10 Days Cultural & Spiritual Tour-Yamdrok-Nyenchen Glacier Tour

We extend to southern Tibet and appreciate the wonders fertile Yarlung valley, along the downstream of braided Brahmaputra river (Yarlung Tsangpo) meandering through dramatic sand dunes and lonely trees, in these couple of days, we will explore within the fertile Yarlung valley which gave its name to the ancient Tibetan kings dynasty as Yarlung kingdom, Tsedang is the largest town in the southern part and it is also known as cradle of the Tibetan civilization, it was the capital of Tibet prior to Lhasa and this area is replete with the most distinguished Samye monastery in its Mandala architecture, it was the very first Buddhist monastery in Tibet and spending a night near the monastery with full afternoon exploration around it. Nevertheless, meeting hermits and retreants at Chimpu hermitages with a beautiful hiking through the green bushes in the natural amphitheatre valley conclude your anxiety about Tibetan Yogis and retreatants, from the newly constructed Chimpu nunnery, we start a short hiking through the solitary caves and tiny trail amidst the scrub bushes, you may get chance to interact with devoted yogis or retreatants in their caves, up from the terrace offers a spectacular views of the Brahmaputra valley below. Then relax the day in Tsedang and have a hot shower in the hotel.

Retrace the road back to airport and then drive continue to the west and meet southern friendship highway at the Chushul Bridge, we climb up the Gampa la(4900m) through numbers of switch-backs to Gyantse and Shigatse in the western Tibet, from the pass you will amaze by the breathtaking view of the holy Lake Yamdrok and snow capped Mt.Nyenchen Kangsar in the background, then further following the southern friendship highway along the sprawling lake and bloomy glaciers to Gyantse, the small town of Gyantse is well known as hero’s town since from 1904, the people from the town had defeated British wars at that time, more over, the giant Khubum stupa bounded by an adobe wall is famous for its old murals and architectural miracle. Both Gyantse and Shigatse are well known for its historical and religious value since from ancient time, more over these regions has slightly different culture and tradition than in Lhasa.

Driving through numbers of peaceful villages and farmlands within the Oyuk valley, we traverse the high peak of Shogula pass(5400m) to Yangpachen and the northern nomadic grassland, this wonderful valley barely hidden in the remote and not known for mass tourism yet, northern Tibet is known as Changthang Drogpa(Northern nomads) with sparse population of nomads in the vast pastures, hundreds of beautiful lakes with abounding wild lives can be found in this region, Namtso lake is one of them and it is one of the holy as well as most gorgeous lake in Tibet, it is also the world highest salt water lake, we will spend a night on the Tashi Do peninsula and enjoy the cold breeze of the mystical lake and breathtaking view of snow capped ranges all around. Then the next day we will drive back to Lhasa and complete the clockwise circumambulation at Lhasa, on this day we will visit a nomad family tent en route, the giant black tent is made up of yak wool and it has a great tendency to preserve heat and resist rain that is totally accommodate the plateau changeable climate, each tent is a whole complex of kitchen, bedroom, seating room and store room for the family, so spending few minutes with the nomad family give you a special experiences of plateau nomad lifestyle, you may wonder when you see piles of Yak dung just outside of the tents, it is the main fuel that nomads and also Tibetans use for cooking and heating the house during the chilly winter season.