You will see some distinctive scenic landscapes, reach the remote Buddhist retreat sites, talk to an amazing group of local Tibetans and taste local Tibetan, Hui, and Chinese cuisines. The highlight of the trip, (the plateau landscapes always offer the striking beauty of nature!) is kayaking in the plateau rivers, which will be so exciting and a long-lasting memory for sure.
This is a week trip combining with 2-day kayaking and one-night camping, taking places in Qinghai and Gansu provinces of western China. This trip will start from Xining, the capital of Qinghai province, and end at Lanzhou airport of Gansu province.
The second highlight — what we would like you to take away, is the meeting of the people here. We will introduce you to the artists, environmentalists and Buddhist monks whose life stories, their current works, and daily practices will be as amazing. Talking and sharing views with them, we believe, is a “thought kayaking”!
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Travel is an emotional experience, cherishing new corners and venture into unknown landscapes. Respecting this and giving back to society has taken an important role in our endeavours in leaving only footprints and taking only memories. ATRAILS committed to improving the conditions of communities we encounter on our journeys whilst safeguarding and protecting nature and wildlife
Gansu, Qinghai
Day 1
ARRIVE IN XINING
Arrive in Xining. Meet with your local team at the Xining Caojiapo airport. Drive 30 minutes to your hotel at the center of the old city. In the afternoon, we will take a short city tour to visit the Dongguan Mosque, the oldest in the northwestern region of China, and explore the Hui Muslim food market. Welcome dinner at Blue Barley Tibetan restaurant.
Food
-/-/D
Accommodation
3-star hotel
Day 2
XINING
The breakfast at your hotel starts from 6.30 at the hotel. Meet with our team at the hotel lobby at 8.30 am with all your luggage. Check out and drive toward Rebkong via Khamra National Park. It is one hour and a half of scenic driving. We will stop for a short break at the top of Gongkar pass (3800m), then continue driving southward and entering the Yellow River Canyon before arriving at Trika (Chin: Guide). Guide is located by the Yellow River and where the color of the river is still clear and blue. Stop in the town for quick shopping for our picnic lunch, and drive another 40 minutes, we will finally arrive at the heart of the Khamra National Park, covered by the forests and known for its red-rock mountains. There are 7 Tibetan villages in the mountains surrounded by fields of barley, wheat, and rapeseed. After a nice picnic lunch, we will walk to the Namzong nunnery and Namzong Tse hermitage site. There is quite a large community of Tibetan nuns, and the history goes back to 500 years. Our main activity is not just to visit the nunnery, but to hike up the top of Namzong Tse where you can get a great panoramic view of the entire park and the valley of the Yellow River. It is about 40 minutes of stair walk; a small Buddhist temple is built on the top. We will visit the temple and enjoy the view from Namzong Tse. Descend and meet with our driver. We will stop two times along the way of the exit. Another hour to drive through the Tibetan villages, fields, and along the river, we will arrive in Rebkong (Chin: Tong Ren). Check in your hotel and meet at the Dreamland Restaurant for dinner at 7.30 pm.
Food
B/L/D
Accommodation
3-star hotel
Day 3
Sogzong
Today, we will drive from the lower farming region to the high nomadic plateau to camp next to the nomad families. As usual, we will have our breakfast at the hotel and meet your team at the lobby at 8.30 am with all your luggage. We will drive through a couple of Tibetan villages and as your drive toward Sgozong (Chin: He Nan), you will see Rongwo Monastery is on your right hand. This grand monastery is the mother institute of 35 smaller monasteries sharing the same lineages and training in the region. After 40 mints drive, finally you will leave the bustling towns, villages, and fields behind, we will enter into the wildness of the Meshuk, a conjunction area with a thick plantation between the farming and herding lands, and a natural reserve for the Buddhist hermitages. Then you will start to see the nomads and yaks along the way as we ascend, we will stop a couple of times to stretch our legs and enjoy the fresh air. The average elevation now is above 3,000m/9,000 and the temperature is getting cooler, and the air is getting thinner. We still drive another hour to Tsekog town, a nomadic town, where we will stop for lunch. This is a small town, cold and windy even in the summer. After getting a simple lunch, we will move toward Sogzong, an area shared by the Mongolian and Tibetan nomads. The grasslands become wilder and greener. We will start to see Mongolian yurts. We will find a good resting spot on the rolling grassland. Our teams will prepare a coffee and tea set. Enjoy your coffee with the smell of the herbs of high altitude grassland. After the tea break, we will drive to our final destination Serlong, our campsite around 4.00 pm. Our team will start to set the tents and organizing sleeping tents. While we are preparing the dinner, you can take short walks near the campsite. You are also welcomed to join the team for dinner preparation. The dinner will be ready at 7.30 pm. Enjoy your dinner with great natural views and beautiful sunset.
