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8 Days Discovery Tour from

Basics

Tour Code: LCT - Tibet - 8D - 02

Attractions: Lake, , , Temple, Barkhor Street,

Drepung Monastery, , Drak , , , Drak Yerpa

Meditation Caves

Overview: Want to discover Tibet in a different way? Join this trip, you will enter from

Xining before enjoying the stunningly beautiful . Then, you will take the world’s highest railway line, the Qinghai - Tibet Railway, to Lhasa, during which you will admire the spectacular views of the snow-capped peaks, bloomy glaciers, wild animals, nomad villages and the vast expanse of grassland. Arriving in Lhasa, you will continue to visit the iconic sights like Potala

Palace, , Barkhor Street, and so much more.

Highlights

 Be overwhelmed by the breathtaking natural views along the Qinghai - Tibet Railway;

 Have a leisure boat ride on the Qinghai Lake;

 Marvel at the magnificent Potala Palace;

 Revere at the devoutness of the local Buddhist disciples;

 Admire the grand Drepung Monastery and observe the monks debating over scriptures.

Itinerary

Date Starting Time Destination

Day 1 Flexible Arrival in Xining

Day 2 8:00 a.m Qinghai Lake

Day 3 9:00 a.m , Train to Lhasa

Tel: +86 18629295068 1 Email: [email protected]； [email protected] www.lilysunchinatours.com Day 4 Flexible Arrival in Lhasa

Day 5 9:00 a.m Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, Barhkor Street

Day 6 9:00 a.m Norbulingka, Drepung Monastery, Sera Monastery

Day 7 9:00 a.m Ganden Monastery and Drak Yerpa

Caves

Day 8 Flexible Lhasa Departure

Day 1: Arrival in Xining

Your local guide and driver will wait for you at the Xining train station or airport and take you to the hotel. Have a relaxing time in the rest of the day.

Day 2: Qinghai Lake

After breakfast, we will drive for the Qinghai Lake, which takes about 3 hours. Located in the northeast Qinghai - Tibet Plateau, between Datong Mountain, Riyue Mountain, and Nanshan

Mountain, Qinghai Lake is the largest salt lake in . As three mountains surround the lake and there is no outlet to the sea, Qinghai Lake is also the largest interior lake. It’s famous for landscapes of plateau lake, prairie, snow-capped mountain, and desert. The shortage of oxygen, the sufficiency of salt, and the rarity of plankton make the Qinghai

Lake extremely crystal and blue. It’s very common to see yaks and cattle roaming around, herds of sheep grazing grass, swarms of birds flying around, lush grass swaying with wind and fish playing in the lake. We highly recommend a boat ride on the tranquil lake.

In the afternoon, we will drive back to Xining.

Day 3: Kumbum Monastery, Train to Lhasa

After breakfast, we will head for the Kumbum Monastery. Located in the Lianhua Mountain,

Kumbum Monastery is the birthplace of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Tibetan , and Tel: +86 18629295068 2 Email: [email protected]； [email protected] www.lilysunchinatours.com one of the most famous Gelug . Since its building, the monastery has established a separate system of religion, politics, economics, and culture.

One event can better illustrate the organizational perfection of the monastery - the Temple Fair.

During the occasion, monks will come to communication and entertain. The whole monastery is magnificent and full of treasures. You will find a lot of Buddhist halls, statutes, Buddhist scriptures, classics of history, literature, philosophy, medicine, and legislation.

After lunch, you will depart for the Qinghai Railway Station and take the train to Lhasa. The journey will take about 22 hours, during which you will have beautiful scenery of glaciers, snow-capped mountains, prairies, wild animals, nomad houses, and vast grassland.

Day 4: Arrival in Lhasa

By the early afternoon, you will arrive at Lhasa Railway Station, where your local driver and guide will be ready to take you to the hotel. We suggest you take the rest of the day to acclimatize the altitude and climate and get some rest.

