Motorcycle travel through Tibet

The plane lands in Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan province. The flight to Lhasa follows and the transfer to the hotel. The rest of the day is at leisure for acclimatization.

To carefully acclimatize to the altitude (Lhasa is at 3650 m), we initially avoid any unnecessary exertion to acclimatize. The rest of the day is free for sightseeing or resting. For example, you can walk around the sacred Jokhang Temple and the Bakhor Kora, a bustling market and the pilgrimage route around the holiest temple in Tibet. Additionally, you will receive your Chinese driver's license today so you can drive in Tibet.

To get to know the traffic and for initial acclimatization to our motorcycles, we will take a warm-up tour to the Ganden Monastery, located at about 4000m. Here the "Gelugpa", or "Yellow Hat Sect", to which the Dalai Lama also belongs, was founded.

A relaxed, full first day of travel takes us along the Lhasa River to the Yarlung Tsanpo - which becomes the Brahmaputra in India - to Tsetang. We visit the Yumbulakhang Temple outside of Tsetang. Here, the first traces of human civilization in Tibet were discovered.

The next day we ride a few kilometers back with the motorcycles along the Brahmaputra before we start to wind up to almost 5000 meters in altitude. From the Kamba La Pass, we have a beautiful view back into the Brahmaputra valley, which grows into the most water-rich river in Asia on its way to the Indian Ocean, and of the holy Yamdrok Tso Lake. Along the lake, we pass by Nagartse on our way to Gyantse. However, before that, we will cross the Karo-La at 5010 meters, where the glacier of a 7000er almost reaches down to the road.

Before we leave Gyantse today, we will visit the Pelkhor Chöde Monastery and the Kumbum Chörten. The only walkable stupa and one of the most impressive structures on our journey. Afterwards, we will pass Shigatse and go over another pass to Sakya.

After breakfast and a visit to the Sakya Monastery fortress, we return to Highway 318 and cross the 5220-meter-high Gyatso-La to Shegar.

Today we are setting out early. A few kilometers after Shegar, we turn towards another highlight of our journey, the Mt. Everest Base Camp. Depending on the current conditions at the site, the route cannot always be traveled by motorcycle; in that case, we switch to the car. Before we reach the base camp, we have one of the most impressive panoramas of the Himalayas before us from the 5120-meter-high Pang La Pass, with views from Kanchenjunga to Xixiapangma and in between: Makalu, Mt Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, Cho Oyu. The highest peaks in the world!

We cross the Gyatso-La Pass again and drive back to Shigatse. On the way, we stop to visit the Tashilunpo Monastery, the home of the Panchen Lama, and admire the golden roofs of the monastery and the gilded Buddha statue.

We travel approximately 80 km back towards Lhasa along the Brahmaputra. Then we head north via a little-used road through rural Tibet to Damxhung. Along the way, we cross a spectacular pass at 5,400 m (17,716 ft).

From Damxhung we drive to Namtso Lake, the highest and second largest saltwater lake in the world. Finally, we return to Lhasa to spend our last night in Tibet before going back home the next day.

Goodbye Tibet! With a plethora of memories in tow, the bus finally takes you back to the airport.