This tour will lead you to the world’s largest Buddhist Institute – Serta Larung, and famous Derge Printing Press, lifetime destinations for many travelers.Beside this, we explore several Buddhist monasteries from 17th and 18th centuries, but more than that, the Tibetan handicraft and home-stay will be another remarkable experience of the tour. One thing we never need to worry about from this tour is to see the breathtaking natural sceneries, and variety of Tibetan housing architectures
Day 1: Arrive to Chengdu
Welcome to Chengdu! This day you will meet the driver and guide at the airport who will escort you to the hotel. You will also do last minute preparations for the upcoming Kham Cultural tour.
Overnight: Chengdu
Day 2: Chengdu—Dartsendo (Kangding) Distance: 6 hours Elevation: 2560m
You will leave early this morning and head toward Dartsendo, a famous Tibetan trade center in ancient times. Now it is the main capital city of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture with population of over 95,000, most of who are Tibetans
Overnight: Dartsendo
Day 3: Dartsendo—Drango (Luhou) Distance: 6 hours Elevation: 3250m
Today our destination is the pleasant Tibetan town of Drango, known as Luhou in Chinese. Along the way we will visit one of the great sacred places for Tibetan
Buddhists–Lhaghang Monastery. It was built by King Songtsan Gampo during the 7th century. Lhagang Monastery houses the most important statue of Buddha Shakyamuni. Local Tibetans believe that this statue will give the same spiritual blessing of the one found in Lhasa. For this reason, Lhagang is an important pilgrimage destination.
Overnight: Drango
Day 4: Drango—Serta (Seda) Distance: 3 hours Elevation: 3900 m
After breakfast, we leave for th world’s largest Buddhist institute found at Larung Gar in Serta County. The drive along the way is quite nice as we will pass through several traditional Tibetan villages where you can see huge stone and wood homes. Serta Larung Gar Buddhist Institute was founded by Kenpo Jigme Phuntsok in 1980. He started in the in Lorog valley with only a few disciples and a tent to practice Buddhism. After hearing his great fame of the Buddhist teachings, more students gathered and now has more than 40,000 Buddhist monks and nuns.
Overnight: Serta
Day 5: Serta
In the morning we explore more of the Serta region. We will start by making a pilgrimage at the Gyutril Lhakhang (Magical Temple) . Then we leave for sky burial site to experience how Tibetan people react to the death and funeral of loved ones. Here we will witness Tibetans donating their bodies to the vultures after their death. Overnight: Serta
Day 6: Serta—Garze (Ganzi) Distance: 4 hours Elevation: 3390m
This day will take us Donkor monastery the pleasant lake of Kasar as we make our our way to Garze. This small Tibetan town is surrounded by beautiful mountains and stunning landscape. The villages, temples and monasteries here are perfect for photographers! We will visit Garze monastery in the afternoon, which has 500 years of history.
Overnight: Garze
Day 7: Garze—Dzogchen (Zhuqing) Distance: 5 hours Elevation: 3800m
Today’s destination is the isolated region of Dzogchen, known in Chinese as Zhuqing. Dozgchen Monastery was established in the year 1685 and is one of the 6 most influential monasteries in the Kham region of easern Tibet. Many famous Tibetan Buddhist teachers have studied here over the past 300 years.
Overnight: Dzogchen
Day 8: Dzogchen
We will spend a full day in Dzogchen exploring, hiking and photographing this beautiful region that few outsiders get to experience.
Overnight: Dzogchen
Day 9: Dzogchen—Derge (ch:Dege) Distance: 4 hours Elevation: 3220m
After breakfast, we will begin our drive to Derge, the cultural center of the Kham region. Along the way we will stop at the spectacular lake of Yilhun Lha Tso, one of eastern Tibet’s most holy lakes. The lake is lined with hand-carved prayer stones that are more than 600 years old. From the lake, we will drive over the 5050 meter Trola Mountain Pass, which offers breathtaking views of glacier covered mountains. We will then arrive in Derge, the cultural center of the Kham region.
Overnight: Derge
Day 10: Derge—Palpung (Babang) Distance: 2 hours Elevation: 3200 m
In the morning, we visit Derge Barkhang Printing Press. This printing press produces a majority of the Buddhist scripture books used across Tibet. At the printing press, we will see artisans carving these scripture tablets by hand using wood blocks. After lunch, we will go to the Palpung Monastery, established in the year 1729. This monastery is well-known for the teaching of Tibetan medicine and a traditional for of Tibetan painting known as Karma Gadru.
Overnight: Palpung
Day 11: Palpung—Dzongsar (Zongsa) Distance: 2 hours Elevation: 3200m
Today’s destination is Dzongsar Monastery, which was built in the year of 746. This monastery is famous for keeping its Tibetan philosophy teaching system from ancient times up until now. The current lama for this monastery is a world-known teacher, His Holinness the Dzongsar Jamyang Kyentse. In the late afternoon, we visit a local handicrafts center where, if you are interested, you can buy souvenirs for your families or friends.
Overnight: Dzongsar
Day 12: Dzongsar—Pelyul (Baiyu) Distance: 4 hours Elevation: 3300m
Our journey today will begin with visiting Katok monastery, one from the three important Nyingma Sect monasteries of Tibet. In the year 1159, Katok Danba Deshek established this monastery. It is beautifully located on a high rocky mountain. After our time there, we leave for Horpo handicraft center to experience their unique crafting skill, especially the famous Tibetan swords they produce. We will arrive to Pelyul, known in Chinese as Baiyu, in the afternoon.
Overnight: Pelyul
Day 13: Pelyul—Garze (Ganzi) Distance: 6 hours Elevation: 3390m
After breakfast, we will visit Pelyul Monatery, one of the six main monasteries in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Rigdzin Kunzang Sherab built this monastery in the year of 1665. Next, we will head to Yarchen Gar on our way to Garze. Yarchen Gar is another major Buddhist institute in addition to Larung Gar. It was built in 1985 by Khanpu Achu Rinpoche.
Overnight: Garze
Day 14: Garze—Danba Distance: 6 hours Elevation: 1800m
This day we will explore the unique Gyarong region, which has different dialect, architecture, dressing, and local customs compared to other Tibetan areas. The region is well known for its huge, castle-like homes and tall stone watchtowers.
Overnight: Danba
Day 15: Danba—Chengdu Distance: 6 hours
Our Great Kham Cultural Tour is comes to an end today as we arrive back in Chengdu. We hope you enjoyed the tour as much as we expected. We wish you a safe journey back to your home!
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