July 26-August 18, 2008: With international and in-country travel and rest days – 24 days.

Itinerary:

July 26:  Leave the US for Beijing.

July 27: lost crossing the international date line

July 28:  Arrive in Beijing, and change planes for Kunming, Yunnan.  Stay the night in Kunming at a hotel near the airport. 

July 29:  Fly at 7 AM to Shangrila.  We will pick you up in Shangrila (Zhongdian), Yunnan.  Stay the night in this mountain town, which has been named Shangrila by the town government!

July 30: Travel by jeep to Xiangcheng, just on the edge of the Tibetan plateau.

July 31:  Continue on to Litang, a city on the high grasslands.  Prepare for the festival, and stay in a celebratory decorated tent on festival grounds.

August 1: Enjoy the opening ceremonies of the horse race, and then the races, all day. 

August 2:  Leave in the early morning for the Lhagang grasslands.  This eight hour trip crosses two high passes and goes through the stronghold of Khampa nomad lands.  The jeeps will drop us off in Lhagang town, where we will spend the night in a small family guesthouse near the temple, and prepare for the horseback part of our trip!

August 3:  Ride today to join the yaks and the families at the summer pastures, about 5 hours ride away.  Settle into  life in the encampment; meet the family; experience nomad food and hospitality, and enjoy a well-earned rest. 

August 4-6:  Spend these three full days at the Dashika nomad encampment, learning about and observing yak raising techniques and culture.  Activities and demonstrations will include yak herding; milking; calf care; hair collection and shearing; pack training (large and small loads); hair spinning and weaving; yogurt, butter and cheese making; and more.

August 7: Ride 3 hours to Genup Gompa, an isolated grassland temple.  Spend the evening and night here, and enjoy the monks' chanting and instrument playing in a purely traditional setting.

August 8:  Ride to Gepshima Clan lands and spend the night with another family of nomads, in order to gain a sense of the the differences in yak care between clans. 

August 9:  Return home to the Dashika encampment. 

August 10: Stay this last day at the Dashika encampment, practicing yak care as interests you.

August 11:  Ride to Gyergo Gompa, a large and well-known nunnery.  Here there is a huge stack of mani stones, carved by first the founding father of this temple, a hermit who lived here in a cave until his death in 1980, and then in honor of him by several local men.  The village around the temple has increased in size quickly in the last few years.  Also here is a sky burial platform, and we may see a burial while there.

August 12:  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.   Enjoy the water and good food.

August 13: Ride and walk to the Sacred Turquoise Lake below the glaciers of Mjera. 

August 14: Spend 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.

August 15:  Ride across mountainous land and grassland to Gyergo Gompa.  Spend this last night here.

August 16: This morning, cars pick us up and return us to the city of Kangding.  Here we'll wash and rest up at the newly build  Love Song Hotel.  (Named after Kangding's claim to fame – a well-known folk song!) 

August 17:  Travel to Chengdu and live it up for this last night in China.

August 18:  Fly to Bejing and home!