 This trip takes you to the northwest of Yunnan and Eastern Tibet known as Kham to visit the Kindom of Naxi people and Tibetan highland with fantastic views and interesting people. Tibetan Litang Horse Festival with all kinds of activities will be the highlights of the trip.
Litang Horse Festival originally was a religious festival of the Litang Monastery. When it was first celebrated 300 years ago, Lamas of the Monastery travelled around the holy mountain in the morning and held horse races in the afternoon. The festival was stopped in 1950 for political reasons, and restarted in 1963. Since then the festival has been much extended. Now it lasts a week, though without much religious aspect. What we find now is spectacular horse races, Tibetan Operas, much singing and dancing, withal the best traditional clothes on display and horse market. Nomads from the area gather on Litang Grassland to build up their tents and take part in the festival. The festival attracts more and more people each year, with racing horses totaling over 2,000 and participating nomads totaling in tens of thousands.
Itinerary
Day 1, Arrive in Kunming and transfer to hotel
Kunming, also known as the Spring City, is the capital of Yunnan province, with mild weather throughout the year. It is nice to walk around the birds and flowers market in the old part of the downtown of Kunming. 100ms away from the market is the commercial center of Kunming, which is full of the modern buildings. Here you can see the different aspects of Kunming.
Day 2, Visit Western Hills and Stone Forest
Morning visit to the Western Hills, climb up to the Dragon Gate to visit Taoist Temples, take a walk in the hill above the Dragon Gate where you can have a good view of the Lake Dianchi which is the biggest lake in Yunnan. Drive to the Stone Forest, and enjoy the sunset of the Stone Forest after other tourists are gone. Overnight at the Stone Forest.
Day 3, Drive to Dali
Six hours drive to Dali via Kunming and Chuxiong. Dali is an autonomous prefecture of the Bai ethnic group, with Cangshan Mountain on the west and Erhai Lake on the east. People just live on the fertile land between the Mt..Cang and Lake Erhai. The area of Dali used to be an independent country called Nanzhao Kingdom or Dali Kingdom. The Bai people created the own culture and live here for thousands of years.
Day 4, Visit Three Pagodas and Cangshan Mountain
Visit Xizhou morning market where people sell food, vegetables and daily uses. Walk into the village to visit some traditional old houses of the Bai people and meet up with locals. Drive to Shaxi village, with visits to villages along the road, hopefully to see a market somewhere on a right day. Shaxi is a small village which used to be an important stop on the Tea and Horse Trail in the past. Time has gone but we can still see the remains of the history.
Day 5, Visit Xizhou and Lake Erhai
Visit Xizhou morning market where people sell food, vegetables and daily uses. Walk into the village to visit some traditional old houses of Bai people and meet up with locals. Drive to Taoyuan and make the boat trip on Erhai Lake to Shuanglan Village on the east bank of the Lake. After visiting Shuanglan Village, drive around the Lake with stops and visits to some fishing villages and a market, with beautiful views of the Lake and Cangshan Mountain on the way back.
Day 6, Drive to Lijiang and visit the Old Town
Three and half hours drive to Lijiang. Visit the old town of Lijiang, which was built in the traditional wooden houses, with small rivers running through the town. We will walk through the old town to see the Naxi houses, and follow up the river to Black Dragon Pool where the water of the old town comes from. Here you can see the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain if the weather is fine. Most people in Lijiang are Naxi. A woman is the boss of the family, and she makes the decision. She does most of the work at home, while the man just have a very leisure life, planting flowers in the gardens and playing the music.
Day 7, Day in Lijiang to explore villages and monastery
Drive to Puji village where we start to walk through the villages and climb up the hill. Through the pine forest for an hour, then reach Puji Monastery hidden in the mountain, which is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery built three hundred years ago, with copper roofs. No tourists come here but we can meet up with a few lamas and locals who take care of the Monastery. After visiting the Monastery, we drive to Baisha village to visit this traditional Naxi village, and then carry on to Yuhu village where the explorer Dr. Rock used to live for his research. It is a very beautiful Naxi village in front of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Visit the village and meet up with the locals.
Days 8 , Visit Tiger Leaping Gorge and Drive to Shangri-La
Drive to Shangri-La, with a visit to Tiger Leaping Gorge between Mountains Haba and Jade Dragon. The Gorge is 19km long with the drop of 3900m from the top of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain to the Yangtze River. There are three different parts of the Gorge and the narrowest part is only 30m wide. It’s said that someone saw a tiger jumped from one side to the other, hence the name. Both sides of the Gorge are very steep, with rocky mountains, but you will see the changes of the landscape as walking on. Drive up to Tibetan Tableland to see more mountains and grasslands and carry on to Shangri-La. Shangri-La is inhabited by Tibetans, and Tibetans live on the highest plateau on the earth and have a strong character and personality. From now on, we will travel through Tibetan region and meet up with them every day before arriving in Chengdu. We will learn more about them during the trip.
Day 9, Visit Ringsha Temple and Tibetan village
Visit Ringsha Temple built on a hill in the area, is the first Tibetan yellow hat sect Buddhist temple, which is small and quiet. The tourists seldom come here but it is very popular among the local Tibetans. At the Chinese New Year, thousands of people will come to worship and express their good wishes for the coming year. In the temple, we can see how Tibetans make the praying flags, and you can also learn to make some praying flags by yourself and hang them over the mountain behind the temple to get your good luck. Visit some local Tibetan villages in the area, and if you like, we can get into a Tibetan horse and try some Tibetan Tsampa(the Tibetan’s staple food made from ground roasted barley)and Butter Tea.
