Royal Mountain Travel Magazine Royal Mountain Travel Magazine Issue 3 | Page 52
Experiencing the Tibetan Way of Life
the one above, visiting Tashi Palkhiel, Tashiling, and Paljorling.
There is also a full day tour that starts at around 6 or 7am and
ends at 5pm. This takes you to Dhulegaunda, Tanahun, and
Jampaling. In addition to the usual things like a hearty Tibetan
breakfast and a delicious lunch with local families, meeting the
residents of the settlements, a visit to a monastery, and so on,
you will also get to meet villagers and see how organic farming
is done according to Buddhist principles. In addition, you will
be regaled with a performance of Tibetan songs and dances
performed by some of the older women. There is an overnight
tour that starts at 6 or 7am and ends at 9am the next day. This
has the same itinerary as the half day programs except that
you’ll be staying overnight with a Tibetan family and get to spend
more time with Tibetans over dinner and along the way.
Young monks at Monastry. Photo: Sudeep Singh.
Tibetans to share their way of life with tourists, in a way that is
mutually beneficial. There are well planned half-day (morning
or afternoon), full day, and overnight tours to all the four Tibetan
refugee settlements in and around Pokhara. It’s something that
is sure to give you a good understanding about Tibetan culture
and their way of life. You can expect to hear many interesting
accounts of Tibet and the events related to the Chinese invasion.
These programs are well designed to make you more familiar
with the culture and traditions of the Tibetan people. It’s a great
initiative to make the Tibetans’ way of life and their philosophies
better known to the world, by giving tourists more insight and
understanding into their way of life in Nepal.
If you are in a hurry and don’t have much time, there’s a morning
half-day program starting at 7:00am and ending at 12:30pm.
This will take you around Tashi Palkhiel, Tashiling and Paljorling.
Thought it’s a short visit, you pack in a lot, starting with a hearty
Tibetan breakfast of tsampa, butter tea, and Tibetan bread
shared with a Tibetan family, a visit to a monastery where you
can meet monks, and a visit to an elderly people’s home where
you might hear firsthand accounts about their flight from Tibet.
You will also be able to see carpet weavers at work, watch how
noodles are made, meet a Tibetan doctor of traditional medicine,
and enjoy lunch with another local family. Alternatively, you can
also go for the half-day program that starts at 11:30am and ends
at 5:30pm.
You can take a morning half day tour that includes a visit to
Sarangkot to see the sunrise. This begins well before dawn and
ends at around 12:30pm. You first go to Sarangkot, a mountain
on the south side of Pokhara where you can see the sun rise
over the magnificent ice-capped Annapurna peaks. You then
have breakfast and then the program is more or less similar to
The World Reveals
52
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May 2014
Tibetan woman making carpet. Photo: Sudeep Singh.