Tibet

Our small group of 10 made an exciting trip to explore Tibet from 23rd June till 4th July, 2018. To start this trip we flew from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Xi'an in China where we stopped for 2 days to experience the wonders of the Terracotta Warriors Museum and other local sights such as the historical Xi'an City Wall. We then embarked on a long train journey, firstly from Xi'an to Xining, then on a 22 hour train from Xining over the high Tibetan plateau to Lhasa in Tibet.



Two days in Lhasa gave us the chance to acclimitise to the high altitude and visit the local sights. Here we visited the iconic Potala Palace, which was the home of the Dalai Lama, Sera Monastery to see the incredible monks debate and the beautiful Jokhang Temple.



Heading east by road to Shigatse we stopped by Yamdrock Lake (Yamzho Yumco), the Karola Glacier and spent one night camping by a river. In Shigatse we stayed one night in a hotel and visited the small local Tibetan market. Then it was on heading south-west into the high mountains and the Qomolangma National Nature Reserve. We stayed at the Rongphu Monastery close to the base of Mount Everest and were rewarded eventually with a magnificent view of the highest mountain in the world. We started early the next morning, drove up to the end of the road and trekked to the Everest Base Camp where, disappointedly, the mountain was shrouded in clouds. However on returning to Rongphu Monastery before our departure, the clouds cleared and we enjoyed a final spectacular view of Everest.



After a drive back to Shigatse we stayed one night before taking a long and arduous drive the next day up to Namtso Lake where we stayed one night before driving again back down to Lhasa. We then had one final night in a hotel in Lhasa before flying back to Kuala Lumpur via Chengdu.