Day 5: Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, Barhkor Street

Your Lhasa exploration starts officially from this morning. The first stop will be the first highlight of the tour - the iconic Potala Palace. Sure, you might have seen it elsewhere, but today, you will ascend the lofty building and unveil the interior mysteries. One thing to remind you, you can’t take photos inside the palace. The Potala Palace was a work of a Tubo King in the 7th century. It was like a wedding gift to the Tang Dynasty when she married the

Tibetan King. When the Tubo dynasty declined, the palace was destitute for a long time until the mid-17th century, when the Fifth Dala established the Galdan Phobrang regime and

Tel: +86 18629295068 3 Email: [email protected]； [email protected] www.lilysunchinatours.com resumed the palace. Since then, the Potala Palace became the winter palace for later Dalai .

After all these centuries, the palace has collected tons of treasures and Buddhist relics.

In the afternoon, we will head for the Jokhang

Temple, another masterpiece from Tubo King

Songtsen Gampo. It’s one of the most sacred places in Tibet. You will see many Buddhist disciples practice worship in the temple. What makes the temple even more famous is the magnificent building. You will see it’s a wooden building with traditional Tibetan, Chinese, Nepalese, and

Indian architectural marks.

The last stop today is Barhkor Street, which is just outside the Jokhang Temple. Many Tibetan

Buddhist disciples with revolving prayer wheels in their hands make their pilgrimage clockwise around the Jokhang Temple. It’s striking to see local people so devout and reverent. Of course, you will also see a lot of local specialties, arts, crafts, and souvenirs.

Your day tour comes to an end by now. Your guide and driver will escort you back to your hotel.

Day 6: Norbulingka, Drepung Monastery, Sera Monastery

After breakfast, we will soak up in the fresh morning air of the Norbulingka, the summer palace of Dalai

Lamas. It’s the largest artificial garden in Tibet and a place with rich historical stories and amazing landscapes, making it a fantastic place for leisure.

It’s now turned into a park where you will see a lot of stores and shops.

Next, we will leave for the Drepung Monastery. “Drepung” in Tibetan means “rice piles," symbolizing prosperity. The monastery is also the largest one in Tibet and one of the three most important monasteries of Gelug Sect. It has cultivated a lot of Buddhist masters for Tibet. To visit the monastery, you have to trace along the mountain road, which can be energy-consuming. Please

Tel: +86 18629295068 4 Email: [email protected]； [email protected] www.lilysunchinatours.com be prepared.

At last, we will pay a visit to the Sera Monastery, another prestigious Gelug monastery. The name

“Sera” came from the fact that there are a vast expanse of rosewood on the mountain on which the monastery was built. Every afternoon, the monastery will organize a big meeting where monks debate over the Buddhist scriptures, which can be intriguing to observe.

Day 7: Ganden Monastery and Drak Yerpa Meditation Caves

After breakfast, you will leave for the Ganden Monastery, a special monastery built by the originator of Gelug Sect Tsongkhapa in 1409.

People regard it as the ancestor temple of the monasteries of Gelug Sect. Inside the monastery, you will find a lot of murals, statues, and relics, golds and jewelries granted by Emperor Qianlong in

Qing Dynasty, armour with Han, Manchu,

Mongolian and Tibetan characters, Su embroideries, cushions which belonged to masters of Gelug

Sect, and 24 sets of gifted by Emperor Yongle from Ming Dynasty. All these priceless relics show the long history and high religious position of the monastery. On October 25 in

Tibetan calendar, the death anniversary of Tsongkhapa, people will hang a 26-meter-long,

10-meter-wide silk Buddha in the daytime and burn all candles at night.

In the afternoon, we will visit the Drak Yerpa

Meditation Caves, one of the famous hermitages. It was one of the meditation temples built by Songtsen

Gampo for his Tibetan wife. The most significant characteristic of the place is that the Drak Yerpa

Monastery is inset between cliffs, and most of the

Tel: +86 18629295068 5 Email: [email protected]； [email protected] www.lilysunchinatours.com buildings are built upon caves. Surrounding the caves are towering pines, cypresses, flowers and brooks. Inside the monastery, you will find the renovated Buddha statues and statues of Songtsen

Gampo and his wives.

Day 8: Lhasa Departure

Your Tibet discovery ends here. Your local guide and driver will take you to the airport.

What’s Important:

What’s included:

Tibet Travel Permit.

Air-conditioned vehicles with experienced driver.

Licensed English-speaking tour guide.

Entrance fee for sights mentioned in the itinerary.