Food
B/L/D
Accommodation
campsite
Day 4
Luchu river
Today is a special day of our week journey. The birds singing, sun shining, and our breakfast table is ready with coffee, tea, Yak yogurt, granular (local honey, barley, nuts, and dry fruits), bread, pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausages. While you enjoy the breakfast, the team will start to prepare for our kayaks. Our team will split into two groups. The logistic team will take care of your meals and camping. Your kayaking team will travel with you till the end of the two-day kayaking. You can leave your big luggage with cars and bring your personal items and daily backpack. We will start our kayaking at 9.30 am. Our morning destination is 27k on Luchu river. We will float through very beautiful and quiet mountains and grasslands. Stop for packed picnic lunch at 12.30 pm. Our team will check our kayaks. Start our second half of the journey on the Luchu river. Meet our team at 5.00 pm. Coffee and tea set is prepared, enjoy your rest of the day taking a short walk, reading, and hanging around. We will start preparing Dinner will be ready at 7.30 pm. Camp near the Luchu River.
Food
B/L/D
Accommodation
campsite
Day 5
Labrang
As usual, we will prepare breakfast for you and we will enjoy our last outdoor breakfast at 8,00am. You will repack all your luggage. Our logistics team will collect the tents and the rest of the camping and cooking equipment as well as your luggage. After two hours of kayaking on Luchu river, finally we will arrive at the borderline between Qinghai and Gansu provinces. We will meet with our logistic team and drive about 30 minutes to Luchu town for lunch. Then we will drive on the 213-national road to Labrang. This is scenic driving, and you will see breathtaking landscapes along the way. We make 1-2 stops at the selected spots. Arriving in Labrang in the early evening and check-in our hotel. You still have 1 to 2 hours to rest or explore the town. Overnight in Labrang.
Food
B/L/D
Accommodation
3-star hotel
Day 6
Labrang
This morning, we will have our breakfast at the hotel, then walk to Labrang monastery. One of the greatest monasteries for Tibetan Buddhism and traditional Tibetan studies. Labrang was founded in 1709 by the first Kunchan Rinpoche. After visiting this great monastery, we will explore the town and meet all for lunch at 12.30. After lunch, we will take our last hike around the monastery that is about 7km. We will stop on the hill behind the monastery to enjoy the panoramic view of the entire region. Continue another 3 kilometers to get back to the town. Free time on your own till dinner. Our dinner will be arranged at U-Tse Lingkha Tibetan restaurant, one of the most locally welcoming places in the town. Overnight in Labrang.
Food
B/L/D
Accommodation
3-star hotel
Day 7
DEPARTURE LANZHOU
Our hotel arranges our breakfast at 7.00 am. Meet all the at the lobby at 7.45 am. We will start to drive toward Lanzhou Airport. This is 3-4 hours long driving mostly on the highway. We will pass the Linxia Hui Muslim region. Grab a simple lunch at the airport. Flyback. Tour end.
Food
B/-/-
Travel is an emotional experience, cherishing new corners and venture into unknown landscapes.
Respecting this and giving back to society has taken an important role in our endeavours in leaving only footprints and taking only memories.
To Know More
Camping
Full camping equipment
3-star hotels
3-star hotels with daily breakfast, 24-hour hot shower, standard toilets
Tibetan homestay
Tibetan homestay in beautiful wooden structure and decorations, indoor toilets, clean water, and beddings, both traditional and modern beds available
Travel is an emotional experience, cherishing new corners and venture into unknown landscapes.
Respecting this and giving back to society has taken an important role in our endeavours in leaving only footprints and taking only memories.
To Know More
Create the experience of your dream with our travel experts
Make your own trailIncluded
- Private SUV with A/C and space for luggage
- Well experienced trilingual Tibetan tour leaders with more than 10 years of leading international clients.
- Accommodations with daily breakfast (shared room)
- Camping equipment (no sleeping bags)
- Food arrangements & during the trek
Not Included
- Ticket(s) for international and domestic flights
- Tips for services of local guides and drivers
- Entry fees and festival visiting fee
- Porterage at the airports and at hotels (in and out)
- Visa fee for China (if guests enter China twice, then a double-entry visa is required)
- Excess luggage surcharge
- Any personal expenses.
