Day01 Arrive in Lanzhou Arrive in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, is in the middle of loess plateau of China and has long been an important city on the Silk Road in history. The Yellow river flows through the whole Gansu province. 1N at 4*Legend Hotel Day02 Lanzhou – Bingling Si – Xiahe BLD Drive to Xiahe. En route make an excursion to grottos of 1000-Buddha's-temple in Bingling over the yellow. The grottos of the monastery are firstly built in 420AD. Figures here are older than those in Dunghuang-Grottos. Late in the afternoon arrive in Xiahe, which is 2,900 meters above the sea level and almost exclusively inhabited by Tibetans. 1N at 3*Wangfu Hotel Day03 Xiahe – Tongren BLD In the morning visit Labrang monastery, the most important religious centre on the northeast border of the Tibetan region. The monastery created in 1710, as one of the six grand monasteries in Tibetan area, has served for centuries there to connect the Tibetan and Mongolian Lamaism. In the afternoon drive to Tongren. Here visit Longwu monastery of Gelukpa sect which was initially constructed in Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) as a monastery of Sakya-sect and Wutun village the center of Tibetan Regong-Art, which is a successful mixture of religion and folk art. 1N at 3*Regong Hotel Day04 Tongren – Guide BLD Drive to Lijiaxia. Boating on the reservoir of Yellow River, visit the Kanbula National Forest Park with the scenery of red sand rock as well as three famous monasteries in the Namdzong valley: Achung Namdzong Monastery, the Namdzong Nunnery and Benben Monastery. Namdzong, also called as Dzong or Djung, is a natural valley and is one of four holy main places of Amdo. Here a popular place is for the Tibetan monks for meditating. Keep drive to Guide. 1N at 3*Wenquan Hotel Day05 Guide – Tongde – Machen 240 km BLD Drive to Machen, the capital of Golok Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. On the way visit the Ragya Monastery (Lajia Si) of Gelugpa sect by the Yellow River (Huang He). 1N in 2*Xueshan Hotel Day06 Maqen – Huashixia – Madoi BLD Transfer to Huashixia, a village with beautiful white rock cliff on which grows dense green vegetations. On the way get a nice view to the majestic holy mountain Amnye Machen if the weather is good. Keep drive to Madoi, a small city in the upper reaches of the Yellow river. The Yellow river is the second longest river in China with a length of 5,464 km. It is just in Madoi county that the Yellow river takes its original course. 1N at simple guesthouse Day07 Madoi – Yushu BLD Across the first Bridge of Ma Chu (the Yellow River) drive to Yushu. On the way visit the Zhujie Si Temple, belong to the Kagyu Sect tradition, completed in AD.1668, the biggest Lamasery in the Yushu (Jyekundo) area, today still shows great influence over the Amdo Tibetan. 2N at 3*Yushu Hotel Day08 Yushu (Jyekundo) BLD There are totally 43 monasteries in Yushu region, of which 12 belong to Sakya-sect, 8 to Gelukpa-sect, 2 to Nyingmapa-sect, 21 to Gagyuepa-sect. visit three monasteries in a whole day: Jiegu monastery of Sakya-sect,. Dongkar monastery of Gagyuepa-sect. Besides, it is worthwhile to visit monastery of Wencheng princess. In the legend the princess of Tang Dynasty once stayed in this monastery for a month. Day09 Yushu – Madoi BLD Drive back to Madoi. On the way, see the most enormous Mani-stone in the earth – Jiana Mani-stones and the Xiewu Monastery. 1N at simple guesthouse Day10 Madoi – Koko Nor Lake BLD Drive to Koko Nor Lake (Qinghai Hu). Walking by the Koko Nor Lake, the biggest salty lake in China. "Koko Nor" in Mongolian language means "blue sea” because of the lunar shape and the color of the lake. 1N in 2*Tent Hotel Day11 Koko Nor Lake – Kumbum – Xining BLD After the breakfast cross over Sun-and-moon mountain (Ri Yue Shan). In 641 Wencheng princess of Tang Dynasty passed by this mountain where today a sun-pavilion and a moon-pavilion are built on the summit for people to have a break. The suns and moon mountain has always been an distinguish line between meadow and agriculture area. The Second stop is Kumbum monastery (Ta'er Si) of Gelukpa-sect, which was built in 1560 in Huangzhong county and also one of the six grand monasteries in Tibet. Both Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Lamaistic "yellow hat sect" and the 14th Dalai lama were born here. As Kumbum-monastery has always been playing an important role to connect the Mongolian with the Lamaism, today many Mongolian come to this place for worship. Late in the afternoon arrive in Xining, the capital of Qinghai province. This city is mainly inhabited with Tibetan but also a home of Uygur, Kazak and Hui minorities. 1N at 4*Holiday Dynasty Hotel Day12 Leave Xining B Transfer to airport and fly back home.
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