Trekking in Lhasa city part two is the continuation of our Trekking in Tibet post.
There are lots of popular activities in Lhasa and Tibet, which travelers typically miss during their few days visit Tibet.
Tibet is not only Lhasa, Mount Everest and Mount Kailash. It has much more to offer.
Hiking is one of the many activities many travelers would miss out to do.
So we are writing about the trekking in Lhasa city and in Tibet to enhance travelers experiences in Tibet.
Today We are going to write about the two days hiking to Gephel Utse above the Drepung monastery.
Before we proceed to the main trekking information, I would like to share about Our local ritual to trekking to the Gephel Utse.
Festival associate with this trekking
As locals in Lhasa, we usually go to the Gephel Utse during the two particular religious festivals; Zamling Chisang (Incense offering) and Choekhor Dhuchen (Turning the wheel of Dharma by Buddha).
Zamling Chisang
This festival commemorates acceptance of Tibetan Buddhism as the official religion of the Tibetan Kingdom and its king court formally.
In the eight century, the Tibetan King Trisong Detsen has invited a Zen Practitioner from the East and Indian Vajrayana Buddhism practitioner from India for a debate.
The debate was known as the great Samye debate. After the discussion, It was decided to make Tibet Buddhism as an official religion of Tibetan Tubu Royal court.
During this festival. It’s our custom to burn incense and put prayer flags. You can do it in the home. But it is often considered better if you could go to higher places like mountain top to do the same.
Choekhor Dhuchen
The chorkhor Dhuchen is associate with the occasion when the Lord Buddha first sermon his teaching.
Some of the main custom associates with such an auspicious day is to go for pilgrimage to holy temples or site. Go for circumambulations and burning incense and putting prayer flag on the higher places.
So, this festival is one of two popular days from local Lhasa people to go hiking on the top Gephel Utse.
Preparation for trekking
The trekking takes two days for regular people and a day for a very fit person. But for all the international travellers, we would like to recommend you to do the trekking in two days.
In the middle path, there is a small hermit belongs to the Drepung Monastery. They will offer you with hot water and yak dung to make a fire in the night.
It is recommended to bring a good tent for the night, sleeping bag, mattress, and cooking pot. You can leave all these things at the hermit and go further up.
It is highly recommended to bring high energy easy to eat meals.
Besides all the excellent trekking clothes and walking stick, we would like to stress the importance of a perfect hiking shoe. For the entire trek, you will be walking on stones and rocks.
There is no way for your travel agency to hire mules or donkey carry your packs. You can either hire a porter or bring all your stuff on you back.
The Trekking
The trek usually starts in the afternoon from the Drepung monastery. The destination for the first day is to reach the hermit of the monastery.
From the hermit, you will have a magnificent view of Lhasa in the sunset.
You will camp here for a night. You can either camp out in the open.
You can ask monks to give you hire wood or Yak dung to make a fire to cook.
On the second day, you will get up about 4 in the morning to hiking up the other half of the mountain. This half is more challenging, and it is better to go up before the sunrise.
The idle timing to reach on top of the mount is during the sunshine. You will have a magnificent view of Lhasa city and entire Kyichu River valley.
The top of the mountain is at 5300 meters above sea level. It is recommended to spend lesser time on the top.
Here are our tips this trekking in Lhasa
- Bring some bottle of drinking water, enough for a One day and a night.
- There is only one spring at hermit to refill the water.
- Make sure you have a good tent and sleeping bag arranged by your travel agency in Lhasa.
- Bring enough food and energy bar.
- Buy some prayer flags and incense for the ritual on the top hill just for the local experience.
- Bring power banks to charge your camera, photo, and another device.
- Bring a torch as you will be walking up from halfway to the top in Dark.
- Walking stick and a comfortable shoe are highly recommended.
- You will not likely find a potter or a Yak to carry your camping gears so I would recommend you to pack light.
Conclusion of trekking in Lhasa
We hope you like this post about trekking in Lhasa part two. Here we have covered our experiences and travel guide for going for two-day hiking trip to the Gephel Utse mountain in Lhasa.
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