Payment and Cancellations
- Full payment is due 4 weeks prior to arrival. We reserve the right to release all services in case of payment default.
- Intermediate bank charges and fees are the responsibility of clients.
- CANCELLATION POLICY:Between 30 and 21 days prior to arrival : 20% of total amount/Between 20 and 7 days prior to arrival : 50% of total amount/Less than 7 days: 100% of total amount.
Important notes
Few important details to frame the experience:
- Region elevation & travel level ：moderate in physical challenge
- Elevation: 3,100m- 3,600m/6,600ft- 10,800ft
- The order of the visits is subject to modifications due to local conditions
- No reservations have been effected at the time of quotation
- As of 2020 Asian Trails has introduced a voluntary carbon offsetting initiative for our travellers to compensate for unavoidable emissions during their tours with us. Emissions during multi-day package tours (not including international flights to our destinations) are pegged at a cost of $1.50 per traveller per day. This amount is based on average daily emissions of travellers across our eight destinations. Contributions from clients to our carbon offsetting initiative will go into a destination-specific fund to support climate protection projects certified to Gold Standard in that country. Certification to Gold Standard assures that the projects supported through our carbon offsetting initiative not only reduce harmful emissions but also positively contribute to sustainable development. Our contributions to projects in a country will be relative to the CO2 emitted by our travelers in that destination. To know more about this project: https://marketplace.goldstandard.org/collections/projects/products/more-efficient-cooking-and-heating-china
Prepare for one lifetime experience.
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Kayak River Explorations
About your trip
RESERVATIONS
All tours and services can be booked directly with our office in China
A TRAILS CHINA / DAOCHENG
Beijing Office
Suite 810, SunFlower Tower
#37 Maizidian Street Chaoyang District, Chaoyang District
Beijing 100022, P.R. China
Tel: (86-10) 6515 9259
Fax: (86-10) 6515 9293
Email: info@atrails.cn
CONFIRMATIONS
All reservations are confirmed by return with the up-dated booking status within 2 working days. Due to occasional delays in communication with more remote destinations, it may take a few days longer to get confirmation.
RATES AND AVAILABILITY
All rates are quoted in RMB and are subject to change without prior notice. Inclusions and exclusions in the tour packages are indicated at the end of each itinerary. Commonly our package tour rates include accommodation, transfers, certain meals, and other tour related services. Domestic or international airfares are included where mentioned. Our tour itineraries do not include visa fees and expenses of a personal nature. The validity of our rates is November 01, 2018, until October 31, 2019, unless otherwise specified.
SERVICES
Local English speaking guides are accompanying tours and transfers in each destination. German, French, Italian, Spanish and Russian and Chinese speaking guides are available on request in major cities and subject to confirmation.
DELIVERY FEES
A delivery fee will be charged according to the distance traveled, if any train tickets are required to be delivered to clients’ hotel.
PAYMENT
Full pre-payment by bank transfer is required 30 days before the commencement of services.
Our bank account details are:
Bank Name: Bank of China Beijing JianGuoMen Wai Sub-Branch
开 户 行：中国银行北京建国门外支行
Account Name：ATC TRAVEL SERVICES (BEIJING) LTD.
账 户 名：北京道成国际旅行社有限公司
Account No.：3259 6908 9747
账 号：3259 6908 9747
Swiftcode : BKCH CN BJ 110
For itineraries operated outside China
Account Name：BEIJING GLORY INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL SERVICE CO, LTD.
账 户 名：北京千乘假期国际旅行社有限公司
Account No.：3211 6010 0100 1577 67
账号：3211 6010 0100 1577 67
Bank Name: Industrial Bank Co., Ltd Sanyuanqiao Sub-Branch
开 户 行：兴业银行三元桥支行
CHILD POLICY
For children aged between 2 and 11 years following rates will apply:
- Child in shared adults’ room with extra bed will pay 80% of the total package price
A maximum of two children per party is granted such a discount. Besides this general policy, specific conditions may apply case by case.
CANCELLATIONS
For cancellation of confirmed reservations, following general cancellation charges apply :
- Between 30 and 15 days prior to arrival : 20% of the total amount
- Between 15 and 7 days prior to arrival : 50% of the total amount
- Less than 7 days prior to arrival : 100% of the total amount.
Special conditions apply for cruises, beach resorts as well as for some of the boutique and landmark hotels. Expeditions and specific products may have different conditions.
