In our low season, we always travel to different Tibetan areas to survey the newest travel-service businesses available and to develop new itineraries. This time our development trip to Shangri-la was a success. We met local entrepreneurs and build relationships with them. We visited local restaurants, hotel owners and guides.
Both Kelsang Phuntsok and Tashi are young Tibetan entrepreneurs who are the owner of Kelsang Desti Youth Park hostel and Boddhi Inn. We were fortunate to meet and interview them. We also had a pleasant stay at Boddhi Inn for a few days. Their stories along with more information regarding their businesses can be found on our https://tibetpedia.com website.
We hope visitors can enjoy their services and hospitality in the future. Both of them embrace the Tibetan ideals of benefiting other sentient beings as a core principle of their behaviour. Exchanging ideas with them and sharing the experience of our work with each other was exciting! We look forward to working with them in the future.
We also visited Peima Dorjie, the local Tibetan owner of Songtsan Lodge. In 2001, he opened a small guesthouse and since then he has grown as an entrepreneur. In the past 15 years, he has built 6 boutique lodges throughout the Kham and Lhasa areas. All of the lodges are away from the tourist craze, in the most beautiful and peaceful locations. Yet the environment of his lodges enables guests to engage with the local community and culture.
All of the lodges are located within or near a local village and are built using the same architecture like that of the local village. Most of the staff is from the local community. The mission of the business is to protect local culture, work alongside locals, and benefit locals. We are so excited to take our clients to this beautiful and luxury Tibetan lodge in the future.
We had a chance to eat delicious food at two local, Tibetan-owned restaurants. Kelsang and Tashi are from Shangri-la. Both of them used to work as guides in Shangri-la, but now they provide authentic local food through the restaurants that they run. Their most popular menu item is the local Tibetan hot pot. We enjoyed its unique flavour which was very different from Sichuan’s famous hot pot. I am sure our visitors will enjoy their food!
Suonam and Tashi have been working in Shangri-la as guides for many years. Suonam gave us a wonderful tour of Songtsan monastery, explaining its detailed history and culture. Tashi took us to Tiger leaping gorge and he took care of us very well. We were encouraged and motivated by their passion and energy for introducing their culture and land to visitors. They always try their best to make their client feel happy and comfortable. They are considered two of the most experienced and knowledgeable guides in their area of Tibet. We hope to partner with them during more tours in the future.
Our development trip to Shangri-la was fulfilling. We returned home with new friends and a passion to bring more guests to these new places!
In September, we once again hosted 3 student groups from Leman International School (Chengdu). This year we added two more destinations to our student trip tour products: Shangri-la and Songpan.
This student trip was designed as a cultural and service tour. Our goal was to help the students to develop a sense of responsibility for community service along with an introduction to Tibetan culture, history and lifestyle. The students explored the old city together, visited Songzanlin Monastery, and made a trip to the Shambala Tibetan Cultural Museum. At the Thanka painting center, the students had a chance to try their hand at traditional Thangka painting and to learn about the history of Tibetan Buddhism.
One of the highlights was helping a local farmer pick potatoes. They prepared for the trip by fundraising in order to buy food for the Shangri La Orphanage. At the orphanage, they enjoyed playing, dancing and talking with the kids. This trip helped the students gain an appreciation for their own life and it developed in them a consciousness and eagerness to help others.
Grade 8-9 student trip to Amdo Tibetan area of Heishui was a rewarding trip. Our goal of the trip was to help the students develop their outdoor survival skills along with their knowledge of Tibetan culture and geography. The students thrived on the challenge of setting up camp for the first night and cooking their own food over the campfire.
They visited a local Tibetan Buddhist monastery, ate lunch with a local Tibetan family, and experienced the beauty of Heishui Glacier Park by taking a gondola to the base of the glacier at 4,800m. A particular highlight at the glacier park was snow, which some of the students had never seen before! While their bodies struggled to find oxygen at this elevation, they had a lot of fun making snowmen and throwing snowballs!
Grade 6-7 trip to Muni Valley was a huge success. Our goal was a fun adventure that exposed the students to new environments, ideas, and plenty of culture! Over four days the students visited the memorial museum of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, Taoping Qiang Village, Muni Tibetan valley, Zhaga waterfall, and Songpan old town. They enjoyed the unique cultural experience of staying at a local Tibetan family’s guest house, and they helped the family make a traditional dinner.
They also helped the family pick mushrooms and vegetables from a nearby mountain field. Experiencing such a different environment was stretching for some of the kids, but they quickly learned to adapt and appreciate a lifestyle that is more common than many of them realized. Along the way, they gained more awareness of the diversity of Sichuan’s local cultures as well!