Tibet Tour: Mount Kailash & the Guge Kingdom
Saga Dawa Festival Trip

Sacred spaces and stunning landscapes! Magnificent temples, mountain passes, snow-capped peaks, nomad camps, pilgrims – this is truly a journey to stir the senses and nourish the soul - of all the destinations in Asia, the most sacred and sublime. The days of travel are long, the roads are dusty and bumpy - and it is a world that will take your breath away.

Explore the heart of central Tibet, the great temples, monasteries and palaces of Lhasa, Gyantse, Shigatse & Sakya before traveling west, back in time and history through dramatic landscapes to Tibet's most sacred pilgrimage sites - Mount Kailash, Lake Manasarovar, Tithapuri - and to the region that was once the heartland of Tibet, the ancient kingdom of Guge. The 3-day circumambulation of Mount Kailash is challenging due to altitude, but within the capabilities of any healthy person - and timed to coincide with the full moon, it is an incredible time.

After the raising of the new flag-pole at Tarboche continue to one of Tibet's most sacred pilgrimage sites at Tirthapuri and explore the ancient capital of Khyunlung.Once the heartland of Tibet, the remains of Zhangzhung date back over 3,000 years.

Further west, above the Sutlej River and backed by the Ladakh Himalaya the kingdom of Guge flourished from the 9th to the 15th centuries. With its strong links to Ladakh and Kashmir it is extremely important in terms of Buddhist art history. The remains of this kingdom stand in a landscape so overwhelming as to defy description and in the temples of Guge are some of the most spectacular extant Buddhist art work.

Stunning views of Qomolangma (Mt Everest) and a day trip up to base camp are a fitting finale to this incredible journey before we leave the Tibetan Plateau behind, plunging into a lush green world as we descend almost 2000 meters in just 30kms to the border town of Zhangmu.

Of incredible geomantic power Kailash (Sanskrit) or Kang Rinpoche (Tibetan) marks the center of the Earth for Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and Bon. To Buddhists it is the abode of Demchok, the wrathful manifestation of Buddha Sakyamuni. To Hindus it is the dwelling of Shiva, the destroyer and according to the Sanskrit tradition of Vishnu Purana it is a representation of Mount Meru, the cosmic mountain at the center of the universe. It is the place where the founder of Bon descended to Earth and where the founder of the Jain faith was spiritually awakened.

Kailash is also the geographical watershed of South Asia, here its great rivers are born - the Indus, the Sutlej, the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) and the Karnali / Ganges. At its foot lies the most venerated of Tibet's lakes, Manasarovar, believed by Hindu's to have been formed in the mind of Brahma.