Travel to Tibet

Hello, as I am about to leave for my April trip to Tibet, this article about my trip came out from the National Geographic Adventure Magazine this week. Isn't it an auspecious?!  ------ The following article from the National Geographic Adventure Magazine: Monks and Mysticism Temple Trekking in Tibet The erstwhile homeland of the Dalai Lama is saturated with the sacred, but its deeper nuances can elude average guidebook travelers and even those who sign on with Western outfitters. Few escorts embody the bicultural sensibilities of Tenzin Bhagen, a native Tibetan and practicing Buddhist who has lived in the U.S. for 11 years. A Scenic Mountains Trek is as much an experience of Tibetans as it is of Tibet, of the soul of the country as much as its landscape. "It's a spiritual cleansing just to go there," says Bhagen, who contends that, to find the essential Tibet you must go beyond Lhasa. A two-week journey with Bhagen culminates in a four-day, 50-mile (80-kilometer), yak-supported camping trip through the U-Tsang region. The walk starts at Ganden Monastery near Lhasa, plies two 17,000-foot (5,182-meter) passes (by then you're acclimatized), visits numerous temples, passes by lakes and through alpine forests, and ends at eighth-century Samye Monastery, Tibet's oldest and home to the revered Guru Rinpoche—the man who first brought Buddhism to Tibet, in a.d. 774.  "The world has much to learn from the culture of Tibet," he says. "So on  treks, we don't just tour temples, we interact with monks, which has to be done privately."  "We even visit their quarters, drink tea with them, learn how they live and how they practice spirituality." You'll also encounter villagers and nomadic herders. "We meet people who possess almost nothing but their animals," Bhagen adds. "Some of them barely have bowls to share with their guests. But their smiles create a really special experience."