| |
Tour 1: June 19 to July 4, 2009
Tour 2: July 11 to July 26, 2009
Itinerary
The proposed activities are based on providing you with a Once in a Lifetime experience and always reflect, to the greatest extent possible, the interests of both the individuals and the group. Our goal is to provide you with a series of high impact close-up adventures, in a relaxing and informal setting--a real opportunity to spend real time with fascinating people in a beautiful environment, while you collect flowers, sketch and paint.
DAY 1
(CHENGDU)
Spend the day in Chengdu, getting ready to go into Tibet, which includes going to the Panda Preserve, visiting historic gardens and pagodas, eating vegetarian lunch at the famous Wushu Temple and buying dark chocolate and other goodies to entertain us later on our journey. Last minute buying--fleece vests, jackets, altimeters (only go up to 5000 m), are available at great prices, etc. In the evening, we will go to the Sichuan Opera, which is a really not an opera at all, but a visit to an old tea house where there is a professional mélange of creative acts that will delight and amaze you.
Panda Preserve
Outside Chengdu
Possible Sights / Activities in Chengdu:
- Jin Li Lu (Street) a street of antiques, interesting shops and restaurants
- Massages from either Tibetan or Chinese masseuses and masseurs
- Panda Preserve
- Sichuan Opera
- Stroll along the Jin Jiang river
- Visit the Lotus Garden
- Vegetarian Restaurant at the Wushu Temple
- Tibetan quarter of Chengdu
- Rent a bicycle and ride all over the place!
DAY 2
(CHENGDU to LHAKHANG)
morning:
- Leave Chengdu and travel West, beginning ascent onto the Tibetan Plateau.
On the Way
from Chengdu to Lhakhang
afternoon:
- Arrive in early afternoon in Kangding/Dartsedo, stopping along the way for breaks and to explore for wildflowers. This is the first area where people may have reactions to the altitude. If anyone is sick (headache, vomiting) we’ll stay an extra day--it generally passes in 24 hours.
- Continue on to Lhakhang (Tawang), site of a beautiful old monastery. We’ll spend the night there, hanging out in the town, relaxing after the drive.
night:
DAY 3
(LHAKHANG to GANSI)
morning:
- Breakfast in Lhakhang and then go on to Gansi. We’ll stop at rivers, meadows and passes to search for flowers and picnic. During the day, we pass through small villages, climbing higher onto the Tibetan Plateau.
Dianne Painting the Meconopsis
horridula,the Famous
Tibetan Blue Poppy
afternoon:
- Arrive in Gansi about 4:00pm; get settled, wander in the town.
night:
Dianne and Tibetan Kids
Who are the Helpers
at the Tent Camps
Additional Activities in Gansi:
- Cross the bridge to the mani wall and pasture lands on the other side of the main river.
- For the Daring: Get a haircut, shampoo and head massage at one of the local beauty parlors (all through charades, unless you speak Chinese!)
- Gansi Girls’ Orphanage: Home where 100 girls live and study. Dianne has been working with them on botanical illustration, trying to encourage individual girls to see this as an opportunity after they leave the orphanage. Those who wish can spend a morning in one-on-one instruction with the girls.
- Gansi Monastery-one of the oldest and most prestigious monasteries in Eastern Tibet.
- Gansi Monastery Debate Sessions—Gansi Monastery has special days to see the 500 monks, young and old, debate their teachers and fellow monks.
- Hot Springs Bath House: Go to the public bathhouses - fed by a hot spring. Private rooms for deep soaking.
- Monastery - a beautiful old monastery in the center of town.
- People Watch: There is every type of person, big and small, wild and not, coming through Gansi, a main town for shopping. Take a seat and watch them go by — they’ll be watching you, too.
- Shopping: Shopping in Gansi is a wild affair. Lots of turquoise, coral, gold and silver jewelry, carpets, silks, Tibetan clothing (including sheepskin vests and jackets), Chinese posters of Mao, Tibetan Buddhist religious artifacts, fancy sun hats reminiscent of the 1930’s and 1940’s, cowboy hats.
- Stupa: Visit the main stupa and monastery at the south end of town (bath houses are just a short walk from there).
- Tibetan Traditional Dances and Music -- If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to go to see Tibetan dancers and musicians performing in festivals and in the small towns. All in an intimate environment.
- Vegetable, Fruit and Meat Market: A trip through the market will open your eyes and your pocketbooks - fruits and vegetables (and meats) of every kind abound.
Collected Near
Oh Szang Village - 2007
DAYS 4 - 6
(GANSI AREA - TENT CAMP at OH SZANG VILLAGE)
(3500 - 3800 m)
Ganzi was the largest and most important town in Kham area during the 17th century.
High Mountains Above
Oh Szang Village
morning:
afternoon:
- Lunch at the river; hang out at the village.
night:
- Move to the tent camp (just a 40 minute car ride further west) along the river outside Oh Szang Village; Get set up, first explorations into the surrounding meadows and hills. We’ll stay there for three days.
Setting up Tent Camp
Above Oh Szang Village
Additional Activities at/near Oh Szang:
- Cooking Traditional Tibetan Foods: You can learn to make meat momos, fry up vegetables on the solar stove, make Tibetan flat bread, tsampa, yogurt from yak milk (actually from the dri, the female yak), separate the milk and the cream for butter.
- Delivering clothes, toys, books: Bring an extra suitcase (or two) filled with whatever you think your host family (or others in the village) might like or need. Dianne will send a list of things to bring, if you are so inclined.
