TIBET

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Trek from Ganden to Samye

Beautifully located Ganden monastery, the starting point of our trek (4500 m)

Many pilgrims that come from far away camp in front of the monastery.

Kora around the Ganden monastery contains several interesting features. For example, pilgrims need to squeeze through a narrow opening between two rocks to find out whether they did not accumulate too many sins. This old woman had serious difficulties getting through, but with Marek's help she eventually managed. Hopefully her amount of accumulated sins is not too bad yet. :-) 

A valley leading to the first pass on our way.

Right before sunset herders take their yaks back down to the valley. They walk directly through our camp site.

Marek in Shug-La pass (5250 m)

Glacier lakes below Chitu-La pass (5100m), the second pass on our trek

We passed through an unexpectedly fertile valley where there grew more than 15 species of trees and bushes - including rhododendrons.

The trek ends at the Samye monastery (the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet which systematically translated Buddhist texts and educated Tibetan monks). The monastery is located in a dessert and surrounded by sand dunes.

Landcruiser trip from Lhasa to the border with Nepal  

View of the beautiful sacred lake Yamdrok-tso (from Kamba-la pass, 4794 m)

Glacier on the Nojin-Kangtsang mountain  (7191 m)

More of the beautiful Tibetan scenery

Gyantse is an old Tibetan town which is famous for its Pelkor Chöde monastery.

Gyantse: The largest stupa in Tibet, Gyantse Kumbum, is 35m tall and has four levels with 77 small chapels.

Gyantse: One of the chapels in Gyantse Kumbum is dedicated to the female bodhisattva Tara. Tara has 21 manifestations, the most famous ones are Green Tara (here) and White Tara. 

Gyantse: Protector deities of Tibet have threatening and scary looks

Meat market in Shighatse

We are just a few kilometers from the Mt. Everest Base Camp. Here the temperatures drop to -15°C during the night and stay below freezing until the sun comes up. It is hard to warm up in early morning, even while drinking hot tea and eating soup in this small restaurant at the Ronghpu monastery (4980m).

View of Mt. Everest from a hill above the Rongphu monastery

Below Mt. Everest

Donkeys and yaks are frequently used for transportation of goods

Little boy from the village of Tashitsum

Tashitsum: The harvest time

Tashitsum: This is the technology used to thresh grain

Typical scenery - a shepherd with his sheep in the unforgiving Tibetan country

The last pass and the last view of the beautiful Tibetan scenery before descending from the Tibetan plateau down to Nepal

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