Hikes, Workshops, and Tours

HAlf-Day

  • Tibetan Painting Workshop: a 4-hour introductory workshop on Tibetan household painting, including landscapes, flowers, animals, and people. With Tashi Repten, trained in Kham and Lhasa. 2 hours of drawing and 2 hours of painting. Y350 per person, 2-8 people
  • Nomad Life Workshop: A morning or evening workshop. Morning includes milking, dung collection, spinning, rope-making, complex braiding, and lunch. Evening workshops include tea, spinning, rope-making, complex braiding, and yak herding. 4 hours. Y150 per person, 2-6 people
  • Hike with Nomad Grandma: She will show you how to enjoy our area in a nomad way. Wonderful views of Gongka and Zhakra Peaks. Mushroom or flower hunting seasonally. 3 hours, 120 yuan per person, 2-6 people
  • Evening Wildlife Viewing: with possible viewing of raven’s nest, deer, steppe cats, badgers, marmots, wolves, wild boars, and foxes. We will do our best, but no guarantees! Nomad guide. 2 hours, with 1 hour walking. 100 yuan per person, 2-4 people
  • Morning Birdwatching: Himalayan griffons, lammergiers, black-necked cranes, Kessler’s thrush and many other song birds, with observant nomad guide. 1.5 hours, 90 yuan per person 2-4 people
  • Ice-sliding: Ice siding with nomad kids, high in the hills. Jan-Feb only, 2 hours. 50Y per person, 1-20 people
  • Half-Day Horse Ride: Nomad guided, 3 hour rides on the high plateau. Tibetan-style riding to high viewpoints. Y300 per person, 1-12 people (single +50 yuan)
  • Sauna: Finnish woodburning sauna. A great way to slow down and get comfortable. Evening before or after dinner is best. 1-2 hours, Y60, 2-12 people, staggered times.
  • Bike Ride: Take a short bike ride to nearby Balang Temple. Visit the temple and village, and ride back. 1-2 hour, Y80, 1-4 people, timing as you like.
  • Learn-to-Ride: 1-hour horse ride with experienced teachers. In the low valley nearby. 1 hour, 160 yuan per person, 1-16 people. Single price 250 yuan.
  • Gyergo Nunnery Visit: Gyergo Nunnery is a large religious village nearby. Learn about the images you will see in many temples, attend a chanting ceremony, learn local legends, visit the cave of the nunnery’s hermit founder, and visit a sky burial site. 4 hours. 200Y per person with Chinese-fluent nomad guide, 2-6 people. Car can be arranged, extra cost. English guide is Y360 per person.
  • Tibetan Jewelry Workshop: Jewelry in Tibet is not only a feast for the eyes, it also plays a crucial role in religious and social life. Teacher Zanta will bring to life the stories behind different ornaments, and explain how to distinguish fakes. Each participant will learn to make a simple knotted bracelet to bring home. Zanta’s unique jewelry designs have been recognized internationally as both innovative art and a continuation of fast disappearing folk culture. She’s had a solo art gallery exhibition in Boston, and is a recipient of a Smithsonian Folklife Center scholarship. Zanta’s life story is also an inspiration. Widowed young, she arrived in Beijing from her remote mountain village to eke out a living as a street peddler. Her dream was to send her young boy to school. Her son recently won a scholarship to study in the U.S. 2 hours. Y240 per person, 2-8 people. Y320 per person with English translation.
  • Cyanotype Photography Workshop: During this alternative photography workshop you’ll discover the joy of slowing down, observing your environment, and how to make amazing sun prints using one of the first photography techniques invented, cyanotype – also known as the blueprint. We take the time to collect plants and flowers for our images, paint designs and discuss composition, inviting Tibetan culture to be our inspiration. You’ll be encouraged to paint and draw on your finished cyanotype prints, or just leave them as they are. There are no rules. This workshop is highly recommended for anyone who wants to create in and with nature. Equipment  – To be advised. 2-3 hours, 220 yuan. Groups of 2-8.

*English translator available for Y260 per person extra, for all half-day events (except horse riding — see linked page.) People in single-night rooms receive 100yuan discount on non-included events.

FUll Day

  • Full-Day Horse Ride. Nomad guided, 6 hour ride on the high plateau. Tibetan-style riding to nomad camps, meditation caves, or temples. 6 hours, nomad guide. Y450-Y630 1-12 people
  • All-Day Hike with nomad guide: either exploring the high plateau, going to the high camps for lunch with nomad, or high ridge walk to Lhagang. 6-8 hours. Y180 per person, 2-8 people
  • 4WD trip to Meditation Cliff and High Lakes. 5 hours including car time and walking. Enjoy rock searching in old mines, a short walk to a hermitage, and a visit to 3 tiered lakes. A great way to spend time on the high plateau (4300 meters). Great birds and wildlife. Picnic lunch. Y400 pp 2 pax, Y280 pp 3+ pax.
  • All-Day Area Tour: Full-day tour to Bamei villages, birthplace of 11th Dalai Lama, and Gyergo Nunnery. Very delicious restaurant lunch in Bamei. Y360 pp 2 pax, Y240pp 3-4 pax. Includes car and nomad guide. Y760 pp 2 pax, Y520 pp 3-4 pax with experienced English translation and guide.
  • All-Day Temple Tour: To Gyergo Nunnery, Lhagang Monastery, and Balang Temple. With skilled English or Chinese speaking Tibetan guides. Recommended for people planning to travel across Tibetan areas, as we provide a basic understanding of Tibetan Buddhism, and images you will see in many temples.  Chinese-speaking guide: Y420 pp 2 pax, 280 pp 3-4 pax. English-speaking guide: Y730 pp 2 pax, 480 pp 3-4 pax. Lunch included for lodge guests.
  • Full day tour to Pukmu Cave (Female Pig Cave), which you must visit on your birth year, and good karma if you can get in the door. Y380 pp 2 pax, /Y1020 (English), groups up to 4. 3 hour drive each way.

Multi-Day

  • Cyanotype Photography Workshop, 2-4 days. During this alternative photography workshop you’ll discover the joy of slowing down, observing your environment, and how to make amazing sun prints using one of the first photography techniques invented, cyanotype – also known as the blueprint. We take the time to collect plants and flowers for our images, paint designs and discuss composition, inviting Tibetan culture to be our inspiration. You’ll be encouraged to paint and draw on your finished cyanotype prints, or just leave them as they are. There are no rules. This workshop is highly recommended for anyone who wants to create in and with nature. Can by done as a two-day only or continuous 4-day course. Taught in English by Jo Rankine. Equipment  – To be advised. 2 full days, 850 yuan. Groups of 2-8.