Amdo (Tibet) - August 2002

Which hiker has not imagined being an explorer? Who doesn't dream of going into some places where no one has been before ? Today, there are at least some places where no hiker as been and where hiking is something new. Amdo is one of these : a north-east province of the historic Tibet that I discovered during a hike organized by Terres d'Aventure.

The advantage of being among the first to do some hiking somewhere is, of course, the contacts you can have with the people. Later, more groups will come and weariness will come with them: western travelers will be part of the landscape. But today, the most extreme curiosity is prevailing. Having a whole village coming to inspect the tents and sleeping bags of your camp and to examine your clothes, sharing, for an evening, the life of buddhist monks in their monastery, these are unforgettable moments. Of course, in these circumstances, curiosity is shared and you have an unique opportunity to better know this people.

More than that, this is not the only interest of the hike: diverse landscapes and, for the ones who like tibetan buddhism, many monasteries, are also quite attractive.

Photo gallery

You can see the photo gallery of the trek on distant trails (also works on iPhone and iPad).

You will need Adobe Flash Player to see this gallery (unless you use an iPhone or iPad). The lower right button of the gallery navigation bar will allow you to see the images full screen.

Map

Thanks to Google Maps, you will see below the trek map.

Click on "View on a larger map" to see a full screen map and to be able to load it in Google Earth plug-in and see a 3D view. The trek trace you see is not coming from a GPS, so do not try to use the coordinates to perform some actual navigation.