2008 Tibetan New Year 10 days Tour

Day 1

Place & Transport: Arrive in Lhasa, Flight No. TBA
Today's Activities: Airport to Hotel Transfer (Lhasa)
Detailed Itinerary: The guide will meet you at Gonggar Airport or Tibet Rail Station, and transfer you to Lhasa city. After arrive in Lhasa, rest and acclimatize. We strongly recommend that you arrive in Lhasa on 4th, Feb to totally experience Tibetan New Year.

Day 2

Place & Transport: Lhasa
Today's Activities: Potala Palace, Tibetan family visit
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch
Detailed Itinerary: The last two days of the old year are called Gutor. If you arrive in Lhasa on 4th, Feb, today is the first day of Gutor. Tibetan people will clean the house from top to bottom. The kitchen is especially cleaned as it is the heart and the most important room in the house. The chimney is also cleared of soot. There are special dishes cooked ready for the New Year. One dish is the nine soup which is made from meat, wheat, rice, sweet potatoes, cheese, peas, grean peppers, vermicelli and radishes. This dish is served with small dumplings. These dumplings contain such things as scraps of wood, paper or pebbles. These are to foretell the future ahead with it being good or bad. Charcoal meant a black heart. After dinner, you will see the new year activity ,called drive away the ghost.

--Potala Palace:The Potala Palace, which is now on the list of Chinese national key protected cultural relics, is the most valuable storehouse in Tibet. It is a huge treasure house for materials and articles of Tibetan history, religion, culture and arts. The Palace is widely known for the precious sculptures, murals, scripture, Buddha figures, murals, antiques, and religious jewelry treasured up, they are of great cultural and artistic value. In 1994, the Potala Palace was declared the United Nations World Cultural Heritage site.Perched upon the Marpo Ri Hill, 130 meters above the Lhasa valley, it is the greatest monumental structure in Tibet.

Day 3

Place & Transport: Lhasa
Today's Activities: Jokhang Temple, Barkhor Street
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch
Detailed Itinerary: If you arrive in Lhasa on 4th, Feb, today is the second day of Gutor also the New Year's Eve. It will be spent on religious ceremonies. Tibetan people will go visit the monasteries to give gifts to the monks. They let off firecrackers and touches are used to rid of homes of evil spirits which may be lurking. In the evening we will have New Year's Eve Dinner with Tibetan characteristic and make firework to celebrate the new year.

--Jokhang Temple:Constructed in the 7th century AD to house the statues of Buddha that princesses Bhrikuti from Nepal and Wen Cheng from Tang Dynasty China brought as gifts for their future husband, King Songtsan Gampo. The temple has been enlarged many times over the centuries and now also houses statues of King Songtsan Gambo and his two famous foreign brides. However, the original statue of Jowo Sakyamuni Buddha that Princess Wen Cheng brought from Chang'an over 1300 years ago is definitely it's most sacred and famous possession, and is perhaps the most venerated religious artifact in all of Tibet. The temple, a splendid four-floor building facing west under a gilded rooftop, is located on Barkhor Square in the center of the old section of Lhasa.

-- Barkhor Street:The Barkhor is the oldest street in Lhasa as well as the center of old Lhasa and remains very traditional. It is a place where Tibetan culture, economy, religion and arts are assembled.

Day 4

Place & Transport: Lhasa
Today's Activities: Drepung Monastery, Sera Monastery
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch
Detailed Itinerary: If you arrive in Lhasa on 4th, Feb, today is the New Year's Day. Tibetan people will rise early and bath, put their clothes on. They then honor the Gods in their household shrines and place offerings before them. The offerings may consist of an animal and demons from a kind of dough and known as torma. This day is also kept as a family day when gifts are exchanged and meals shared. The foods may consist of a cake calld a Kapse and also an alcoholic drink called chang which is served warm.

