Everest Base Camp Tour (Fly in and drive out)
Itinerary
Day 01 Fly by CSWA 55minutes flight to Lhasa from Kathmandu.
Arrive Lhasa and check in at hotel. Overnight. Lhasa (11,850 ft.) was and still is the Religious, cultural and economic center of Tibet. Places of interest including the Potala, the 13 storey, 1000 rooms palace of the Dalai lama, Norbulingka, and the Jokhang, the holiest shrine of Tibet. The circular Barkhor Street with innumerable shops and wayside Pedlars intermingled with the devotees walking clockwise around the Jokhang infuses the magic and experience of Tibet.
Day 02 Morning sightseeing tours of Sera monastery.
Sera means hail stone in Tibetan. Set in the foot of the Wudu hill to the north of Lhasa city, sera comprise of a great sutra-chanting hall a college and 32 sections. Afternoon sightseeing tours of Potala Palace and Norbulingka. Potala Palace located on the red hill was built in 640 during the reign of Songtsan Gompa. The original Potala was destroyed on 9th century but was rebuilt in 17th century during the reign of 5th Dalai Lama.
Day 03 Morning sightseeing tour of the Drepung Monastery.
Drepung Monastery situate to the west of Lhasa city was found in 1416 by one of the disciples of Tsongkhapa. It is the largest and richest of the three major yellow sect Monasteries in Lhasa. Afternoon sightseeing tour of the Jokhang temple and Barkhor Market.
Day 04 Day Trip of Ganden or Tsurpu
Ganden Monastery located in Takste country, found in 1409 by Tsongkapa, the founder of the Gelugpa sect; it is the earliest of the three great monasteries in Tibet. Tsurpu Monastery situated in the upper reaches of the Drowolung valley, was an impressive complex, one of the most handsome of central Tibet. The ravages of the 1960s badly damaged most of its buildings. Today, among extensive ruins, are huge cavernous shells with walls reaching to 10 m. before the devastation, the 16th karmapa, Rangjung Rrikpai Dorjee(1924 -81) escaped to sikkim with many of Tsupu’s treasures. A new karmapa center was founded in Rumtek.
Day 05 Lhasa – Xigatse (Drive 352 kms)
Xigatse (12,600 ft) is most famous for its Tashihunpo monastery – the seat of the Panchen Lama, who is regarded as the reincarnation of the Buddha of endless enlightenment. Items of interest inside this monastery Built in 1447 by the first Dalai Lama are: the relics of Sakyamuni, the hall of Maitreya, and a mind – boggling collection of thankas, frescoes and statues. There is a bustling `free’ market at the foot of the ruins of the Xigaze fortress where on can buy local handicrafts embedded with coral and turquoise, Tibetan daggers, Chinese porcelain and yak butter.
Day 06 Xigatse – Xegar. (Drive 245 km)
Xegar (13,800 ft) is a new Chinese commune built at the foot of the ruins of Xegar Dzong, and is 7 km from the main road. With a population of 3000, its importance lies in the fact that it is the center of this large and remote country and also because it is the base from where expeditions to Mt. Everest and other peals are launched.
Day 07 Xegar – Rongbuk (105). Explore to Base camp
Rongbuk Monastery: founded in 1902, this largest monastery of the region once had over 500 monks and nun. It is located at the foot of the Rongbuk Glacier, near Mt. Everest’s north face Base camp. A couple of centuries before the complex was built, a small group of nuns in meditation huts braved the severe conditions regularly experienced at this sobering altitude of 4980 m this religious community of nuns was the precursor of the Dzarong Monastery. In the yearly year of the 20th C., Ngawang Tenzin Norbu catalyzed the flowering of Rongbuk. He also went ro the Nepal to start the khumbu area of Nepal to start the monasteries of Thame, Tengboche, Takshingdu, and Chiwong. These became Rongbuk’s satellite monastery.
Day 08 Drive Rongbuk to Nyalam (325)
Overnight at Nyalam Guest house – 9hrs.
Day 09 Drive Nylam to Zhangmu
Drop at Friendship Bridge and to Nepal Boarder and to Kathmandu.