Trek from Ganden to Samye

The best season to travel Tibet is April to early November. May and September is good time to do Tibet trekking tours, the weather is just warm, neither too hot nor too cold. Try to avoid the rainy season of Tibet from June to August.

As we know, trekking in Tibet is a real challenge, wonders present themselves and huge barriers of body and mind are crossed on the journey. But, no matter what happened, it can be the most rewarding experience of your life.

As you hike along the rugged Tibetan terrain, you will be greeted with sights so different and new: from the arid Tibetan topography that resembles a lunar landscape to the ancient villages with their colorful prayer flags and magnificent monasteries. As you traverse along the 80km trekking trail that skirts barley fields and nomadic pastureland, you get an opportunity to observe aTibetan lifestyle at close quarters and experience the real Tibet. Before your trek commences, you will be taken on a sightseeing tour to Lhasa.

Ganden-Samye Trekking begins at Ganden Monastery, built into a crescent peak above the cloud line. Although the trek's highest point is a modest 5,200 meters, for an inexperienced or unfit rambler, this is plenty.

Days pass, and altitude sickness sets in, with shortness of breath and long spells of dizziness becoming as challenging as the terrain underfoot. An intense throbbing in the temples is matched by the slow, heavy thumping of feet on rock, but pausing for composure offers bewildering natural compositions.

Upon reaching the pass, the highest point of the trek, the views are breathtaking. Colossal mountains stretch into the distance, hundreds of miles toward Mt. Everest-the Mountain Qomolangma and beyond. Giant melt-water rivers trace through the valleys, as thin as pencil lines. Whole sides of mountains form perilous scree slopes that must be navigated with the agility and nonchalance of the yak.

A small clump of rock, haphazardly forming a pyramid, marks the highest point of the trek. But the trekkers' shrine also marks a triumph, however modest. To have crossed the highest plateau on earth, and climbed in the Himalayas, the greatest mountain range on the planet, deserves some recognition.

Adding a stone to the pile is to be a part of a rare group who have reached great heights, but thankfully these numbers are growing, and the pyramid is getting a little higher with every trek.

Although you might feel that the descent back to China may be long, slow and seemingly mundane if you take the Tibet train out of Lhasa, the special Tibet trekking experiences from standing atop the pass will stay forever not only the simple Tibetan people, amazing scenery, but also the difficulty, altitude stress and pain.