Discovering Lhasa, involving all family members of all ages.
The historical city Lhasa for families tour: a family focus in the discovery of Lhasa city and the mysteries and magic of the Potala Palace and surrounding great Buddhist monasteries.
Arriving at Lhasa Gongar Airport or train station, our will meet you and transfer to your hotel. Take a rest to acclimatize yourself to the high latitude. If you don’t have any uncomfortable feeling, then take some steps around famous Barkor Street where there are a lot of Tibetans are doing circumambulation around Jokhang Temple with prayer hand wheels and rosaries in their hands.
Today we will visit the Jokhang Temple, situated in the heart of Old Lhasa, it houses Tibet’s most precious religious relic, a golden Shakyamuni Buddha which was brought as a gift by the Chinese Princess Wen Cheng on the occasion of her wedding to the Tibetan King, Songtsen Gompo. Surrounding the Jokhang Temple is the bustling Barkhor Market place which is the religious and social focus of Lhasa.
Later in the day visit the Potala Palace, this legendary palace built atop a single hill is synonymous with Tibet by the first foremost king Songtsen Gompa. It was expanded to its present structure during the 17th century by the 5th Dalai Lama. This 13 story 1000 room citadel served as the headquarters of the former “church-state” of the Tibet and was home to successive Dalai Lamas, who from the latter half of the 18th century used it as their winter palace.
Today you will explore Tibet’s two greatest monasteries, the Drepung and Sera Monasteries. Drepung Monastery, founded in 1416 at the foothill of a mountain, was once the largest and most influential monastery in Tibet. The monastery is divided into two different colleges; Drepung Loseling and Drepung Gomang. Nearby, the Ganden Podrang (Ganden Palace) is famous as the center of the Tibetan government established by the 5th Dalai Lama in 1642. Thereafter, drive to Nyew town, a thriving new town to the southern suburb of the city, to visit the world first Yak Museum, opens in 2014, the museum is dedicated to the Yak, it covers over 8,000 square kilometers with primary mission of celebrating the “spirit of Yaks.” There are three exhibition halls focusing on a particular theme. Features yaks in Science and Nature, Humanity and History, and Arit and Spirit.
After lunch, you will visit the ancient Sera Monastery, founded in 1419 by another of Tsongkapa’s disciples, Jamchen Chojey. This monastery is divided in half by pathways, with the eastern section containing the Great Assembly Hall and the monk residences and the western section containing three famous monastic colleges; Sera Je Dratsang, Sera Me Dratsang and the Ngakpa Dratsang, all instituted by Tsongkapa as monastic universities that catered to monks from 8 to 70 years old. Another notable feature of this monastery is the debates between the monks on Buddhist philosophy, which you can witness in the monastery courtyard. After then, we would drive to the Ganden Monastery in the late afternoon to begin the trek, which takes around 90 minutes to complete.
You will be picked up from your hotel in time to connect your flight to your next destination.
