Sichuan Tibet Tour: STS02 Panda Base, Sanxindui Museum, Emeishan Leshan, Dazu Chongqing, Lhasa and Shigatse 12 days Tour

Visit The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in the morning. It is located in the northern suburb of Chengdu on Futou Hill about 10 km from downtown Chengdu. Giant pandas live in large naturalistic habitats, which help the visitor to understand how these animals live in the wild. The Research Base is one of the important centers in China for the captive conservation of giant pandas. After lunch, we drive 40km to visit Sanxindui Museum, it is situated in the northeastern part of the state-protected Sanxindui ruin by the bank of the Yazi Rive. Two large sacrificial pits were found in 1986 boast the most important archaeological finds on the Sanxindui Ruins for the past half century. The exposure of a large number of spectacular relics created a great sensation, making the Sanxindui site well known to the world.

Visit River-Viewing Pavilion Park (Wang Jiang Lou Gong yuan), it has more than 150 kinds of bamboo brought from all over Asia, and the lush bamboo forests provide plenty of shade in the summer. There is a four-story wooden ’river-viewing pavilion’ that was built in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in memory of Xue Tao, a Tang Dynasty poetess who often wrote about bamboo (thus bamboo is the park’s specialty). The pavilion overlooks the Jingjiang River. It is a good place for the local people to drink tea and play Taichi or Chinese Gongfu After lunch drive to Mt. Emeishan, enjoying countryside views of the Chuanxi Plain.on the way, visit Qianfoya (Then thousand Buddha Cave) in Jiajiang county. Continue drive to Mt. Emeishan .Upon arrive, visit Baoguosi temple—the largest temple at the foot of Mt. Emei and Fufusi temple.

Set off from the hotel at 7:00am by tour bus to the cable car station, where you will begin your ride to the the highest summit of Mt. Emei, the Golden summit. Have a look around the Golden summit including Huazang temple. After lunch, take the cable car down and take the bus to Wanniansi parking lot which is located halfway up Mt. Emei. Take another cable car to visit Wanniansi temple., return to hotel.

Drive half an hour to Leshan, board a tour boat have a panoramic view of the biggest carved Buddha statue in the world, with 71 meters tall and age of over 900 years. Then continue drive about 3 hours from Leshan to to Zigong. Visit the Dinosaur Museum. Established in the noted site of dinosaur fossils, Dashanpu, it is about 11 kilometers from the center of Zigong City. Together with the American National Dinosaur Park and the Canadian Dinosaur Park, it is one of the world’s three largest dinosaur museums. Then visit Zigong Salt-mining Museum. Zigong has a long-standing civilization as well as rich underground resources in China. The city is also called the ”Salt Capital” in the past because of its salt resources and production. The museum to show how people make salt in traditional way.

Set off from Zigong in early morning drive to Dazu, visit Dazu Grottoes in the morning. The Dazu Grottoes spread across more than 75 sites in the county, and contain over 50,000 stone sculptures carved from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The two major sites are Beishan (North Hill) and Baodingshan (Baoding Hill). Afterwards, we will drive to Chongqing (117km).

Fly to the roof of the world, Tibet is truly beyond your imagination. The blue sky, the highest mountain, lake and train, religious people, harmony between people and nature will give you a deep impression. Pickup and transfer to hotel in Lhasa . In order to acclimatize to the high altitude. No program will be arranged for the rest of the day

An extraordinary day of sightseeing shows the spectacular architecture at the world famous Potala Palace. Former home of the Dalai Lama, its massive 1000-room structure towers over this mountain city. The tour is followed by Jokhang Temple . Then visit famous Barkhor Market, where you can shop for rare Tibetan items.

Drive to Yangbacheng Hot spring 92km north of Lhasa, view the Northern Tibet grassland and NyanchengTanggula Snow Mountain on the way. Continue to Namutso lake, one of the three holiest lakes in Tibet, called “Heavenly lake”. Taking photo, yak riding lakeside, then back to Lhasa.

Yamdroktso(4441m), one of Tibet’s three holy lakes, is located 110km outside of Lhasa. It’s mostly mountain road, winding and bumpy, even thrilling somewhat. After about 3 1/2 hours’ driving, climbing over the snow pass of Kambala(5030m), the dazzling Yamdroktso just lies several hundred meters below the road, and in clear weather is a fabulous shade of deep turquoise. Far in the distance is the huge massif of Mt. Nojin Kangtsang(7191m).After down from the mountain, there’s about 30km road along lakeside, with barley fields on the other side of the road. Leaving Yamdroktso is as spectacular as arriving, since you’ll cross the 5045m Karola, with its awesome roadside views of the Nojin Kangtsang Glacier. With the Glacier scene still exciting you, after about 90km, you get to Gyantse. There stands the 35m-high famous Kumbum, packed with exquisite Tibetan sculpture and paintings, a stunning architectural wonder in Tibet. Just 4km to Gyantse, there’s the Pala Farmland which used to belong to the slave-owner family of Pala. The well-kept Farmland can bring the family’s luxurious life back to your eyes. This site deserves a quick visit of 30 minutes. Then you can leave the small town of Gyantse. With Gyantse just fades away from your sight, Shigatse becomes clearer cause it’s just 1 1/2 hours’ driving (98km).

Miles away from Shigatse, you can already see the gold tops of Tashilhunpo shinning under the sun. While Tashilhunpo’s magnificent outside leaves you gasp in admiration, the inside of this monastery introduces you more religious tranquility and sincerity. Just close Tashilhunpo is the Old Town of Shigatse, a great place to wander around: Nicely decorated Tibetan houses and interesting market and bazaar give you a vivid picture of local people’s life. Drive back Lhasa.

Airport drop off to Lhasa airport, Service end.