque agricultural landscape, we approach Lhasa & get our first sight of the Potala Palace, high on the hill. We spend two or 3days in Lhasa, visiting the Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple that draws pilgrims all over Tibet, The Drepung & Sera Monastries,. Then we came back to Zangmu same route or fly back to Kathmandu from Lhasa. (Both way Overland