No other country on Earth could shroud itself in such a magic and mystique as the Buddhist kingdom of Tibet. Nicknamed “The Roof of the World,” Tibet stands on a high plateau in the Himalayas. The kingdom of Tibet was ruled for hundreds of years as a monastic state, its leadership being under the strong influence of the powerful monasteries in the country. It was closed for years to foreign visitors, a fact that only increased its weave of mystery. Lhasa, its capital, was the coveted prize for adventurers, travelers, and many of the players of the relatively recent Great Game, who all wanted to sneak into the city. The Chinese “liberated” Tibet in 1951 and proceeded to brutally invade Lhasa in 1959 to quell the unrest that eventually triggered the escape of the Dalai Lama.

We traveled in Tibet in the Year of the Horse, a critical religious year for pilgrimages. We traveled to Lhasa with its magnificent temples and Potala Palace and to Ganden Monastery, the seat of Ganden Tripa, the head of the Gelugpa order. 

We traveled in the Tsang province, with the remarkable monastery of Sakia, Tashilhumpo, and the Kumbum of Gyantse.

From there, we pursued further to Ngari, Western Tibet, where we performed the three-day kora around Mt. Kailash, the most important holy mountain for 4 religions, joining hundreds of pilgrims and yaks in climbing Droma La at 5630 meters. Closeby is the beautiful Manasarovar Lake, famous for its own “kora,” a religious place mentioned 1700 years ago in the Sanskrit Puranas writings. 

From Ngari, we traveled over grassland to the Nepalese border and back to Tingri ending the tour in Rongphu Monastery at the base of the Mt. Everest that we hiked from its base up towards its Advanced Base Camp.