GROUP TOURS IN AMDO WEST CHINA |
4-day trip Lanzhou and Xiahe
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 (on a good highway), including a stop in Linxia for bite to eat. The landscape changes dramatically from the desert dry mountains around Lanzhou to the 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 around the monastery again, but this time to different areas of the large monastery. Also you will go up the hills surrounding the monastery for a bird's eye view of the whole complex.
Day 3: This day you will go to the spectacular Sangke grasslands. On these vast grasslands you will see herds of yaks and sheep, and you will enjoy some short hiking trips. You will also be able to visit a nomad tent, where you will surely be invited for some tsampa, which is the Tibetan staple food consisting of ground barley mixed with butter and boiling water. Also you can taste the delicious Tibetan yak milk tea. You can easily spent the whole day roaming around the grasslands, enjoying the scenery and the beautifully dressed Tibetan nomads.
Day 4: Today you will go back to Lanzhou via the Bingling caves. Here you can see 694 Buddhist images carved into the cliffs of a 60 meter high gorge. The most beautiful image is a 27 meter high statue of the Future Buddha Maitreya. To reach Bingling, you first go by car to the pier, then travel about one hour by speedboat across the Liujiaxia reservoir. Here the scenery is stunning with soaring cliffs on both sides. After visiting Bingling, you again have to travel for about one hour back by speedboat before you continue by car to Lanzhou airport or train station.
* Included: English speaking guide for day 2 and 3 / car and driver and toll fees for above itinerary only / 3 nights double room in the hotel in Xiahe / speedboat to Bingling caves
* Excluded: all meals / entrance fees
Minimum 6 people / maximum 14 people
Price per person: RMB 1700 Calculate exchange rate
Departure dates from Lanzhou (day 1):
3 June 2012
8 July 2012
12 August 2012
2 September 2012
6-day trip Lanzhou-Xiahe-Langmusi and back to Lanzhou
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. We continue to Langmusi, where we will spend the night.
Day 4: 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 5 :Today we drive back to Xiahe, and we will visit Hezuo on the way to admire the nine floor Milarepa temple. Inside are beautifully hand painted decorations of Tibetan Buddhist gods and deities. We will arrive in Xiahe at the end of the afternoon.
Day 6: Today we leave behind the Tibetan culture with its strong buddhist overtones, its incredibly friendly people, exotic incense filled air and stunning mountains.
*Included: English speaking guide for day 2,3, 4 and 5 / car and driver and toll fees for above itinerary only /
3 nights double room in the hotel in Xiahe / 2 nights double room in the hotel in Langmusi
*Excluded: all meals / entrance fees
Minimum 6 people / maximum 14 people
Price per person: RMB 2800 Calculate exchange rate
Departure dates from Lanzhou (day 1):
10 June 2012
15 July 2012
12 August 2012
9 September 2012
8-day trip Lanzhou to Chengdu
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: Drive from Songpan to Chengdu airport or train station.
*Included: English speaking guide for day 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 / car and driver and toll fees for above itinerary only / 3 nights double room in the hotel in Xiahe / 2 nights double room in the hotel in Langmusi / 2 nights double room in the hotel in Songpan / horse riding on day 7 including lunch
*Excluded: all meals, except lunch on day 7 / entrance fees
Minimum 6 people / maximum 14 people
Price per person: RMB 3200 Calculate exchange rate
Departure dates from Lanzhou (day 1):
17 June 2012
22 July 2012
19 August 2012
16 September 2012
10-day trip Lanzhou to Chengdu including Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong National Parks
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 Jiuzhaigou. You will drive through the wonderful Zoige High Altitude grasslands. On the way you will stop for some short hiking trips.
Day 7: Whole day to explore Jiuzhaigou National Park.
Day 8: In the morning we drive from Jiuzhaigou to Huanglong, which is about a 2 hours drive. We then have the full day to explore Huanglong National Park. Normally the hiking trail takes about 5 hours. We can see many different waterfalls, in spectacular colors. In the late afternoon we continue to Songpan, this is only 80 km, which will take about 2 hours. Overnight in Songpan.
Day 9: We spent the day on horse back, exploring the beautiful mountains around 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 10: Drive from Songpan to Chengdu airport or train station.
*Included: English speaking guide for day 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 / car and driver and toll fees for above itinerary only / 3 nights double room in the hotel in Xiahe / 2 nights double room in the hotel in Langmusi / 2 night double room in the hotel near Jiuzhaigou / 2 nights double room in the hotel in Songpan / horse riding on day 9 including lunch
*Excluded: all meals, except lunch on day 9 / entrance fees
Minimum 6 people / maximum 14 people
Price per person: RMB 3800 Calculate exchange rate
Departure dates from Lanzhou (day 1):
24 June 2012
29 July 2012
26 August 2012
10 September 2012