Garden (4500m)
Tsongkhapa founded the first monastery of the Gelukpa order, Ganden in 1409 or 1417 (sources differ). It has remained the main seat of the Gelugpa and it ids the abbot of Ganden, the Ganden Tripa, rather than the Dalai Lama who is head of the order. Of all Tibet’s monasteries Ganden suffered most art the hands of the Red Guards, subjected to both artillery fire and bombing, probably due to its political importance. Today it is being revitalized and rebuilt and its setting high on a ridge overlooking the Kyi Chu Valey is spectacular.

Drigung (4280m)
Built like a fortress a above the valley floor it was included in the late 12th century by the first Drigung Rinpoche. He was a popular teacher and after his death Drigung grew to become a serious religious and political contender to the Sakya. In the 13th century Drigung lamas traveled across Tibet establishing meditation ‘colonies’ at famous pilgrimage sites. When Mangol armies sacked Reting in 1240 Drigung warded off the invaders, but the challenge of Drigung’s political power, but it continued to be a center for contemplative teaching and home of a Kargyupa subsect.

Tirdrom (4360m)
Renowned as a Guru Rinpoche meditation site and for its medicinal hot springs.

Reting (4070m)
Found in 1056. Few places in central Tibet can rival the serenity of reting. Completely destroyed in the ruins of this once great monastic complex and its rebuilt temples are surrounded by juniper trees said to have sprung from the hairs of Dromton Gyelwai Jungne, chief of Atisha and founder of Reting and of the Kadampa sect. Retingwas sact by the Mongols in 1240. The Gompa was rebuilt, but the Kadampa were eventually absorbed by the Gelukpa. The 7th Dalai Lama appointed his tutor as the abbot of Reting; from that time the incarnate lineage of Reting Rinpoche became eligible for selection as Regent of Tibet during the minority of Dalai Lama. Three times the Reting tulku was Regent, bringing great wealth and prosperity to the monastery. The sixth Reting Rinpoche died in 1997.

Namtso (4718m)
Tibet’s largest saltwater lake at 4700m is one of the highest.
Tashodor is a small chapel housing an image of the local deity, Nyenchen Tanglha, who has roots in Bon and resides in the nearby mountain of the same name. The same deity is the protector of Marpo Ri the hill on which the Potala is built.

A short kora leads around a rocky promontory of cairns and prayer flags where pilgrims undertake ritual washing them continue past several caves and a prostration point. Twin rock towers look like two hands in the Namaste greeting and are connected to the male and female attributes of Chakrasamvara. Pilgrims squeeze into the deep slices of the nearby cliff face are a means of sin detection, drink water dripping from cave roofs, ingest ‘holy dirt’ and , at a group of ancient rock paintings, test their merit by attempting to place a finger in a small hole with their eyes closed.