Full-Day Tibetan Cultural Tour to Tibetan Settlements Pokhara

This was a very interesting and inspiring tour with many highlights of which I want to mention only a few. - The tour was provided by a Tibetian guide in 2nd generation in Nepal. Therefore I got first hand information and opinion sharing. - A conversation with Tibetian doctor provides you with insights into the Tibetian traditional medicine. - I got the unique chance to have an interview with a young monk in a Buddhist monastery. - I was also able to join the afternoon prayer of another monastery. - Several choices of local food. Overall this tour is very well designed and packed with information and experiences you can make. Come with an open and critical mindset, then you can enjoy the tour even more and engage in discussions with the guide about Tibetian culture and history.

What an amazing experience! Our guide was so knowledgeable and an absolute delight. I have learned so many things about the plight of the Tibetan people. My heart aches for the Tibetan people and hope that justice will one day be served. We also sampled Tibetan food and butter tea. It was delicious! We meet a monk and sat and talked about life for a while. We learned about Buddhism, Tibetan medicine and actually had a pulse reading. I could go on forever about what we learned, what we saw and what we discussed as a group! It was a life changing tour that I highly recommend! What a wonderful tour guide and person...Thupten Gyatso!!!!

The tour Guide Thupten is an amazing person very knowledgeable, kind, trying his best to make the perfect tour,I learned a lot. I would have though spend little less time at the village and at chanting monks to reach on the day light at the beautiful Pema Tsal Buddhist monastery to spend more time there to talk to the monk and take pictures outside. But anyways many thanks to Thupten and heard he has also an amazing guest house, wish I would have booked his place.

I was lucky enough to have been the only guest on this tour. Thupten had to make some extra efforts to pick me up from my remote hotel (thanks for that) and we started our day trip early. In the morning, we visited a Tibetan refugee "settelment" in Pokhara which actually is more like a village within the city with all the infrastructure there people need. There was ample of time for exchanging opinions and thoughts . We stayed there quite a while chatting with the women who weave carpets, with the women who sell carpets, with the women who sell souvenirs before we had some lunch there and moved on to two TIbetan monestaries around Pokhara. There, I had the chance to have a talk with a monk who is living in one of the monasteries and listen to the monk chants in the second monastery. Sadly, the Tibetan culture in Nepal appears a bit "artificial" except for the monks chants and it seemingly does not attract young people to stay (....) as we mostly saw elderly people. At the end of the day (or if younger ones they are Nepali), I felt a bit sad about the Tibetans in Nepal although tehy are quite close geographically as well as culturally. Before we went back to my hotel, we had the chance to taste Tibetan butter tea and their regular meal: barley porridge. Difficult to imagine to have that every day yet for once in a while absolutely ok. Prepare yourself to talk a lot and to exchange your mind with the mind of Thupten. This is the highlight of the day, and it will demonstrate you some kind of mutual understanding (I hope) focusing on essential topics. Happiness is not easy Thupten wherever you are and in whatever circumstances one lives. Learning and understanding is utmost important and I thank you for showing me your perspectives.

The tour is very special and informative which allow me to know more about the Tibetan history and culture.