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Drak Yerpa
Today, hermits are gradually returning to the caves of Drak Yerpa, and its shrines are being restored from the horrible damage of Cultural Revolution in 1960’s of 20thcentury.
Built on a hillside with more than 80 meditation caves, This site is about 25km east of Lhasa located on the mountain seated south bank of Lhasa River , and being described as the “life tree” or spiritual axis of Lhasa.
The road to Drak Yerpa has been rebuilt which are all well paved road from Lhasa to the parking lot
It was the home of several hundred hermits, monks, and nuns, and having been visited by Songsten Gampo, Yeshe Tsoygel, Padmasambhava and Asisha.
Mr. Tucci described this site: “Drak Yerpa appeared suddenly before my eyes as a bend of the road, a cascade of small white buildings along steep overgrown cliffs. One could have thought one was not in Tibet. Giant junipers and tufts of rhododendron topped a thick tangle of undergrowth, brushwood and grass victoriously fighting the hard barrenness of rocks.
The cliffs were riddled with burrows and caves, some of which were so high up on the fact of the abrupt hill that it would have been risky to climb them.”
Among the caves on the hillside is Chogyel Puk, where Songsten Gampo meditated.
Nearby is Lhakhang Puk, where the monk Lhalungpa Pelgi Dorje (now identified with Tulsi Rimpoche of Tupten Choling monastery in nepal) hid after assassinating the Bonpo king Langdama in 842.
Amdo Travel
Amdo, outside the TAR, extends a large areas of over Qinghai, parts of Gansu, and a small part of northern Sichuan of Kham. The trips to this enormous area can be vary, from Advernture to sightseeing; from tough trekking to leisure visit, you’re always able to find something to do;
Starting from Xining – the capital of Amdo approximately 20km west is the monastic townof Kumbum, another monastic town of Amdo is further south, called: Labrang; in between this two monastice towns is the cultural centre of Repkong, home to a distinctly vibrant tradition of Tibetan painting and sculpture. West from Repkong is the sacred Mt Amnye Machen, which is the highest spot in Amdo, and the focus that tibetan coming from all corners of Amdo as far as the west tibet for pilgrimage. continuing southwest to another culture site of Yushu. The 2nd large mountain of Amdo is called Mt. Nenpo Yutse located in the east corner of Amdo, next to Aba of Sichuan province;
Since Amdo is open to foreign visitor as Kham it is, there is NO Tibet travel permit required, therefore you are almost able to travel “freely”, although for those, whom would enjoy an easy and assisting tour, contacting one tour operator, of which you trust, would be a good idea to travel through this enormous area ensuring you travel safe, easy, fun…
Click here to View All Amdo Travel
Kham Travel
Located in the Western Sichuan and Northwest Yunnan province. It has a rugged terrain characterized by
mountain ridges and gorges running from northwest to southeast. The nonthern and western Kham consist most high altitude grasslands that are above 4000m. The southern Kham has numerous rivers, including the Mekong River, Yarlung River, and the Salween River flow through, which form lands and weather allowing Tibetan farmers to grow barley, wheat , and other vegetables and fruit trees. The eastern Kham is between 2500m – 3500m, are covered in thick evergreen forests. Snow-capped, glaciated peaks can be viewed almost everywhere. The higest mountain is Mt. Minya gangkar (7556m), which is also a wonderful site for making treks. from 5 days trekking to 111days trekking, this enormous region holds a large range of different treks, as well as Kawa Karpo;
Kham was also the home of many early Repoches, lamas, including the founders of the Drigungpa and Karmapa. Derge, a historic site that also provide numberous off-the-beaten path to visit, such as Palpung monastery, Dzongsar monastery…etc;
The bright part is – for the most of Kham are open, you may choose to travel with a tour operator, either way on your own, if you think you are able to get over the difficults of arranging traffic and laguage barrier. and It is true that Kham is one of the best places to observe traditional Tibetan culture, which we do agree! The best preserved Tibetan culture, very few travelers, almost no tourist, colorful nomad culture, different tradition of monastery. This is a wonderful place to visit;
Click here to View All Kham Travel
Visit Tibet only?
As you may be aware that the tours to Visit Tibet have received many errors on obtaining tibet-travel-permit. There is no telling that if this situation may last or not in the rest of this year. Does that mean you have to cancel your trip to Visit Tibet at all? Not necessarily! it is important to know that Tibetan cultural Area consists 3 major parts, of course the central tibet TAR is the main part, however, the other almost more than 50% large of the whole TCA areas are in current Qinghai province (Amdo), the West of Sichuan Province (Kham). Although Amdo and Kham are not in central Tibet, but not think it is any “less-Tbet”. those are still preserve some orginal tradition of Tibetan culture, such as “Jue-nang” of Gelukpa, “Black hat” of Orignal tibetan religion that sourced from Guge – the lost kingdom of west Tibet.
in the continuse days, Tibetan Trekking will publish more about the eastern tibet of Kham and Amdo to assist you choose other travel destinations, you are welcome to pay attention to our blog
Litang Festival location
The image on the right is a group of Tibetan women dancing at previous Litang Horse-Racing Festival
Kham Journey
“Kham” was the traditional name of the eastern part of Tibetan Cultural Area, it is now called: Kanze or Ganze Tibetan Prefecture of Sichuan Province. If you do not have time to travel deeply into Kham, do not worry, because there are a great many really super places to visit inside Kangding County and its surrounding.
Its coutryside is still with very traditional and very Tibetan. There are high mountains, grasslands inhabited by nomads, fanciful castle-like houses, and rich farms. There are plenty of monasteries in Kangding, too, and colorful festivals. Kangding’s biggest annual festival is on the 8th day of the 4th month of Chinese calendar, and features activities on Pao-Ma-Shan(Horse-runing mounatian), plus several days of street fair that fills up the whole town. Other than this ethic festival, a religious celebration and ritual are annually held in Lhagang (Tagong in chinese) and Bamei in Speing and Autumn.
Beyond the cltural facts, the Hailougou–a glacier park at the foot of Mt. Gongga (Mt. Gangkar) is also very popular with Chinese tourists. It is also one of the ends of making the wonderful trek of Mt. Gongga (Mt. Minya Gangkar)
2012 Litang horse racing festival
2012 Litang Horse-Racing-Festival will be held on July 21. The festival of 2012 is not same as previously ones that to have one week to proceed different programs; There will be only one day to celebrate in 2012.
It is recommended to arrive in Litang 1 or 2 days earlier in order to acclimatizing to its altitude – 4150m above sea level; on the other hand, it could avoide the possible changing of the festival date due to rain problem – as August is monsoon, it sometime rains heavy;
