Two days Shaman Festival Tours to Tongren

  • 2 Days, 1 Night

Date: The 6th to 16th day of the 6th lunar month every year

Every summer, the Shaman Festival is held in Rebkong, Amdo. Amdo is one of the three main regions of Tibet found in the northeast corner of the Tibetan Plateau. Amdo is home to approximately 25% of the total Tibetan population.

This important ceremony honors the local mountain god and requests that he bestows good health on the villagers and a successful harvest on the community. All of the local villagers participate in the ceremony: women dance, men beat drums, boys perform dramas, and girls show their traditional dress of the region. You would appreciate the varied and colourful festival activities in the celebration, with everyone dressed in colorful robes. The local mountain god is invited to join the ceremony, and shaman serves as his medium.

All the villages celebrate Shaman Festival independently and the holding time of the celebration is different in villages. Some of the activities is a bit bloody like Kai Shan (Cut forehead with knife) but not easy to see. Most of the activities are dancing and provides the dating chance for local young boys and girls.

 

 

Additional Info

  • LocationThailand
  • Duration4 Days
  • Min Age12+
  • Max People05
  • LandingThailand
  • Check In15/05/2019
  • Check Out15/06/2019
1

Day01 Xining-Tongren by private car

08:30am-11:00am Pick you up at the lobby of your hotel at 08:30am, drive to Tongren County (Repkong) via Qingshashan Mountain and Longwu Valley.

11:00am-16:00pm Spend you time in joining-in the Shaman Festival celebration activities in different villages by following our local guide’s instruction.

16:00pm-16:15pm Drive to your hotel in Tongren, check in and enjoy the leisure time on your own arrangement.

 Note: As there is no place to have lunch inside the field, so our driver would go and buy some simple lunch box for you from Tongren county. You just need to find a quiet corner to have it. Then continue to join-in the festival.

 

2

Day 02 Tongren-Xining by private car

09:00am-09:15am Depart from your hotel and drive to Regong Art Center.

09:15am-10:30am Observe the making of a Thangka painting at a local's home.

10:30am-11:00am Drive back to the village and attend the festival again

11:00am-15:00pm Continue to join in the celebration activities.

15:00pm-17:30pm Drive back to Xining city and continue to stay inside the hotel.

If you like, we can stop 1 hour at Longwu Monastery, with the entrance ticket of RMB60/per person. Longwu Monastery is one of the major monasteries in Amdo Tibet. First funded at the beginning of 14th Century and later in 17th century it became a Gelugpa monastery. A morning visit is better to this monastery. But if you are tired in attending the festival, we do suggest you to skip it and directly back to Xining.

 

Quotation: based on 2 persons traveling

US$390/per person with daily simple lunch box

 

Remark:

The price includes:

l  Private English speaking guide service

l  Private vehicle rental cost

l  One bottle of mineral water per person per day

l  One night accommodation in Tongren with breakfasts (local 4 star hotel)

l  Insurance

 The price excludes:

l  Accommodation in Xining with breakfasts

l  Entrance fee for attending the festival in different villages (It charged by the villagers'committee, and they change the price from year to year. Some villages charge, some not. Some village charge high, some charge low. Normally two villages would be visited during 2 days itinerary, the maximum is RMB200/per person per village, so RMB400 is enough for entrance)

l  Entrance fee of Longwu Monastery

l  The transportation cost to enter/leave Qinghai province

l Visa fee, passport application or renewal fee

l Tips for guides, escort, drives, bellboys, etc.

Suggested Tipping Standards:

US$60 for local guide

US$30 for local driver

l Lunch

l Personal expenses such as excess luggage fees, laundry, postage, communications and beverages, optional activities, dinner etc. are at your own expense.

Video

Traveling Tips:

Tongren can only be reached by a single road that zig-zags along steep mountain sides, descends into precipitous valley floors, skirts raging rivers and passes though undulating verdant grasslands. The journey for getting there is one of the most beautiful journeys in Qinghai Province. Make sure you stay awake on the way and keep looking out of the window.

l  Regong Art Center is closed for tourists in each Monday.

l The whole village's livelihood where the festival held is painting Thangkha and to sell them. The Thangkha with big size and small size and both of them with high price as it takes long time to complete the painting. The color used from natural materials on the painting they say the color will stay for over hundreds of years. The Thangkha painters were originally trained by a monk from the Thangkha Art Center for 5 years before they became painters. Many of the kids/students sent there are orphans.

l Please prepare some candies, sugar or chocolate before arrival, you can give some to lovely Tibetan children inside the village.

Get A Question!

I'm Janet, Consultant is at Your Service 24/7/365.

  • +86 139-7838-9069
  • janet@chinaadventurespecialist.com