12 Days Trekking Tour from Old Tingri to EBC

Whether you arrive in Lhasa by train or by plane, your tour guide will meet you at the train station or at the airport to take you to your hotel and help you get checked in. Along the way into downtown Lhasa from the airport, you will be able to see the Yarlung Tsangpo/Bhamaputra River along the way – the largest and longest river in Tibet. Once you are at your hotel, you will have time to rest and relax to become acclimatized to the higher altitude, or, if you are ready to get started sightseeing, you can visit Potala Square with its different colored fountains and fantastic views of the Potala Palace.

Today we will start off with the fantastic Potala Palace, which historically served as the winter home of the Dalai Lama. It was first used in the 7th century by the 33rd king of Tibet. The most valuable collections in the Potala Palace are the gilded burial stupas of the former Dalai Lamas and the meditation cave of the 33rd great king of Tibet.
After lunch, we will move on to the Jokhang Temple, which was also founded in the 7th century by the 33rd great king of Tibet to promote the Buddhist religion. Inside you can see the statue of the Buddha Sakyamuni as he was at the age of twelve – this is perhaps the most venerated object in Tibetan Buddhism. Around the temple is Barkhor Street where you can perform the “Kora” (a religious circuit around a sacred building or mountain) with pilgrims and locals. The Barkhor market is also a great place to pick up locally made handicrafts and souvenirs.

This morning we will visit the Drepung Monastery – one of the great three Gelug monasteries of Tibet. Founded in 1416 by Jamyang Choge, on Tosngkhapa’s main disciples, the Drepung Monastery is home of Ganden Palace, which formerly served as the Dalai Lama’s palace before later moving on to the Potala Palace.
In the afternoon we will move on to see another of the great three of the Gelug monasteries in Tibet – the Sera Monastery. Founded in 1419 by another main disciple of Tsongkhapa, Jamchen Chojey, the main attraction of this monastery is the lively scene of the monks debating Buddhist scriptures in the courtyard behind the monastery in the afternoon.

By using the Friendship Highway , we will make our way to Gyantse, and reach Kambala pass which is at an altitude of 4794m high. Overlooking deep turquoise Yamdro-tso Lake from the top of the pass Kangpa-la which is 4700m above the sea level, you can see the fabulous shade of Yamdro-tso Lake that resembles a coiling scorpion with deep blue in colour. Then we will head for Gyangtse, and visit the famous stupa – Gyangtse Kumpum, one of the most stunning architectural wonders in Tibet.

We will have a early start in the morning and drive to Shigatse that is 90km from Gyangtse and visit Tashilunpo Monastery and the spectacular tombs of Panchen Lamas in Shigatse. Then we drive along Friendship Highway to Old Tingri via Lhatse and Shegar. Your guide will do preparations for the trek, while you may have a good view of Cho Oyu.

Our trekking begins from Old Tingri all the way to the Tingri plain. The Trekking route will pass part of the Ra-chu Valley, we will see the beautiful valley scenery with extensive meadows and packs of sheep and goats. The rest of the day we can visit a small Monastery in Choelun. This region is home only to herders and barley harvesters.

The challenging trekking really starts today as we go up into the mountains. Much uphill walking will be done as we climb towards the top of Nam- La. And we would camp down the top of this pass.

Start In the morning, the trek will allow us to meet the yak herders and their families. Our camp will be pitched in the small village of Zommug. Trekkers are about to view the amazing sunset in this barren village.

On our last day of trekking we will wind our way to the final destination, i.e.Rongbuk and Everest Base Camp. Along the way we can also visit the Dza Rongbuk monastery. There remains historical sites.

We will have a short ride from Rongpuk to Lhatse, then follow the Friendship Highway back to Sakya. You may relax by enjoying the Xiqian hot spring near Lhatse.

The last itinerary for this trip is to visit the famous Sakya Monastery. The Sakya tradition inside Sakya Monastery is one of the four main Buddhist schools in Tibet. It was from here that the whole of Tibet was governed during the period of Sakya hegemony and even now there are buildings of historic importance to be seen here. (The largest book in the world is in Sakya’s great library, written with gold)

Our guide will accompany tourists to the airport or railway station to see you off. With that wraps up the entire tour.