-- Drepung Monastery:Drepung Monastery lies in west of Lhasa under Mt. Gambo Utse, clustered round by the black mountain, its white grand buildings shining under the sunlight. Built in 1416, it is considered as one of the largest monasteries in the six principle monasteries of Gelu Sect in China. Drepung Monastery used to be the living palace of Dalai Lamas before the reconstruction of Potala palace (after the 5th Dalai Lamas was bestowed by Qing emperor Qianlong).

-- Sera Monastery:It is known as one of the three greatest monasteries of Tibet. As one of the three main monasteries of Lhasa, it is here that the monks "famous daily debates" take place.

Day 5

Place & Transport: Lhasa to Nyingchi
Today's Activities: Basomtso
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch

 --Lake Basongtso:Located about 90 kilometers west of Gongbo'gyamda County, the Basum Lake is an alpine lake at the middle and upper reaches of the Ba River, which is the largest tributary of the Nyang River. The lake surface is on average about 3,538 meters above sea level. The lake covers an area of 25.9 square kilometers. The deepest part is about 60 meters from the surface. The blue, limpid lake water and the verdant mountain around the lake combine into a charming scene that can be compared with those in Switzerland.

Day 6

Place & Transport: Nyingchi to Pomi
Today's Activities: Lake Raogco
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch

--Lake Raogco:The lake is more than 3,800 meters above sea level, and is 26 kilometers long and one or five kilometers wide. On its bank grows ancient Salix mongolica. The parlung Zangbo River originates from here. Around the lake are green pastureland and fields, like an area in the south of the Yangtze River.

--Bomi:The Bomi Country lies in the neighboring area between Himalaya and Niangqing Tanggula of east Tibet.Bomi.Bowo in Tibetan ,means grandfather ,The rugged countryside is surrounded with peaks with a river valley in the heart .

Day 7

Place & Transport: Pomi
Today's Activities: Rawok Lake
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch

--Rawok Lake:The Rawok Lake,The largest in southeast of Tibet,isin the Village of Ran about 90km from the Baiyi town neighboring the Nyingchi prefecture ,The lake 3000 meters above the sea leval, has a water area of 22 square kilometers.

Day 8

Place & Transport: Pomi to Bayi
Today's Activities: The Najiabawa Scenic Zone, The Yaluzhangbu Grand Canyon
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch

 --The Namjagbarwa Peak:In Tibetan, Namjagbarwa means a "long lance piercing into the sky." The sky-scraping Namjagbarwa Peak, with its majestic appearance, precipitous shape and unpredictable climate, has been an ambitious aim of mountain-climbing organizations from various countries, and was only conquered recently by a Sino-Japanese climbing team in 1992.

--The Yarlung Zangbo River:The Yarlung Zangbo River originates from the middle section of the northern slope of the Himalaya Mountain with an elevation of more than 6,000 meters. It turns south suddenly in Mainling County and cuts the Himalaya Mountain into two sections. Then the river runs through a narrow passage between the two 7,000 meter high peaks of Namjagbarwa and Jialabailei. Its flow averages 1,000 cubic meters per second year round. In one section less than 1,000 meters, the drop is more than 300 meters and its current velocity is more than 18 meters per second. Here is the Yarlung Zangbo Canyon, the first one in the world. Standing by it, you will ufeel the fascination of the nature, including the precipitous cliffs, hot springs, waterfalls, primeval forests, rare plants and animals.

Day 9

Place & Transport: Bayi to Lhasa
Today's Activities: The Gigantic Cypress Wood in Nyingchi
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch

 --Huge Cypress Forest:The Huge Cypress Nature Reserve in Bajie village is known for its perfect condition.The cypresses here are 44 meters high on average and their average trunk diameter is 158cm.The cypress king in the center of the wood has a height of 56 meters and chest diameter of about six meters.

Day 10

Place & Transport: Depart Lhasa, Flight No. TBA
Today's Activities: Hotel to airport Transfer (Lhasa)
Meals: Breakfast
Detailed Itinerary: Pack your luggage and get ready for leaving. The guide will transfer you to the airport. Say goodbye to Tibet .