The real Guide to the Tibetan World ！
9 days Shangrila & Dechen Cultural Tours
Itinerary:
Highlights:
•Shangrila Cultural Tour and Homestay
•Sumtsenling monastery
•Hot Pot Dinner and traditional Tibetan dances and songs at Trinyi Village
•Homestay with Tibetan Family
•Shika Trek
•Nomads Camps at meadows of Tsowakha
•Pudatso National Park
•Ringa Valley
•Shudu Lake
•Bita Hai Lake
•Hang prayer flags at Ringa Temple
•White Water Terrace (Baishui Tai)
•Visit Yi and Naxi tribes
•Yangtze gorge
•Dongba culture
•Napha marshlands
•Tsebula pass
•Nishar distric
•Kungzera
•Dhondupling Monastery
•Baima Snow Mountain
•Dechen and Feilaisi
•Mingyong Glacier
•Meili Snow Mountain
included
•All the accommodations and meals during the tour
•English speaking Tibetan guide
•Deluxe transport
Not Included:
•Airfare
•Personal expenses
•Tips
•Other activities during the tour
•Medical and travel insurance
Prices
Price upon request
Day 1 Shangrila
Pick up from airport to Shangrila town.Today is for you to acclimatize the high altitude. (About 3300m above sea level. You can walk around the oldtown freely.)
Day2 Shangrila Cultural Tour and Homestay
Today we will begin the day with a tour of the sprawling Sumtsenling monastery built by instructions of the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th Century. Inspired by the Potala Palace and perched on a hill, the sprawling monastery with numerous chapels and cathedrals is one of the largest Tibetan monasteries in Eastern Tibet. Through the knowledge of our local guides, we will get an understanding of Buddhism as well as the lifestyle of the monks by visits to the chapels and the residential quarters of the monks there which number 700 presently. In its heyday, Sumtsenling monastery housed more than 1500 monks.
Late afternoon, we will drive down to Trinyi village where people still lead their traditional lives based on agriculture and pastoralism. In the evening you'll enjoy a traditional hotpot dinner, made from delicious local ingredients, followed by traditional dancing and singings by the villagers(19:30).
Homestay in the Tibetan family
Day 3 Shika Trek
A 5-6 hour hike to Gyalthang’s protector mountains lying on the west side of the valley. The white Rocky Mountains are considered Protectors of many of the communities in the Gyalthang valley—they are so attached to these hills that they sing about them nostalgically during journeys or pilgrimages to far away places like Lhasa. The main peak is around 4500 meters high. Our trek begins on the grasslands at the base and then follows a beautiful path up the mountain ridges here you will behold panoramic views of the Gyalthang plains below and the surrounding mountain ranges. You will then reach the wide meadows of Tsowakha where nomads graze their yaks and set up temporary camps through the summer. From here, we can have an astonishing view of Shikha Mountain before descending down to the plains where you will be picked up by a vehicle and driver back to the town.
Day 4 Pudatso National Park & Ringa Valley
Morning we drive for 30 minutes to Pudatso National Park. Pudatso national park is the first National Park in China and Located 30 minutes outside of town off of Road 214, the 660 square mile park has a visitor center, two lakes, a number of interesting minority villages, lush forests and pasture views. At the visitor center you take a park bus to the first stop 8 miles away from where you can walk for a mile to several miles on a raised wooden walkway, pass by Shudu Lake 300 acres in size and then catch the bus again to your next destination. Bita Hai Lake is 11,482 feet above sea level and is usually the next lake you will encounter. It is surrounded by dense forests that are spectacular to see in their late October autumn colors. The bus lets you off a few feet from the wharf where you can catch a boat ride around the lake and the island in the center.
Afternoon you will drive in to Ringa valley and visit Ringa Temple where you can hang the prayer flags and have a ouuter kora as local people do.
Day 5 White Water Terrace (Baishui Tai)
Tibetan, Yi, and Naxi tribes, picturesque villages, scenery, White Water Terrace, which is the cradle of Naxi culture.
Full day tribal tour through the borderlands of Tibetan where various ethnic groups mingle. Drive west through Yi villages and then descend to the Yangtze gorge, through picturesque Tibetan and Naxi villages. After arriving Badi, we visit the White Water Terrace where the Naxi people believe their Dongba culture originated. Dongba culture is derived from Tibetan Bon, an animistic creed that predates Tibetan Buddhism
Day 6 Shangrila to Dechen to Feilaisi (191KM) 4-5 hours
After driving out of town, we will have an overview of the Napha marshlands (The wintering grounds of the black neck crane) and then cross over the Tsebula pass before we get to the district of Nishar whose villages are rich in folklore and arts. And then we descend through some wild landscapes before we come hit the upper Yangtze gorges. After lunch at Kungzera, we drive up along the Yangtze and then gradually ascend to the Dhondupling Monastery. We will continue our driving to Baima Snow Mountain and gradually to Dechen. Accommodation in Feilaisi.
Day7 Mingyong Glacier
Weather permiting, we can view the beautiful sunrise over the Snow Mountains. After that we will take a one and half-hour driving to Mingyong village.Then another 2 hours trekking up to the glacier. Mingyong glacier is sacred to the local people. The glacier is fed by snows which fall on 6,740 m (22,107 ft) Mount Meili , also known as the Meili Snow Mountain . The glacier is located at the lowest latitude and elevation of any glacier in China. In the afternoon drive from Mingyong to Feilaisi.
Day 8 Feilaisi to Shangrila
Today we will drive back from Dechen to Shangrila via the nunnery on the way.
Day 9 Fly out of Shangrila