2008 Tibetan New Year 7 days Tour B

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 Tsetang/Zedang
Today's Activities: Trandruk Monastery, Yumbulagang Palace
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch
 
--Yumbulagang Palace:Towering at the summit of Mt. Tashitseri, the east bank of Yarlung River, Yumbulhakang is the first palace as well as one of the earliest construction in Tibet, therefore you could have a bird's eye view of the whole beautiful Yarlung Valley.

-- Changzhug Monastery:Changzhug Monastery is one of the earliest Buddhist Temples in Tibetan history Built in 641 A.D,it is said that King Songtsan Gampo established the temple to suppress the ogress in order to prosper his kingdom,and later it became the winter palace of the King and Princess Wencheng in Tsedang.It contains the precious relics the Pear Tangkha, which,2 meters in length,1.2 meters in breadth,is made of 29026 pears and different precious stone by Naidong during the reign of Pamodrupa Kingdom.

Day 6

Place & Transport: Tsetang/Zedang to Lhasa
Today's Activities: Samye Monastery
Meals: Breakfast, Chinese Lunch

-- Samye Monastery:Samye Monastery is located in Danang County,the north bank of Yarlung Tsampo River,38 km to Tsedang. This monastery was built in accordance of an aspiration of King Trisong Detsan and the construction was directed by the famous Indian Masters Padmasamabava and Shantarakshita.it is the oldest monastery in Tibet.

Day 7

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.