Press
WGVU Radio Interview
WGVU Radio Interview with Tenzin Bhagen about the Tashi Delek Travel.
Travel and Leisure magazine
December 16, 2007
Reader’s Find
Tibet
I’ve just returned from a 15-day spiritual yoga journey to Tibet led by Tibetan-born guide Tenzin Bhagen, through his Washington, D.C., travel company, Tashi Delek Travel [202/492-0902, www.tashidelektravel.com]. The trip is simply extraordinary—it highlights Tibetan history and Buddhism—and gives travelers once- in-a-lifetime opportunities, such as a private visit with a Sera Monastery monk, or a picnic with the guide’s family at a summer palace in Lhasa. As Tenzin put it: “This is Tibet—it warms your heart.” —Larry Pollock, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
New York Times
Tibet, Now
By JOSHUA KURLANTZICK
December 10, 2006
“For many Western travelers, the tourism bonanza has added to the urgency of getting to Tibet while they can still recognize its unique culture and fragile environment. Yet even as more foreigners consider visiting, Tibet is becoming more comfortable…
…If you want to see Tibet on a group tour, try Tenzin Bhagen, a Tibetan-American guide who customizes trips. (202-492-0902)”
National Geographic Adventure magazine
April 2007 issue
Monks and Mysticism – Temple Trekking in Tibet
The erstwhile homeland of the Dalai Lama is saturated with the sacred, but its deeper nuances can elude average guidebook travelers and even those who sign on with Western outfitters. Few escorts embody the bicultural sensibilities of Tenzin Bhagen, a native Tibetan and practicing Buddhist who has lived in the U.S. for 11 years. A Scenic Mountains Trek with Bhagen ($4,785 for 15 days, including a round-trip flight from Chengdu, China, to Tibet, and all meals, fees, hotels, and permits; www.tashidelektravel.com) is as much an experience of Tibetans as it is of Tibet, of the soul of the country as much as its landscape. “It’s a spiritual cleansing just to go there,” says Bhagen, who contends that, to find the essential Tibet you must go beyond Lhasa. A two-week journey with Bhagen culminates in a four-day, 50-mile (80-kilometer), yak-supported camping trip through the U-Tsang region. The walk starts at Ganden Monastery near Lhasa, plies two 17,000-foot (5,182-meter) passes (by then you’re acclimatized), visits numerous temples, passes by lakes and through alpine forests, and ends at eighth-century Samye Monastery, Tibet’s oldest and home to the revered Guru Rinpoche—the man who first brought Buddhism to Tibet, in a.d. 774. The expertise of this homegrown guide and his ability to arrange authentic and meaningful interaction with locals along the way are the big difference between Bhagen’s itinerary and most others. “The world has much to learn from the culture of Tibet,” he says. “So on my treks, we don’t just tour temples, we interact with monks, which has to be done privately.” Bhagen, of course, translates. “We even visit their quarters, drink tea with them, learn how they live and how they practice spirituality.” You’ll also encounter villagers and nomadic herders. “We meet people who possess almost nothing but their animals,” Bhagen adds. “Some of them barely have bowls to share with their guests. But their smiles create a really special experience.”