Day 10, Drive to Xiacheng via Derong
With a bird’s eye view of the Napa Lake during the drive, Napa is a seasonal lake not far from Shangri-La. There are a lot of Tibetan villages around it, and many birds from the north would come here for winter. It’s a good place for birds watching in the winter as well. After visiting the Lake, we will drive up and down the hills on zigzags, with good views of the mountains and villages. Down to the valley, we will see the Yangtze again. We follow up the Yangtze through Sichuan province intto Derong. Derong is a small Tibetan town hidden in the mountains and here the sun rises three times a day. Drive up to the mountain at 4100m and carry on to Xiacheng, and it is a pretty small Tibetan town near the Dingqu River.
Day 11, Visit Monastery and drive to Litang
Visit Sanpiling Monastery. It was first built in 1654, and it’s one of the most important yellow hat sect Tibetan Buddhist Temples in Kham. In 1811, one of the ninth Dalai Lama’s assistant worked here as the head monk of the monastery and made the monastery famous throughout the area. The Monastery nowadays is rebuilt and much bigger than it was, and some more construction work is still going on. After visiting the monastery, we will drive to Litang on a mountain at 4,580m where you can hike up to a hill top and see many snow mountains in the distance. Carry on to Litang via Mt. Haizhishan, with many huge rocks and lakes in the mountain. Set up the tents next to Tibetan Nomads’ for the Horse Festival.
Day 12&13, Attend the Litang Horse Festival and visit Litang
On Aug.1st, we will see the Opening Ceremony of the Litang Horse Festival, and more than 2,000 horses and hundreds of thousands of Tibetan people would gather together here. At the ceremony, you will see the finest Tibetan outfits’ with silver, gold and jewels, Tibetan dances and horse races. During the two days here, you will see the equine skills showed off by the nomada, traditional Tibaten Opera, and different kinds of dances. After the shows, you can walk into nomads’ tents and join them for a cup of butter tea and some tsampa. You don’t need to speak Tibetan but just say “Zhaxi Deli” to everybody and you will be well treated. We also drive to Litang to visit the town and Litang Monastery which is the biggest Yellow Sect monastery in south part of Kham. The 7th, 10th and 11th Dalai Lamas were all born in Litang, which made the Monastery very famous.
Day 14,Visit Nomads and drive to Xinduqiao
Drive to the grasslands and visit the Tibetan nomads, with their yaks and goats there. We can see them milk from the yaks and make butter. Nomads move from one place to another during the different time of the year according to the temperatures. When they move on, they not only move their tents but also a Buddhist shrine with them. Wherever they go, they will set up a temple tent, with some Buddhist images in it. This is a movable temple, so they can pray everyday . After visiting the nomads, we will carry on to Xingduqiao via the Yajiang valley and the mountain passes. We can see Minya Konka, ,the highest mountain in Sichuan(7556m).
Day 15, Drive to Chengdu
Drive on the grasslands and up to the Zheduo Mountain at 4,962m, and we will stop here to walk up to the hill top where you can see the mountains hidden in the clouds. Down the hill through the valley to Kangding Carry on to Luding where the Red Army crossed the Luding Bridge during the Long March. Drive up the hill through the Erlan Mountain tunnels, and down to Ya’an. Carry on to Chengdu on the express way. Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan. It is a modern city but still has some old streets, tea houses and temples in the town. Chengdu is very famous for its food such as the hot-pot and hundreds of local snacks.
Day 16, Visit Wenshu Temple & Pandas.
Visit Wenshu(Manjusri) Temple, and it’s one of the well protected Buddhist temples in Chengdu, which was built in 1697. It’s very popular among the locals and you can still see a lot of local people who come here every day to pray and worship. Most people who come to the temple are not really Buddhists. They just come for different reasons like praying for health, good luck, property and anything you can think about. Visit an old street with tea houses and local handicrafts shops and give you some ideas of how the old Chengdu looks like. In the afternoon, we will visit the Panda Research Center, here you can not only see the giant Pandas but also learn something about them through the Panda Museum and introductions. Overnight hotel and tour ends.
Seasonality: May to October
Departure with Shangri-La Horse Festival: Jun.8th to Jun.24th, 2010
Departure with Litang Horse Festival: Jul.21st to Aug.6th, 2010
Departure without Festival: Oct.10th, to Oct.26th, 2010
Price: US$ 1,720.00 Per person
US$ 380.00 Single Supplement
The price includes:
Hotels with breakfasts
Sightseeing Programs & entry fees
English Speaking Guides
Transfers and transportation by private vehicles
Group Size: 06 -12
You may prefer a different date and time frame for this tour, or wish to adjust the itinerary to suit your interests. We will do all we can to meet your preferences. Please note that tours of less than six persons may cost more per person, and other expenses may increase as a result of customization of your tour. In all cases, however, we are committed to providing the best value for your experience.
Shangri-La Horse Festival falls on the 5th of the 5th Chinese Lunar Month which is on Jun.16th 2010, and it lasts for three day, during this trip we stay in Shangri-La for three nights instead of two. We will attend the Festival on Jun.16th & 17th and visit the area.
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