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Treks, Tours & Workshops |
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 Learn about traditional Tibetan folk religion and lifestyle through time spent with isolated nomads.
17 days: Meet in Chengdu and travel to the high grasslands, horseback to an active traditional nunnery, then on to the base of Mjera, where we soak in mineral hot springs, visit a sacred lake, hear old legends, and participate in ceremonies to honor the local gods. Then immerse yourself in 3-day nomad tentstay, where you practice season-specific activities of nomad life including herding, milking, and butter-making or haying, stonework, and artisan skills
Itinerary:
Day 1: We meet in Chengdu and stay in the Friendship Hotel. This is a day to arrive, meet, and rest.
Day 2: Day in Chengdu, somewhat restful. There will be an option to go see the Panda Breeding Center, where a friend will show us around, and also go to a wonderful temple (never closed during  the cultural revolution) and drink tea.
Day 3: Leave in the early morning for Danba. 9 hour bus, through beautiful lowland bamboo-forested mountains and the biggest panda reserve in China. Stay the night in Danba with a view of the river, and have some really wonderful homemade Muslim noodles for dinner.
Day 4: Travel 3 hours in small cars to Lhagang, a small temple town in the Tibetan plateau. Meet Djarga and our other guides. From there, ride horseback 3 hours to a nun's temple on the grassland, and stay the night with relatives.
Day 5: Rest, acclimate, explore the temple complex and surrounding areas, listen to the nuns chanting, visit with the family, and possibly see some dancing, or even a sky burial.
Day 6: Set out early on horseback. Walk and ride all day across the grasslands over a high pass, with  an incredible view of Mjera (19,000 foot sacred peak), and then drop down into the drainage and end up at a hot springs. Set up camp for a few days, and eat.
Day 7-8: Hang out at the hot springs with a white tent to house us and wonderful people to make fires and cook for us. Feel warm. Take day hikes up small peaks. Explore the area. Laugh at night over Tibetan/American stories.
Day 9: Leave the hot springs at midday and head for a turquoise sacred lake below a glacier. Ride/walk for about 4 hours, and camp there.
Day 10: Spend most of the day exploring the area around the lake and waterfall, and even climbing to Mjera’s glacier for a Sang juniper burning ceremony if the weather permits.
Day 11: Cross over a low pass back into the grasslands, and ride one very long day to the black tents far across the valley. Meet the family, the yaks, and the dogs.
Days 12-13: Spend these two days resting at the yak tents; observing the way of life; eating yogurt; trying to milk yaks, spin, weave, bring the cows home, and make fires with dung; and taking walks to see the birds, some mani stones, and possibly another temple.
Day 14: Ride to Lhagang, and take a few hours to shop. Take a quick tour of the Lhagang Temple in  town, with a monk to guide us around. Ride in cars to the small metropolis of Kangding. Stay in a nice hotel with a wonderful hot shower.
Day 15: Stay this day and night in Kangding. Shop and eat hotpot for a going away dinner.
Day 16: Return to Chengdu. Enjoy civilization and modernity, or miss the highlands.
Day 17: Fly to Beijing and out!
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