Arrive in Lijiang City and visit Lijiang Ancient Town.
--Lijiang Ancient Town is a largely Naxi settlement first built 800years agao, located at the foot of the Lion Hill and completely surrounded by the new city of Lijiang.In December 1986, the State Council designated it a famous ancient historical and cultural city of national caliber. In 1997, UNESCO made Lijiang a World Cultural Heritage Site. Most of the dwellings, scattered at the foot of a mountain or by the river, are brick-and-tile structures with carved doors and painted windows. Traffic across the river is facilitated by a large number of tiny stone bridges. The town is similar to the Zhouzhuang Water Town in the south of the Yangtze River.

From Lijiang, you'll drive about 60KM to the First Bend on the Yangtze River with imposing gorge scenery, and the Iron Chain Bridge in the Stone Drum town. The town of Stone Drum got its name from a large, cylindrical, marble tablet shaped like a drum. The scenery is magnificent as the road running through the Lijiang valley which is filled with wheat fields and drying haystacks. You will have an experience of the floating from the First Bend of the Yangtze River to Longpan Town, after one hour floating, meet the driver and trasfer to Tiger Leaping Gorge.
 
 
 
Visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge, the deepest gorge in the world. With 34 rapids of the Yangtze River, it is called the Jinsha in this area because you can find gold in the river. Afternoon, you'll head for Shangri La, the former Zhongdian which is welknown as the paradise destination for every tourist. Upon arrival in Shangri La, you will have entered the Tibetan cultural area and a landscape of barley fields and yaks scattered in the valleys. Walk around Dukezong Ancient Town, an important town of the Ancient Tea-horse Trade Caravan from Yunnan to Tibet and India.
 
 
 
-- Tiger Leaping Gorge is on the Jinsha River of the upper reaches of the Yangtze, located 105 kilometers south of Shangrila County. The gorge is 17 kilometers long with a drop of 213 meters. Tiger Leaping Gorge is divided into three sections: Upper, Middle and Lower Hutiao. At the narrowest spot the river is only 30 meters wide. The mouth of the gorge is 1,800 meters above sea level. The river is flanked by Yulong and Haba snow mountains, with a height difference of 3,900 meters. It is one of the deepest gorges in the world.

The trip kicks off from Zhongdian (3344m) - now optimistically renamed Shangri-La - home of the grand(iose?) Songzanlin monastery. This sprawling and, in historical terms, very key monastery was commissioned in 17c by DL5, and was the central monastery in the Gelukpa order’s south-eastern expansion. Since the retreat of the Tibetans from the Lijiang area in the 19c, Zhongdian (Tib. Gyalthang) has pretty much marked the south-eastern border of Kham Tibet in Yunnan. Up until a few yeas ago, it had the rough reputation of a classic frontier town - but now things have calmed down, and its markets and the old town make for a fruitful stroll.
 Leaving Zhongdian, after 2 hours trail reaches low-lying Benzilan (2240m), on the banks of the Yangtze, facing Sichuan on the opposite side. A Tibetan village, for centuries another important stop on the old trading route into Tibet. Makes for a good lunch stop/tea break. Between here and Deqin are a few monasteries, including Waterside monastery, Dongzhulin and Shusong nunnery (a much rarer animal indeed). The last two are both sub-monasteries of the huge Songzanlin in Zhongdian. The road climbs to heights of 4500m+, skirting the edge of the Baima Nature Reserve, before reaching Deqin (3480m) - the last stop before the TAR. It’s worth a walk around, and a fantastic hot pot to be had here. Or can by-pass the bright lights of Deqin and head 10 km further out to Feilai, the nearest viewing point from Deqin for the Meili snow mountain range. Once the site was marked by just a lot of prayer flag-covered ch?rtens and a little shop across the street; these days there are a few guesthouses and restaurants catering to those who want the possibility of waking up to a snow-covered mountain vista.
After 2 hours trail reaches Benzilan, on the banks of the Yangtze, facing Sichuan on the opposite side. A Tibetan village, for centuries another important stop on the old trading route into Tibet. Makes for a good lunch stop/tea break. Between here and Deqin are a few monasteries, including Waterside monastery, Dongzhulin monastery and Shusong nunnery (a much rarer animal indeed). The last two are both sub-monasteries of the huge Songzanlin in Zhongdian. The road climbs to heights of 4500m+, skirting the edge of the Baima Nature Reserve, before reaching Deqin (3480m), the last large town before the TAR. It’s worth a walk around, and a fantastic hot pot to be had here. Or can by-pass the bright lights of Deqin and head 10 km further out to Feilai, the nearest viewing point from Deqin for the Meili snow mountain range. Once the site was marked by just a lot of prayer flag-covered ch?rtens and a little shop across the street; these days there are a few guesthouses and restaurants catering to those who want the possibility of waking up to a snow-covered mountain vista. 