- Gedun Choeling Nunnery: A 600 year old nunnery being restored; just a short walk up the hill from Oh Szang; 100 nuns.
- Horse Back Riding into the Hills Above Rongbatsa. Rongbatsa is an hour west of Oh Szang. For those who wish to ride horses into the hills to look for flowers, this will be a special day.
Dianne in Hills
Above Rongbatsa
- Going into Gansi to shop for silks, turquoise, coral and amber, Tibetan traditional paintings, horse blankets, trinkets, traditional Tibetan clothing (very cool jackets, blouses, shirts) etc.
- Ganzi Monastery: Home to 500 monks. Built in 1642 by Mongols. Beautiful temple, views across the valley, elaborate paintings and a special wooden mandala with all sorts of strange and wonderful figures circumambulating the main “stupa” figures.
- Den Monastery: A small, but important protector monastery for the area of Ganzi and Kham.
- Milking the Yaks: Try your hand (literally) at milking the yaks—if your host family doesn’t have any, visit a neighbor.
- Wandering through the village: This is an event in and of itself as you meet and greet new friends, children follow you along and people invite you in for tea and tsampa.
- Yak Herding: Leave at 7:00am for a full day of herding yaks on the hillsides above Oh Szang. What will you do while the yaks graze? Sleep, eat, read, gaze at the brilliant blue sky or the green hills, practice Tibetan and English with your partner herders, take photos of the spectacular landscape, pick flowers and sketch them, journal, chase yaks around the hills. You’ll be herding those furry guys back at 7:00pm; by then you’ll be an expert at keeping them out of the crops and slapping them on the rump to get them to move along. You’ll be running with the yaks as they cruise through the village to their homes.
- Botanical Illustration Classes: Dianne will teach short classes in botanical illustration of the Tibetan flora to all who are interested.
Bu Nosa, One of Our
Charming and Tireless Assistants
in the Tent Camps
DAYS 7 - 9
(GANSI to MANIGANGO TENT CAMP at YILHUN LATSO LAKE)
(3,800 - 4200 m)
YiLhun Latso Lake -
Site of Second Tent Camp
morning (day 7):
afternoon:
- Arrive at Manigango and YiLhun Latso Lake (a celadon green glacier lake) - 3800-4200m
night:
- Tent Camp at YiLhun Latso Lake for next three days.
Dianne Above
YiLhun Latso Lake
Additional Activities at YiLhun Latso Lake:
- Dzogchen Monastery (Full day Side-Trip): Drive to the famous Dzogchen Monastery (crossing Muri-La Pass-15,500 feet) and spend the day at the monastery, visiting the temple, having lunch, and hiking in the surrounding fields; will visit another centuries old monastery along the way. Spectacular views.
- Riding horses into the mountains (14,000 + feet above the lake).
- Walking/hiking around the lake. The lake is backed by the unforgettable glaciers of 6018m Tro-la peak; can walk an hour or two up the left side of the lakeshore for glacier views.
- Botanical Illustration Classes: Dianne will teach short classes in botanical illustration of the Tibetan flora to all who are interested.
- Travel into the town of Manigango to the monastery there (Yarze Monastery) - which is known as the place here a high lama turned into a rainbow body upon his death. Your chance to buy nomad jewelry from young women looking to trade their turquoise, amber and coral for your Chinese money.
On the Way to the Hills
to Collect Flowers
DAYS 10 - 12
(YILHUN LATSO to DERGE TENT CAMP at DERGE)
(We’ll cross a 16,500 foot pass)
morning (day 10):
afternoon:
- Set up at camp, visit the monastery, printing press.
night:
- At Tent Camp at Derge for three days.
A Break from Flower Collecting
above Rongbatsa
Additional Activities to do Around Derge:
- Horseback riding into the hills to look for flowers and picnic.
- Shopping: town is filled with Tibetan stores and vegetable and fruit markets.
- Internet cafe.
- Derge Monastery and Derge Parkhang visits: Derge Parkhang is centuries old and the sight where monks have pounded roots to make paper and then printed this paper with sacred texts for centuries.
Take the car further West (1-2 hrs) to other villages and meadow areas.
- There are many historically important monasteries in the valleys south of Derge: Pelpung, Dzongsar, Pewar, Kathok and Pelyul.
.
- Visit Derge Parkhang Printing Building: Where monks pound Stellera chamaejasme roots into pulp and make strong paper that is used for printing Tibetan sacred texts. Use ancient woodblocks for the printing itself.
Aku Tsega Heads up
the Mountainside in Search of
Rare and Endangered Flora
DAY 13
(DERGE to GANSI)
morning:
-
Leave for Gansi; Chance to go back out over Tro La Pass, collect those flowers you missed, take the photos you wished you’d taken on the way to Derge, throw those paper prayer flags into the sky as a blessing!
afternoon:
- In the town of Manigango.
night:
Geranium donianium
(Aigaki, 2007)
DAY 14
(DERGE to GANSI)
morning:
afternoon:
- Lunch at the orphanage — we’ll take bread, fruit and crackers to eat with the girls.
night:
- Stopping along the way to collect flowers, picnic, take photos, etc
DAY 15
(LHAKHANG to CHENGDU)
morning:
afternoon:
night:
- Resting up from the journey; final good-bye dinner. Hotel in Chengdu.
Girl from Gansi Girls’ Orphanage
Studying Botanical Illustration
DAY 16
(CHENGDU)
morning:
-
Guests depart from Chengdu.
-
Last minute shopping, massages, visits to parks and tea houses .
|
|
