9 Day Spiritual

Day 1: Arrive In Lhasa

Tour Guide will pick up a client from the train station or airport and transfer to the hotel. In Lhasa, we check in to a Tibetan hotel in the Tibetan quarter, very close to the Jokhang Temple. We will have short meditation and spiritual discussions in the hotel.

Overnight at Shambala Palace, located in the heart of Lhasa city

Day 2: Lhasa City Sightseeing, Visit Jokhang Temple And Sera Monastery(B)

After breakfast, you will visit the Jokhang, the holiest Buddhist temple in all of the Himalayas. Each day, many thousands of Buddhist pilgrims come here to worship. Many have traveled well over a thousand kilometers by foot to see this 1400-year-old temple.

After lunch, you will visit the 600-year old huge monastery complex of Sera. While at Sera, you watch the monks engage in entertaining Buddhist philosophical debates. In the evening, you will have free time to wander around the Old Town on your own.

Overnight at Shambala Palace, located in the heart of Lhasa city

Breakfast

Day 3: Lhasa City Sightseeing, Visit Drepung Monastery, Potala Palace (B)

Today you will be arranged to visit Drepung, Potala Palace. Drepung monastery was once the world's largest monastery in the history with 10,000 monks hailed from different monasteries all over Tibet. It is located in a small mountain so we can see the view of Lhasa city below. After Drepung, visit the massive 1000 room Potala Palace, the most iconic building in Tibet. You will work your way up the steps of the Potala and then go through the most important rooms in this famous UNESCO site. After lunch, you will explore another one of Tibet’s important monasteries.

Overnight at Shambala Palace, located in the heart of Lhasa city

Breakfast

Day 4: Lhasa— Ganden Monastery €- Drak Yerpa Meditation Caves €- Terdrum Nunnery

Today after breakfast we visit the 7th Century meditation caves of the previous great master in DrakYerpa, we will also do meditation in the great master's meditation caves.

In the afternoon we will set foot into the temples of the most important monastery in the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism. The temples we visit include; the tomb of Tsongkapa and the Throne of Ganden, the Great Hall of Ganden Monastery, and Ganden Tsogchen, where monks perform prayers. Then we follow a traditional pilgrim route around Ganden, known as Ganden kora, we continue our journey to Tidrum.

We camp nearby the nunnery, do our meditation/yoga in this beautiful valley with sacred history, and take bath in the natural hot spring that Tibetans believe to be a medicinal spring that cures many types of diseases as it was blessed by the Maha Guru Rinpoche.

Overnight Camping or local Guesthouse or Shambhala Palace branch hotel 

Breakfast

Day 5: Terdrum Nunnery—Meditation Cave Of Guru Rinpoche— Drigung Monastery - Nerdrum Nunnery

In the morning we hike up to the mountain to visit hermits and meditation caves. In the afternoon, we visit the sky burial location at the Drigung Monastery, 9 kilometers from our camp. The monastery is the first and most important monastery ever built for the Drigung Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Renowned for its Tantric practice and sacred sky burial, it is believed that those whose bodies are taken here won’t be reborn in the lower realm of cyclic existence. Here on a wooden board, all—rich and poor, powerful and powerless, old and young, men and women—disappear. We may even see vultures still flying around the sky above and crows picking up undetectable pieces from the ground.

In Buddhism, the body is a temporary “guest house” for the spirit that journeys forever within the six realms of existence until it becomes enlightened. Tibetans believe that giving their bodies to birds, as opposed to being buried or burned, makes use of a useless body. After this visit, we return to Terdrum to experience the hot spring once more prior to a meditation/yoga practice.

Overnight Camping or Guesthouse or Shambhala Palace branch 

Breakfast

Day 6: Terdrum Nunnery—Reting Monastery

After morning breakfast and meditation/yoga, we drive to Reting monastery, on the way breathtaking view of remote high mountains valleys where Tibetan farmers weed their green barley paddies, and nomad children wave us welcomingly. Reting Monastery is located in a remote place surrounded by juniper trees in a region that is otherwise treeless. The monastery was originally built in 1056 by Drom Tonpa, one of the most important historical Buddhist teachers in Tibet. We hike up through the juniper trees to the cave where the most famous Buddist text in Tibet was composed by Tsongkapa, the Lamarim—Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, we also visit the retreat area of the nunnery. where many nuns live with peace and faith. We will have tea there and meditation/yoga, after coming back to Reting monastery.

Overnight Camping  (No private bathroom no shower)

Breakfast

Day 7: Reting Monastery—Namtso Lake

Today we arrive at our final excursion outside Lhasa, Namtso Lake, the second largest lake in the Tibetan Plateau and one of the most sacred sites for pilgrims and home of the hermits. The first sight of Namtso Lake from a pass full of colorful prayer flags literally takes your breath away. We are now at 15,000 ft. We are at the guest house at the lake.

Here we meditate/yoga along the edge of the lake to experience firsthand the peace and tranquility of this place. The night may just bring some great excitement! If you haven’t been here before, then it is probably the first time you will discover just how many stars exist in our universe. Bring your camera and stargazing map!

Overnight guesthouse (No private bathroom no shower)

Breakfast

Day 8: Namtso Lake—Tsurphu Monastery—Lhasa

After morning breakfast, We will see the sunrise at Namtso lake, morning meditation/yoga. We then drive to Tsurphu monastery, one of the most important Karma Kagyu monasteries, we will have short meditation/yoga near the river and make a kora to create more good karma then drive to Lhasa for the night. We will have a goodbye dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Overnight at Shambala Palace, located in the heart of Lhasa city

Breakfast

Day 9: Transfer To Airport Or Train Station

After morning breakfast we will transfer you to the train station or airport and we will pray to meet you again.