Day 1 → Arrive in Xining airport and transfer to hotel
- Morning or early afternoon - Transfer to Hotel (about a 1 hour drive from airport)
- 3:00pm - Arrive at Hotel and check in. Settle into hotel and rest
- 4:30 pm - Meet in the lobby of the hotel/guesthouse and go out for dinner
- 5:00pm - Eat dinner and introduce the schedule for the week
- 8:00pm - Return to Hotel to sleep and rest
Day 2 → Depart Xining in the morning, camp near Laji Shan
- 8:30am - Eat breakfast at or near hostel or hotel.
- 9:30am - Drive 1.5 hours to LaJI Shan Mountain - a 14,000 foot (4,267 meters) craggy peak with surrounding red rock bluffs and cliffs.
- 11:30am- Hike to base camp and eat packed lunch
- 12:30pm-Set up tents and camp
- 2:00pm - From the base camp, day hike to tall mountain past red rock formations for a great view of the valley. We will not be summiting the mountain itself but a nearby peak.
- 5:00pm- Cook dinner
- 6:00pm - Eat dinner
- 7:00pm - Clean dinner
- 7:30pm - Watch the stars and talk about history and stories of the area as well as the nomadic culture around us and it’s dependence on the yak.
- 9:30pm - Sleep in tents overlooking beautiful red rock formations.
Day 3 → Kanbula National Park and Tibetan Homestay
- 8:00am - Start breakfast
- 8:30am - Eat breakfast
- 9:00am - Break camp and pack up and hike down
- 10:30am - Drive 1.5 hours to Kanbula National Park and the gorgeous red rock formations in the park (it is like a mini-Grand Canyon)
- 1:00pm - Go see Namzong Nunnery inside the park
- 3:00pm - Do short day hikes to viewpoints and pagodas and see a small Tibetan farmer village
- 4:30pm - In the afternoon, drive to Homestay
- 6:30pm - Arrive in Homestay in Kanbula National Park, eat with our homestay hosts
- 8:00pm - Debrief day
- 9:00pm - Sleep in Tibetan Homestay with an excellent view of the National Park
Day 4 → Rebkong Monastery and hike
- 8:30am - Eat breakfast in homestay in Kanbula National Park, a relaxing morning to take a short hike around the park
- 9:30am - Drive 2 hours to Rebkong
- 12:30pm - Eat lunch in town including some freshly made yak yoghurt
- 1:30pm - In the afternoon, explore the labyrinthine alleys of the monastery to find out what life as a monk is really like. Then hike above the Rebkong Longwu Monastery for an excellent view of the town.
- 4:30 pm - Clean up at hotel in Rebkong
- 6:00pm - Final closing dinner. Final debriefs
- 7:00pm- Possible Buddhist monk debates in the monastery courtyard
- 8:30pm- Sleep in hotel in Rebkong
Day 5 → Fly out of XNN in the mid morning or later
In the morning, we will eat breakfast in Rebkong then drive 2.5 hours to Xining.
Return to Xining and depart Xining XNN airport back to Beijing in at 4:00pm or later
