Testimonials

  We went on the morning tour of the Tibetan refugee settlement in Pokhara with Thupten Gyatso, our host and driver for the day. Thupten collected us at our hotel at... read more 05:45 and proceeded to take us to the Pema Ts’al Satya Buddhist Monastery, where we saw the young monks participating in the morning puja (prayer). After, Thupten took us to a family home in one of the Tibetan settlement areas outside of Pokhara. Thupten’s English is very good, and he was able to explain and provide context of his Tibetan culture throughout our tour. We drank butter tea and ate a barley porridge with baked bread. After, we were taken back to the monastery to speak with Ngawang, a 26 year old monk who answered all our questions and spoke with us at length about his life as a Buddhist monk. He was very friendly and seemed to relish the opportunity to speak English with us, as he was also very well-spoken. The final leg of our morning tour ended at the Tashling Tibetan refugee settlement, where we were shown a demonstration of the traditional carpet-making skills of the older Tibetan women in Tashling. There was also a very informative exhibition detailing the history of the Tibetan people’s settlement in Nepal and India. A Tibetan doctor also answered our questions about his medicinal practices and offered to give us a free check-up.
We ended our tour with Thupten at a Tibetan restaurant, eating momos and thenthuk noodle soup. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour with Thupten, and would encourage anyone who is interested to learn about the Tibetan refugees in Nepal first-hand to go on this tour. Thank you for your time, Thupten, and we wish you all the best with your tours!

  Highly recommended half day tour. One of the highlights of our trip. Thupten was very engaging and friendly.

  Fantastic experience! My parents, partner and I did the Morning tour with Thupten. Thupten is extremely knowledgeable about Tibet, the Dalai Lama and Tibetan refugees in Nepal. He was able... read more to answer any questions we had and really provided us with a thorough understanding of...More

  Thupten is one of the most professional guide we met in Nepal. His tour is not the kind that will make you buy things but learn so many priceless informations... read more about Tibetan history, religion, culture, etc. That's why we loved this experience and really recommend it to all of the people staying in Pokhara.

  You can go to Pokhara for the shopping, restaurants and adventure sports — all of which is lovely—or you can take Thupten’s tour and learn about reality of being a... read more Tibetan Refugee in Nepal. He took us to two refugee settlements and we met the...More

  Our guide Thupten Gyatso picked us up from our hotel and provided an excellent tour. He explained the Buddhist tradition and how the Tibetan people have become refugees in India,... read more Bhutan and Nepal. We had a private discussion with a Monk who is nearing the...More

  Great tour. Zoom in to the tibetiean community. We explored its history, culture, food and more. Its a full day tour that i learned alot and would reccomend... read more for anyone that wants to know who the people are in the cirucuit, pokara and more.

  I did a full day tour with Tibetan Encounter and had a great and meaningful day. Thupten is a great guide with a lot of knowledge and even more passion.... read more I can really recommend this tour because it teaches so much about tibetans (in exile),...More

  We had an amazing day with our kids, learning about Tibetan history and culture. We got an amazing insight to the struggles and the history of the Tibetan people and... read more learned about their rich culture. I can highly recommend this tour. Thupten speaks amazing English and is very humble and sweet.

  We spent with my friend the whole afternoon in Tibetan cultural tour close to Pokhara. For me, it was one of the best experience in Nepal. You will find a... read more lot of new information about Tibet and the whole program is really nice and complete....More