Langmu Si Festival
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- Road to Langmu Si
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- Praying monks at Molang festival of North Kham
Road to Langmu Si
Festival of Langmu Si (FK02)
Langmu Si literally meaning ‘fairy monastery’, is situated some 90km from Luqu County, on the main Gansu to Sichuan highway road. The town was so named after an ancient legend that tells of a fairy turned into stone on a mountain not far away. The town now harbors two monasteries, facing each other over the river and valley bottom, it houses around 1,200 monks, and was originally built as a crucial academic institute for lamas studying Tibetan Buddhism, but gradually lost importance, forming a sharp contrast with the increasingly popular Labrang Monastery of Xiahe.
The festival of Langmu Si is called “Monlam”, same as the one in Aba county, it is also one of the greatest religious festivals in the eastern Tibet of Amdo and Kham. during festival monks and pilgrims from different area of TCA gathering to Langmu Si for prayer to Shakyamuni’s image as if it were the living Buddha.
Festival Date:
Jan 1st-15th in Chinese Lunar Calendar.
Thangkar unfolding day is January 15th of Lunar Calendar
Please contact us for the exact dates on the Gregorian calendar.
Itinerary
Day 2 Chengdu to Barkham: The road is curve along the Ming river, slowly going up to reach Barkham, the Capital of Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. Barkham is an area rich in pasture land, forest and arable alpine valleys, with a cool temperate climate, it is situated at an elevation of 2,670 meters and running in a long stretch along the Suomo Rive, has been well planned. Before we arrive at Barkham, we will visit to Choktse village, which is composed by a fieldstone 5F Tibetan house and a stone fortification built almost one hundred years ago. It’s thought to be one of he oriental architecture wonders, a witness of the traditional Tibetan Official System
Day 3 Barkham to Langmu Si via Hongyuan: Departure from Barkham, following the curved road along Suomo river upstream all the way to the turn off where to take north onto Tibetan plateau, the road is getting more straight, and the view is becoming widely, the paved road crossing through the grassland, which dotted by hundreds of thousands of yaks, sheep, leads up to one unnamed mountain head north to Aba
Day 4 & 5 Langmu Si: Continuing northward into Amdo, for about 70km drive, a turn off will be reached, from here, we turn to northeast into the area where just being visited by herds in summer time, the road turns from well paved to dirt road, and it begins bumpy, we slow down our speed to enjoy the landscape, about 3 hours drive we will reach the town of Maqu that in Tibetan means the Yellow River. The Yellow River turns abruptly, forming the first of its “eighteen bends” on its course. The Tibetan here still retain to some extent the mode of production, lifestyle, and customs prevalent among the nomadic tribes in ancient times in the area. From this town we We keep driving for Langmu Si by following the dirt road along the small mountain on the edge of grassland, when sun falls on the top of the mountains in the far west, we are approaching the mountain that Langmu Si is located in the valley surrounded by those mountains.
Day 6 & 7 Langmu Si to Lixian then to Chengdu: In this two day, we will drive to cover about 600km, en route enjoy the landscape of the Tibetan plateau, along Ming River to Chengdu via Li-xian. After arriving in Chengdu, we will visit to Wenshu Temple, which lays in the northern part of the center of this town. This Buddhist temple ” the Temple of the Buddha of Wisdom” is built during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), destroyed during the Ming dynasty and rebuilt in 1691. Nowadays Wenshu Temple is one of the most active Buddhist centers in Sichuan as well as in China.
Day 8 Chengdu to the airport for departure.
