TREK001-5: Trekking around holy Mt.Amny Machen
Introduction: Amnye Machen Mountain, lies at the far end of middle branch of Mt. Kunlun, is located in the southeast of Qinghai. It is about 28km long and 10km wide. Main peak is Machen Gangri, which is 6,282 meters above sea level. Scenery there is charming and attractive. It is regarded as a holy mountain, around which thousands of pilgrims trekking and worshiping the Peak. It stands at the place where the yellow River comes from. The melted snow of the mountain is the origin of the Yellow River, the great mother river of China. In the process of organizing trekking tours over years, During this tour, you can see and touch the pure natural scene of the great Tibet plateau.
Trekking around holy Mt.Amny Machen
Day1: Fly to Beijing Arrive in Beijing, transport to the hotel. Visit the Forbidden City, Tian’anmen Square and Yonghegong Lamasery.
Day2: Fly to Xining Afternoon visit Kumbum Monastery that is 25km away from the city. Zong Kaba, the founder of the Yellow Sect was born here in 1357. A sandalwood tree marks the place where he was born. Because of him, thousands of Buddhas are reflecting in the leaves of the tree. This magic tree is in a magnificent golden-tiled palace. Butter sculptures are famous in this place, and we can enjoy them.
Day3: Drive to Kokonor Lake Drive through a prosperous farming area, reach the Sun and the Moon Pass with an elevation of 3520 meters. In the 7th century, the caravan escorting the Princess Wencheng passed here. Some very religious people used to live on the island in the middle of the lake. In summer, they never go away from the island. They believe that “there are some deities living in the gilded palace at the bottom of the lake, and they will disturb them when taking a boat on the lake”. So only in winter, when the lake is frozen, they leave the island and prepare the food for the whole winter. Overnight by Kokonor Lake.
Day4: Trek to the top of a mountain Trek 2 hours to a ridge of the mountain, then along the ridge walk westward to the top of the mountain (3800m), enjoying the panorama of Kokonor Lake.
Day5: Drive to Tongde Drive to Tongde via Gonghe, Heka and Xinghai. Overnight in Tongde.
Day6: Drive to Machen Drive to Machen visit Lajia Monastery (established in 1769) on the way. Afternoon prepare for trekking. Overnight in Machen.
Day7: Drive to Xueshanxiang Village After breakfast, drive to Xueshanxiang Village, at the foot of the Amny Machen, the starting place of our trek. Meet our working team, yaks and horses there. Overnight in tents.
Day8-Day14: Trek around Amny Machen 7 days trekking, about 200km around the Sacred Mountains - Amny Machen along the pilgrim route. Camp One: walk through the prayer flags, Mani stone mounts and cross a stream, get to the campsite. Camp Tow: cross a valley, get to a flat grassland, and from here we will see the glacier and the highest peak of the snow-covered Sacred Mountains, and we are sure that the sword of Gesar King must have thrust into the mountain. Camp Three: trek over the highest point (4500m), called as “Gethung La”. Passing a piece of grassland, we get to the campsite, 4300m above sea level. Camp Four: Go on trekking and camp at a place with elevation of 4200m. Camp Five: today’s campsite is near a small monastery of Nima Sect. Visit the monastery. Only the pilgrims who have prostrated here will visit the monastery, and the monks here seldom go out of this place. Camp Six: It’s set up near a summer pastureland, here, we can visit the local yurts which are made of yaks' hair, sit for a while in the yurts to experience the local life. During our trek, we have enough time to enjoy the flora and animals on the plateau, there are marmots and rabbits living on the grassland. We can see different flora at different elevation, such as edelweiss and the colorful poppy flowers. We meet our bus at the 14th day and drive back to Machen County, stay in the same hotel.
Day15: Drive to Machen On the last day of the trek, we walk to a place with a white pagoda, and from here, only a short walk on the road will get to our starting point. Meet our bus and drive back to Machen.
Day16: Drive to Zeku By bus to Zeku, we will visit Lajia Monastery if we miss on the 6th day. Overnight in Zeku.
Day17: Drive to Tongren By bus to Tongren, visit Longwu Monastery (founded in the year 1301 ). Overnight in Tongren.
Day18: Drive to Labrang By bus to Labrang Monastery, on the way visit Wutun Monastery. Being famous for Tangka paintings, the monastery has attracted a lot of lamas to learn painting Tangkas, and many monasteries in Tibetan area come to order Tangkas here.
Day19: Visit Labrang Visit Labrang Monastery. Labrang, founded in 17th century, means “living quarters for the monks”, is the second largest one just inferior to Tar Monastery in Amdu Area. It has more pilgrims because it is an important center of Lamaism.
Day20: Drive to Lanzhou Drive through Tibetan villages, gradually seeing the difference in people and landscape, passing the fertile farmlands and living area of Hui and Han nationalities, arrive in Lanzhou.
Day21: Fly to Beijing Fly to Beijing, transport to the hotel. City tour or shopping in the afternoon.
Day22: Fly to back home
The best time: June 15.-August 30.
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