5 Days Gannan Tibetan Buddhist Monastery Tour in Spring Festival

Overview

Day by day itinerary

1. 1Hotel pick up & visit Bingling Temple, then drive to Xiahe (240kms/3-4hrs)⌄

   Let's start our Lanzhou in-depth tours today. As one of the important cities along the ancient Silk Road, Lanzhou has preserved many cultural heritages. With an early start today, we will visit the Binglings Temple. You will be driven to the Liujiaxia Dam and then you will take a fast boat to cross the gorge where you will enter the Bingling Temple Grottoes, enjoy the variety of artworks in different styles and observe the social situations and customs in ancient times when seeing the stone sculptures and appreciate the miracle of Buddha caves. These caves, which stretch for 200 metres, were built during the 3rd and 18th centuries. They are highly valued for their contribution to research into the history of Chinese paintings and the spread of Buddhism during that time.

   Overnight: Overnight in Xiahe

2. 2Visit Labrang Monastery & Sangke Grassland, Travel to Langmusi (190kms/3hrs)⌄

   Today we will arrange the English Speaking Lama guide you through the Labrang monastery, the most populous monks outside of Tibet. You will stay at Thangka Sunning Terrace that is one of a good place to view the monastery and surrounding scenery. Inside the monastery, apart from magnificent Buddha stupas and wall paintings, prayer wheels are also the must-see spot. The whole monastery is surrounded by wheels, walk along the corridor, rotate the wheels and pray for chasing away the troubles.

   The view of yaks roaming in the Sangke Grasslands amid green pastures is something to behold. In this area, nomadic people can still be found singing their traditional songs and this is often one of the highlights of any visit to Tibet. Then visit the Tibetan family and wear Tibetan cloth, drink milk tea and sample hand-grabbed mutton. After the visiting, we will drive all the way to Langmusi and have a good rest.

   Meals: Breakfast

   Overnight: Overnight in Langmusi

3. 3Langmusi Sightseeing, then transfer to Tongren (290kms/5hrs)⌄

   The tour today will begin from the Langmu Temple, Langmu Temple belongs to Tibetan Buddhism. One of the main pagodas of the temple lays the human body of the fifth Living Buddha, which is the best preserved one with longest time, though after more than two hundred years the skin of the Living Buddha is still elastic. Then we will travel to Tongren for an overnight stay.

   Meals: Breakfast

   Overnight: Overnight in Tongren

4. 4Full day Traditional Festival Exploration in Tongren⌄

   Today pay a visit to Wu Tun Si Monastery, which has the collected many Rebkong fine artworks. The murals, embroideries, paintings and sculptures are lively, colorful and exquisite, which well present the fluency and rhythm of the painting lines. In Tongren, each village will also have some folk and religious activities from the fifth day of the lunar month such as drying the Buddha, dancing the Vajra dance, and transferring to Maitreya Buddha.

   Long Wu Si Monastery is one of the major monasteries in Amdo Tibet, "Longwu" bears the Tibetan meaning of "place of farming". First funded as a Sakya Monastery at the beginning of 14th Century and later in 17th century it became a Gelugpa monastery.

   Meals: Breakfast

   Overnight: Overnight in Tongren

5. 5Drive to Xining, Visit Ta'er Monastery (170kms/2-3hrs)⌄

   Enjoy your breakfast at the hotel, then we will depart from Tongren and head to Xining, the capital city of Qinghai Province. You will visit the Ta'er monastery (Kumbum Monastery), the most populous monks outside of Tibet. You will stay at Thangka Sunning Terrace that is one of a good place to view the monastery and surrounding scenery. Inside the monastery, apart from magnificent Buddha stupas and wall paintings, prayer wheels are also the must-see spot. The whole monastery is surrounded by wheels, walk along the corridor, rotate the wheels and pray for chasing away the troubles.

   Meals: Breakfast