For many people, the main reason that they go to Tibet is to see the amazing view of Everest’s famous North Face. The view of Everest from the Tibet side gives a clear, sweeping view of the mountain. [...]
Many people ask if it is possible to cycle in Tibet. Not only is it possible to cycle in Tibet, it has become very popular over the past 10 years. The same travel regulations apply however, if you [...]
Plateau Photo Tours, which I co-own, will be hosting a Photography Workshop in Garze Prefecture in the traditional Tibetan region of Kham from October 10 to October 19. Garze prefecture has the largest [...]
The first time I arrived at the Larung Gar Buddhist Institute, I couldn’t believe my eyes! I couldn’t believe that something this HUGE could exist on the Tibetan Plateau. Located in Sertar [...]
The Sichuan Part of Kham is easily one of the most beautiful regions of the Tibetan Plateau. It has everything one could ask for: high snow-capped peaks, beautiful alpine grasslands filled with yaks [...]
Plateau Photo Tours, which I co-own, will be hosting a Kham Tibet Overland Journey from June 8th to June 22nd, 2013. This adventure will take you through some of the most stunning scenerey [...]
UPDATED 13 April 2013 Each year I do my best to keep up-to-date on the various travel regulations and restrictions across the Tibetan Plateau. Tibet, including the regions of Amdo and Kham, can sometimes [...]
Labrang Monastery བླ་བྲང་བཀྲ་དགོན་པ་ is the largest monastery in the traditional Tibetan region of Amdo. Established in 1709, Labrang housed over 4000 monks at [...]
One of my favorite websites on Tibetan culture is YoWangdu. The site is maintained by Lobsang Wangdu and his wife Yolanda. Along with great articles about Tibetan customs, religion and travel advice, [...]
Lhasa ལྷ་ས་, meaning “place of the gods” in Tibetan, is the most important city in Tibet. Lying at an elevation of 3655 meters / 12,000 feet, Lhasa is the second largest city [...]
For many people, the main reason that they go to Tibet is to see the amazing view of Everest’s famous North Face. The view of Everest from the Tibet side gives a clear, sweeping view of the mountain. I receive more emails about the Everest region that any other region of the Tibetan Plateau. I have been fortunate enough to go to the Tibet-side Everest Region more than a dozen times over the years. [...]
Many people ask if it is possible to cycle in Tibet. Not only is it possible to cycle in Tibet, it has become very popular over the past 10 years. The same travel regulations apply however, if you want to cycle. There is no independent travel and you still need to be part of an organized tour that includes travel permits, a tour guide and a private vehicle with a driver. There are NO exceptions to these [...]
Plateau Photo Tours, which I co-own, will be hosting a Photography Workshop in Garze Prefecture in the traditional Tibetan region of Kham from October 10 to October 19. Garze prefecture has the largest population of Tibetan people of any of the prefectures on the Tibetan Plateau. Full of Buddhist monasteries, pilgrimage sites, grasslands, yak herding communities, farming villages, snow-capped peaks, alpine [...]
The first time I arrived at the Larung Gar Buddhist Institute, I couldn’t believe my eyes! I couldn’t believe that something this HUGE could exist on the Tibetan Plateau. Located in Sertar County, Garze Prefecture དཀར་མཛེས་ཁུལ་གསེར་ཐར་རྫོང་ in the traditional Tibetan region of Kham found in western Sichuan, Larung Gar is home to over 40,000 [...]
The Sichuan Part of Kham is easily one of the most beautiful regions of the Tibetan Plateau. It has everything one could ask for: high snow-capped peaks, beautiful alpine grasslands filled with yaks and sheep, deep river valleys, stunning turquoise lakes and some of the best preserved Tibetan culture remaining. You can explore small farming villages as well as traditional nomad communities throughout the [...]
Plateau Photo Tours, which I co-own, will be hosting a Kham Tibet Overland Journey from June 8th to June 22nd, 2013. This adventure will take you through some of the most stunning scenerey and best preserved culture found on the Tibetan Plateau. Starting in Xining, the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau, we will fly to Jyekundo, the capital town of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the [...]
UPDATED 13 April 2013 Each year I do my best to keep up-to-date on the various travel regulations and restrictions across the Tibetan Plateau. Tibet, including the regions of Amdo and Kham, can sometimes be politically unstable. When areas and regions are unstable, the government (not travel agencies) either closes specific areas or imposes travel regulations, such as group travel. It is important to remember [...]
Labrang Monastery བླ་བྲང་བཀྲ་དགོན་པ་ is the largest monastery in the traditional Tibetan region of Amdo. Established in 1709, Labrang housed over 4000 monks at its peak, but now only has around 1500 monks with another couple of hundred lay students. Located in the Gansu Part of Amdo, Labrang is considered the cultural heart of Amdo Tibetan culture along with nearby town [...]
One of my favorite websites on Tibetan culture is YoWangdu. The site is maintained by Lobsang Wangdu and his wife Yolanda. Along with great articles about Tibetan customs, religion and travel advice, they also have excellent recipes on how to cook amazing Tibetan food! From now until February 11th, YoWangdu Tibetan Culture are sharing a special Losar offer to the Land of Snows community: 30% off their [...]
Lhasa ལྷ་ས་, meaning “place of the gods” in Tibetan, is the most important city in Tibet. Lying at an elevation of 3655 meters / 12,000 feet, Lhasa is the second largest city on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ཟི་ལིང་. Historically, Lhasa was the capital of the traditional Tibetan region of Ü དབུས་, though today it is the capital of all of the Tibet Autonomous [...]