Domestic and international air tickets are non-refundable once issued. You are obliged to pay full airfare (inclusive of any tax and fuel surcharge) of any cancelled tickets based on the contract rate.
PROGRAM CHANGES
We reserve the right to re-arrange the order of any tour program, to cancel or substitute elements of any tour itinerary without notice, when local conditions require such changes. All itineraries depending on domestic flight confirmations are subject to changes.
Any increase in taxes or fuel surcharges imposed by the authorities will be advised as soon as we are informed of them, and they will be added to the invoice.
Flight and train details mentioned in our itineraries are for indicative purposes only.
CONFIDENTIALITY
This agreement, its contents and all related documentation sent over to the customer/tour operator are strictly confidential and must not be disclosed to any third parties.
COMPLAINTS AND IRREGULARITIES
We consider complaints as valuable feedback to improve service delivery levels. We request that service delivery failures or customer concerns, be reported during the customer’s stay, to one of our representatives. It is the aim of the company to solve any irregularity on the spot. The company reserves the right to refuse to take action on perceived irregularities submitted to the company 14 days after the customer returns back home.
FORCE MAJEURE
During the term of this agreement, neither party shall be in default of its obligations to the extent that its performance is delayed or prevented by causes beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to, acts of God, natural disasters, bankruptcy of a vendor, strikes and other labor disturbances, acts of war, or civil disturbances, or other equivalent or comparable events.
INDEMNITY
The client agrees to indemnify and to save A Trails – Daocheng from harm and against all damage or injury (including death) to property or person(s) resulting from intentional or negligent acts or omissions from their respective officers, employees, agents, contractor or subcontractor in connection with the performance of this agreement.
LEGAL NOTE
This agreement is governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of China (and/or applicable in relation to the country it is legally represented) for the time being in force and the parties agree to submit any dispute arising between the parties under this agreement to arbitration in accordance with the Arbitration Rules of the respectable Arbitration Institute, Office of the Judiciary applicable at the time of submission of the dispute to arbitration and the conduct of the arbitration thereof shall be under the auspices of the specific Arbitration Institute accordingly.
IMAGES
Images displayed on the website have a promotional intent only and are not necessarily reflecting the actual destinations and service conditions. These may belong to ATrails staff, customers, photographers we are collaborating with or retrieved from websites such as Pexel, Pixabay, Unsplash or Originoo. While trying to be the most accurate as possible, is agreed that those images do not necessarily depict the actual services promoted.
LIABILITY
We act as an intermediary between the concerned airlines, hotels, all transport operators and local tourist offices providing the services. The Company is therefore not responsible for any loss, injury or damage sustained by the tourists, including those occurring outside the touring programs. Additional expenses incurred due to delay, accidents, natural and disaster, political actions and unrest must be borne by the tourists. Programs and prices, services and conditions are based on those valid at the time of printing and are therefore subject to change without advance notice before or during the tour. Acknowledgment and confirmation of the above-mentioned conditions is active, once clients participate in one of the provided services via us. The itinerary of the excursion, package and/or tour cannot be altered or changed without prior permission from us. We cannot be held liable if you amend the excursion and its content in your brochures or give wrong descriptions to clients that are travelling.
IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING AUTONOMOUS REGIONS IN CHINA
The Company is not responsible for any last-minute closure of specific regions or tourism sites caused by decisions taken by local or national authorities to restrict access hereto. We will provide alternative itineraries where necessary and reduce cancellation fees to a minimum, however, such imposed closures are beyond our control and constitute a case of force majeure.
The areas concerned include but are not restricted to : The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Tibet Autonomous Region, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, minority regions in Qinghai and Gansu provinces.
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
Travel breaks down borders and brings people together: The nearly 900 million people who travel every year make the sector one of the biggest in the world, a major employer and a key element in the global economy. But this has its downside, too: increasing pollutant emissions from the tourist traffic, loss of coastlines and other landscapes through excessive building development and sexual exploitation of children are just some of the negative consequences of the growth in global tourist travel. In order to minimize the negative impacts and enhance the positive ones, our Corporate Responsibility Strategy focuses on four prime issues:
- We increase efforts to ensure that children and adolescents in tourist areas are protected against sexual exploitation, one of the worst forms of abuse of young people today.
- We promote fair working conditions and sensibly service provider partners to social and environmental concerns.
- The supply and saving of clean water is a further key issue.
- We develop our own projects to meet the growing threat posed by climate change. Indeed, helping counter the adverse effects of global warming is one of the biggest challenges faced by the world tourist.