Tibet

Tibet is a small Himalayan country which is located in the main part of Qinghai –Tibet plateau in the south west frontier of China. This culturally and beautiful land shares border with Sichuan, Yannan, Qinghai and Xinjiang to the south and Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Burma and Kashmir to the west. The written history of Tibet goes back to 7th century during the reign of Songtsan Gampo who married one Nepalese and one Chinese wives who brought Buddhism from Nepal and China. The Buddhist statues taken from Nepal can still be seen in the Jokhang temple in Lhasa. Songtsan Gampo had sent his minister to India to study Sanskrit who on returning invented Tibetan script based on Sanskrit.

Geographically Tibet is divided into three major parts, east, north and south. The eastern part of the country is covered with pristine forest occupying one- fourth of total land area. The northern part of the country is open grassland where the nomads with their yak and sheep dwell. This part occupies half the area of Tibet. The southern and central part is the agricultural land occupying one fourth of the Tibet total land and is the grain house of the country. With the presence of all the major cities of Tibet including Lhasa, Shigatse, Gyantse and Tsetang are located in the area and is considered as the cultural hub of Tibet.

With the total area of 1,200,000 sq km and the population of 1,890,000; Tibet is thinly populated country. About 90% of the total population of the country relies in agriculture and animal husbandry for their livelihood.

 Normally, Tibetan climate is not as extreme as many people imagine it to be. The best time of the year for visiting Tibet is from April to November, after which temperature start to drop. The central part of the Tibet, which includes Lhasa, Gyantse, Shigatse and Tsedang has mild weather from April to November, though July and August can be rainy.