Labrang monk / holy books in the monastery / butter sculpture
AMDO 3: LANZHOU TO CHENGDU/ 8 DAYS |
Labrang monk / holy books in the monastery / butter sculpture
| Day | Daily schedule | Overnight in |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Transfer from Lanzhou to Xiahe | Xiahe |
| 2 | Visit the Labrang monastery | Xiahe |
| 3 | Visit the Sangke grasslands | Xiahe |
| 4 | Continue to Langmusi via Hezuo, visit Milarepa temple | Langmusi |
| 5 | Visit Daceng Lhamo lamasery, go hiking in gorge | Langmusi |
| 6 | From Langmusi to Songpan via Zoige high altitude grasslands | Songpan |
| 7 | Horse riding in Songpan | Songpan |
| 8 | Drive from Songpan to Chengdu (or take a flight) |
mandala / Tibetan door / Festival dance at Labrang monastery
Included |
* English speaking guide for days 2,3, 4,5,6 * car for above itinerary day 1 until 6 and 8 * 3 nights hotel in Xiahe * 2 nights hotel in Langmusi * 2 nights hotel in Songpan * horse riding in Songpan, including lunch |
|---|---|
Excluded |
* entrance fees * you can fly from Songpan (Jiuzhai airport) to Chengdu, 45 minutes. Please mail to request price. |
Price |
Price for 2 persons: RMB 7800 per person/ Price for 4 people: RMB 5400 per person. Special group rates are available on request. (Price will be higher during the Chinese holidays: 1-7 May and 1-7 October.) Calculate exchange rate |
Best travel time |
May-October |
Remarks |
Itinerary:
Day 1: Arrival in Lanzhou and transfer to Xiahe. You will be picked up from Lanzhou airport or train station and transferred to Xiahe. This takes about 5 hours, including a stop in Linxia for bite to eat. Around Lanzhou, we can see many houses made of earth and the mountains are dry and brown. After three hours driving, we come into the beautiful green mountains of Xiahe.
Day 2: Today you will visit the Labrang Monastery. This is the largest Tibetan monastery outside of Tibet province. It houses more than 2000 monks from the Yellow Hat tradition and there are 6 schools of Buddhist teachings. In the morning you will join in with the monastery tour. A monk from the monastery guides this tour in English. In the afternoon, our guide will take you to see the printing temple where the sutras are still printed by using wooden blocks. We also climb up the Golden Stupa for a bird's eye view of the whole complex.
Day 3 : Today you will explore the grasslands around Xiahe where nomad families live in tents. When invited in their homes you simply can't refuse the infamous Tibetan yak milk tea and barley "tsampa". The grasslands are also a beautiful area for hiking. In summertime the flowers are like a carpet on the meadows.
Day 4 :First we will visit Hezuo to admire the nine floor Milarepa temple. Inside are beautifully hand painted decorations of Tibetan Buddhist gods and deities. We will arrive in Langmusi at the end of the afternoon.
Day 5: In Langmusi the ancient Tibetan custom of sky burials is still practiced. Sky burials are now limited only to a very small area in Tibet and are a rare sight nowadays. The town of Langmusi is situated partly in Gansu province, and partly in Sichuan province, divided only by a small river. Therefore this small town has two monasteries, one in each province. We will first visit the sky burial site and from there go to the Daceng Lhamo monastery on the Gansu side of town. In the afternoon we go hiking through a beautiful gorge where you can see many eagles and vultures soaring above your head.
Day 6: Drive from Langmusi to Songpan. On the way you will stop several times for some short hiking trips and other scenic stops.
Day 7 : Whole day horse riding trip in the beautiful mountains surrounding Songpan. The horses are tame but the slopes are sometimes quite steep. You will get special horse guides to help you. Today a lunch usually consisting of noodle soup is included.
Day 8: Around 5 hour drive from Songpan to Chengdu airport or train station. Or you can have the transfer from Songpan to Jiuzhai airport, from where you can take a 45 minutes flight to Chengdu.