Bottled water.

What’s not included:

Meals

Personal expenses or private entertainment items at sights.

Tips or gratuities for guide and driver if we did a good job (recommended)

Accommodation

Airfare or train fare to Lhasa.

What to take: smile and a relaxed enthusiastic attitude.

Good to know:

1. Please follow your guide’s steps closely in the monasteries and be sensitive about the cultural

difference.

2. This trip involves several cities that host mostly minority people, some of whom don’t even

Tel: +86 18629295068 6 Email: [email protected]； [email protected] www.lilysunchinatours.com speak Mandarin, let alone English. They have their own languages. We can’t promise that the

local guides will possess the English language skills as masterfully as the guides in big cities

like Beijing, but we do promise that you will understand them. They will be very polite,

enthusiastic, and eager to share what they know about their hometown.

3. As our customer, your time is very valuable to us. We will never take you to any factories or

shops for shopping.

4. For lunch, we will take you to a nice local restaurant, where you can enjoy the local food at a

fair price. Please inform us about your food preferences in case you have any allergies.

5. A regular day tour will last 8-9 hours. If you want a tour with a duration exceeding the

working period of our tour guide and driver, we need to charge you for your extra hours at

the standard rate of 100 RMB per hour.

6. The tour we provide you is based on days, not the hours. A regular day tour will last 8-9

hours. In case you only need our service for between 6 hours to 8 hours in one day, we will

consider it a day tour.

7. Please be aware that your itinerary can be changed at anytime. Whenever you want to adjust

it, we will help you with that.

8. What we provide are high-quality private tours, you will only be with your families or friends.

There are no other people joining your tour.

FAQ

1. Is Xining in Tibet?

No, Xining is not in Tibet. It is the capital city of Qinghai province, a neighbor to Tibet.

2. Where is Qinghai Lake located?

Qinghai Lake is located in the west of Xining city, about 160km.

3. What is Qinghai known for?

Tel: +86 18629295068 7 Email: [email protected]； [email protected] www.lilysunchinatours.com Qinghai is known for the stunning Qinghai Lake, Ta’er Monastery, and Chaka Salt Lake, two of which are arranged in this trip.

4. Is Qinghai part of Tibet?

No, Qinghai is a separate province, equal to Tibet.

5. How long does it take to get from Xining to Lhasa?

In this trip, we will take the train, which will take about 22 hours.

6. When is the best time to visit Tibet?

The best time to visit Tibet is from June to September when the weather is pleasant and oxygen is relatively sufficient.

7. Is it safe to rent a car in Lhasa?

It’s safe to take a taxi in Lhasa, but you might be overcharged. We suggest you hire a local tour agency like us to help you with transportation. In this way, you will have plenty of time to travel.

8. Can we take a bath in Lhasa hotel?

Lhasa is largely the same as other big cities in China. It also has many four-star and five-star hotels of international standard. You don’t have to worry about the bath problem.

9. What local food do you recommend us to taste?

There is so much local food waiting for you to taste and we highly recommend tsampa with butter and cheese, butter tea, yak meat, Tibetan noodles, sweet tea, and highland barley wine.

10. Can you recommend some souvenirs?

There are many local specialties in Lhasa like Thangka, Tibetan silverwork, yak fur, cordyceps sinensis, local milk, Tibetan wine, carpet, etc.

Tel: +86 18629295068 8 Email: [email protected]； [email protected] www.lilysunchinatours.com 11. Why can’t I take a bath when I just arrive in Lhasa?

There are two reasons you can’t take a bath right after you get to Lhasa. On the one hand, you might catch a cold during the bath as Lhasa's temperature is lower than most places in China. It’s very dangerous to get cold in the plateau region, because the sickness can easily cause pulmonary inflammation. On the other hand, the sweltering bath may make you dizzy, especially in a place deficit in oxygen as Lhasa. Therefore, please give your body some time to adapt to the height.

12. How can I book the ticket for Potala Palace?

There is a limit regarding how many tickets can be sold per day. Therefore, people often book tickets in advance. You can either book on the official website of the Potala Palace, or buy on the spot. To make everything easy, we are here to help.

Tel: +86 18629295068 9 Email: [email protected]； [email protected]