16-DAY CENTRAL & EAST TIBET ADVENTURE

Introduction
Kham is a land apart from the rest of Tibet. Its climate, geography, flora, funa and isolation all lend it a unique, almost magical atmosphere. Traditional life seems less disturbed here than in central Tibet. The stone village and vertical prayer flags resemble those in Bhutan and the unusually shaped chortens (stupa) seem more at home in Mustang. The scenery often resembles more the Swiss Alps or Rocky Mountains than the high Tibetan plateau.

History
The area around Chamdo was one of the first settled in Tibet, as attested to by the 5000-years-old Neolithic remains at nearby Karo. Fossilised millet hints at a 5000-years tradition of agriculture in the region.

Kham was the home of many holy men including the founders of the Drigungpa and Karmapa School. In 1070 many Buddhist fled persecution in central Tibet to Kham, where they set up influential monasteries, later returing to central Tibet to apearhead the so-called second diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet.

Route
Chengdu – Linzhi / Bayi -> Lulang -> Bomi -> Ranwu -> Yigong -> Bayi -> Basum-Tso -> Lhasa -> Shigatse -> Gyantse -> Samye -> Tsethang -> Chengdu


Itinerary: (Subject to changes)

Day 01 : SIN – CTU O/N HOTEL (3-STAR)
Fly by AIR China CA404 0720/1140.
On arrival Chengdu Airport, receive by representative and transfer to hotel. Rest of day is free & easy.

Day 02: CTU – LZY (3100m) O/N HOTEL NYINGCHI (3-STAR)
Fly by AIR China CA4431 0730/0915
On arrival Linzhi Airport, receive by representative and transfer to hotel in BAYI.
Rest of day rest to acclimatize. Have fun shopping in the newly built Pearl River Market OR buy all the Tibetan daily life utensils in the shops opened by the Kangba People on the 500 meters long “Hong Kong Street”

Day 03 : BAYI – LULANG (3305m, 58km) O/N HOTEL/ GUESTHOUSE BREAKFAST
Lulang Forest-Tibet's Shangri-La, is located on the east slope of SeJi La Mountain, it is covered by woods and with a lot of cuckoos in the woods, as well as the broad meadow with flows of cattle around the villages.

Day 04 : LULANG – BOMI (2600m, 119km) O/N HOTEL/ GUESTHOUSE BREAKFAST
Continue driving along the Yarlung Zangbo River. En route, enjoy the beautiful scenery before arriving Bomi - known as “Tibet’s Switzerland ”.

Day 05 : BOMI – RANWU (3807m, 140km) O/N GUESTHOUSE BREAKFAST
Today’s journey is not long. En route, you visit Paloonzambo canyon. It is like a huge painting scroll lasting for hundred miles, this is one of the most charming part in the journey.Midui Glacier is a oceanic mason glacier combined with two ice waterfalls in world level for its scale. You’ll catch sight of harmony among snow cap, glacier, virgin forest, lake, farmland, village & monastery. The scenery on the way is picturesque as fairyland. Gloomy woods, rolling Paloonzambo river, whirling eagle, snow mountain, lake, farmland & villages fill your eyes without clearance.

Day 06 : RANWU – CHAYU – RANWU (3807m) O/N GUESTHOUSE BREAKFAST
Glaciers and SnowMountains surround Ranwu Lake. Thawed snow makes the body; the water appears different colors in different seasons, from aquamarine to turquoise. By the lake are the verdant grassland and plants. With an altitude of 3800 m, many thousand-year-old willow trees have grown round the Ranwu Lake whose surface is 2600 m. in length and 1000-5000 m. in width. It is the place where the PalongRiver originates. Beside the lake is a green grassland and rice field just like "the scenery in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtse River of China". Along the Ranwu-Chayu road, you could take fine pictures of Laigu glacier across a small lake-side village, where erecting snow peaks, mirror-like lake, pure-white ice lid & live houses. The Chayu Valley is known as the “Natural Museum”, the “ Natural Green Gene Store House” and the “Last Mysterious Spot on Earth”.

Day 07 : RANWU – YIGONG LAKE (2150m, 256km) O/N GUESTHOUSE BREAKFAST
The Yigong Lake, part of the Yigongzhangbu River in the west of Bomi, took its form after the big landslide in 1900. The lake is 16 kilometers long and 1 kilometer wide, about 2,150 meters above the sea level. On its northwest is the Tanggula Mountain Guiqing, which is covered with snow and ices during the whole year. On the other side of the lake lies the pretty White Village where the trees are evergreen. The village on the bank of the lake is a good place for viewing the snow mountain and spending holidays.

Day 08 : YIGONG LAKE - BAYI (3100m, 174km) O/N HOTEL BREAKFAST
Return sceneries of the way:
1. Sejila Mt. All colors of rhododendron cover the field every spring & beginning summer. You can take the far view for Nanjiabewa Peak from 4177km point, 318 state road.
2. Great cypresses. There are two places, Great cypress monastery & Bajie township, where you can take sight of each huge trunks of ancient cypress tree. The cypress wood in Bajie township cover 100 mu field, among them the oldest one gets to 2500 years.
3. Scene of Niyang river. Water waving, flow winding, numerous isles, fields, woods & meadows paste onto the view.
4. Peach woods. Charming wild blossom in spring.

Day 09 : BAYI – BASUM LAKE (3450m, 117km) O/N GUESTHOUSE BREAKFAST
Basongcuo. It means green aqua in Tibetan. It’s crescent as an important holy lake in Nimma sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Wild birds are swimming around your boat in the refreshment from the pure surrounding & an ancient Nimma monastery on an isle. Each plant here is followed by a legend. Some is associated with reproduction totem. This lake is attached by two smaller lakes nearby its headstream.

Day 10 : BASUM LAKE – LHASA (3650m, 436km) O/N HOTEL BREAKFAST
Drive to Lhasa with stop at Ganden monastery, touring the monastery

Day 11-12 : LHASA (3650m) O/N HOTEL BREAKFAST
Guided tour to Jokhang temple, Barkhor, Sera monastery, Drepung monstery, Potala Palace.

Day 13 : LHASA – SHIGATSE O/N HOTEL BREAKFAST
Drive to Shigatse: touring Tashi Lunpo monastery and the surrounding area, free afternoon

Day 14 : SHIGATSE – GYANTSE O/N HOTEL BREAKFAST
Drive to Gyangtse, touring Palchor Chode monastery including the Kumbum, the ancient Gyangtse fort as well

Day 15 : GYANTSE – SAMYE O/N GUESTHOUSE BREAKFAST
Drive to Samye, en route we visit the Yamdrok lake. Touring the monastery and the surrounding area.

Day 16 : SAMYE – TSETHANG O/N HOTEL BREAKFAST
Drive to Tsethang, touring Yumbulakang palace and Tradruk temple

Day 17 : TSETHANG – AIRPORT – CTU – SIN - BREAKFAST
Transfer to airport for your flight to Chengdu and connect flight to SIN
Air China CA4111 LXA CTU 1605/1755
Air China CA403 CTU SIN 2000/0040+1


Land Cost:

Cost per person