Stupa's at Kumbum monastery / pilgrims at Kumbum monastery / stupa in Tongren
| 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 Tongren via Ganjia grasslands. Visit Longwu lamasery. See thankha artists at work. Then visit the Guomari Buddha Pagoda. | Tongren |
| 5 | Continue to Xining, visit the great Kumbum (Ta'er Si) monastery | Xining |
| 6 | Go to Huzhu, home of the Tu Tibetan minority. Then to Qinghai Lake (visit Bird Island) | Qinghai Lake |
| 7 | In the morning stay at Qinghai lake, afternoon back to Xining |
Holy inscriptions on yak bone in Tongren / from Tongren to Xining / prayer wheels at Kumbum
Included |
* English speaking guide for days 2,3, 4,5,6,7 * car for above itinerary * 3 nights hotel in Xiahe * 1 night hotel in Tongren * 1 night hotel in Xining * 1 night hotel in Qinghai Lake |
|---|---|
Excluded |
* entrance fees * meals |
Price |
Price for 2 persons: RMB 8950 p.p. / Price for 4 persons: RMB 6350 p.p. 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, between March to early June thousands of birds come to Bird Island to lay eggs before migrating south. |
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 : We leave Xiahe and head for Tongren, in Tibetan called Regong. We journey trough the Ganjia grasslands, which are more rocky than the Sangke grasslands we have seen yesterday. We can see many small nomad settlements on the way. After arrival in Tongren we visit the Longwu lamasery. This colorful yellow sect monastery was built in 1301 and has 4 monastery schools. It is an important cultural and religious temple and it is interesting to visit the many big and many halls. The buildings are built in Tibetan and han Chinese style. In the middle of the temple complex is the Grand Hall, which hosts, among others, 10 Sakyamuni Buddha's.
After the monastery visit, we go to upper and lower Sengeshong monasteries, where we can see about 50 famous thankha artists making the beautiful Buddhist motives on cloth. The Regong arts is very famous. We then visit the 30 meter high Guomari pagoda, the highest pagoda in Qinghai province. It has five floors and the walls of the pagoda are carved with Buddha's.
Day 5: We head for Xining, capital of Qinghai province. Outside of the city is the Ta'er Si temple, which is called Kumbum in Tibetan. it is one of the 6 main yellow sect temples, the Labrang monastery in Xiahe also being one. Kumbum was built in 1560 and since this is the birth place of Tsongkhapa, the founder of yellow sect Buddhism, it has become a very holy place. Many pilgrims come from all over China, Tibet and Mongolia to pray here. Among the most famous halls are: the Great hall (birth place of Tsongkhapa), the hall of Butter Sculptures, the great Meditation hall and the 13 meter high Stupa.
Day 6: First we head north of Xining to the town of Huzhu where the Tu ethnic minority lives. They are a Tibetan minority, but their language stems form Mongolian. After visiting a Tu family, we go to Qinghai lake, called lake Cowenbu in Tibetan. It is situated 150 km from Xining, at an altitude of 3200 meters. It is the biggest inland salt lake in China, covering an area of 4500 square kilometers. On the way you will have a spectacular view of the desert. The lake side is inhabited by Tibetans and you will be able to see many grazing yaks. In the months of March to early June, thousands of birds come to Bird Island to lay eggs before migrating south. Bird Island is a rock on the northwest side of the lake (300 km from Xining) and it is the habitat of many thousands of birds such as: bar-headed geese, ruddy shel-ducks, cormorants, swans, and brown-headed gulls.
Day 7: Walk along the lake in the morning, and see the different animals and birds. Back to Xining in the afternoon.