Try to get up early in the morning, drive 10km to Feilai Monastery to view the magic sunrise of Meili Snow Mountain. Then drive another 1.5-hyour to Mingyong village, where you will walk on the trails for about 4km to the bottom of Mingyong Glaciers, walk another one hour or so, you will get to Tibetan Taizi Monastery-another good spot to view the magnificent Mingyong Glaciers. (You can choose to hire a horse to go up to the glacier on your own expense in order to save your energy.) After the tour, get back to Deqin County.
 If you are lucky enough to have a good weather, you could see the golden snow-covered Kawagebo peak (6,740m, the Peak of Mt. Meili. Then you travel along the north of Mekong River valley into Tibet. Once into Tibet, your first stop will be in the town of Yanjing, which was once the main source of salt for half of the Kham Tibetan area, which ranged from northwestern Sichuan down into Yunnan.
You will visit to the salt fields, followed by a stop at the hot springs, where each of us could pick your own natural hot bath overlooking the Mekong. Certainly the best way to relax your body for the adventure ahead!

You cross two high passes in this section of the drive, one at around 3,900 m(12,795 ft), the other is Dongdashan Mountain Pass at 5,008 m(16,430 ft).
Driving past local Tibetan houses scattered round the feet of snow-capped peaks, the expressions on innocent Tibetan girls would make you realize that you are one of the first foreign visitors to this isolated region.
 
From Yanjing:
Honglashan Mountain Nature Reserve
Honglashan Mountain（红拉山） Pass (4220M);
Mangkang County
Lawushan Mountain（拉乌山） Pass (4293M)
Cross Lancang-Mekong River from Zhuka Bridge,
Juebashan Mountain（觉巴山） Pass (3900M)
Dongdalashan(东达山） Mountain Pass (5008M)

You will drive along the deep valleys of the Nu River (the Salween River), which is a long and tough journey, but your destination, the Ranwu Lake, is another Shangri-la, stay in the tent beside the Lake.
Drive 35KM to the old Zuogong, then drive along the Yuqu River to Kuatiantuo Bridge, continue the driving along Yuqu River to Bangda Grassland and Yelashan Mountain(业拉山）at 4828M. Cross the Nujiang-Salween River,you will visit the Hengduan Mountain Ranges and arriv eat Basu County. After lunch, continue the driving to Yuqu River and arrive in Anjiula（安久拉山） Mountain (4468M), arrive at Ranwu Lake in the late afternoon.

A rare morning which involves no driving! You have two options available: for those interested in a half day hike, your photographer/guide would take you onto a scenic half day hike; while those who'd rather opt for a half day of retreat would find this place ideal for relaxing, writing your travel notes and washing off the dust accumulated in the journey so far.
A drive of 129km would take us about 5 hours to Bomi, stay in the guesthouse.You will wander along the Poto-chu Valley at Tramog (2,743 m/8999 ft), located deep in the thickly forested gorge of Parlung Tsangpo with glacial waterfalls streaming from the mountainsides.You will go down several hundred meters in altitude as you reach the lowland jungle settlement of Tang-me where the Tsangpo and Parlung Tsangpo rivers meet. Stay in a guesthouse in Bomi.

Drive across Serkhyem La Pass (4,515 m/14813 ft), the last major pass before reaching Lhasa, you will have spectacular views of Mount Gyala Pelri (7,150 m/23458 ft) and Mount Namchak Barwa (7,756 m/25446 ft). On the way to Nyingchi, you pass through Bayi, originally a military base, which has now become the capital of Nyingchi District.
 North of Bayi, Bajie village lies on the edge of a primary dense forest with sacred cypress trees which are more than two thousand and five hundred years old. Around May, you would be able to see three to five-meter rhododendrons in full bloom. Stay in a 3 star hotel in Bayi.

Visit Basongtso and Tsozogongba Monasteries. Stay in the hotel beside Basongtso lake.

Drive from Gongbu Jiangda County to Lhasa City, visit Taizhao Ancient Town(太昭古城) and Bangjietang Grassland(邦杰唐草原). Drive along the Niyang River (the tributary of Yalung Zangpo River) to the Milashan (米拉山) Mountain Pass at 5013M. Arrive in Riduo Town which is famous for the largest hot spring resort in Tibet. Arrive in Lhasa City in the afternoon and be free to explore Lhasa City by your own.
--Lhasa, the capital of China's Tibet Autonomous Region, has a history of more than 1,300 years. It is the political, economic, cultural and transportation center of the region. With a population of 400,000, Lhasa covers an area of 30,000 square km, in which the downtown covers 544 square km and holds a population of 140,000. Tibetan ethnic group makes up 87 percent of the total population; the rest consists of Han, Hui and other ethnic groups.

On this second day morning you will take an easy visit to Jokhang Temple. This temple is the most revered shrine in all of Tibet and is constantly bustling with devout worshippers. You will also be given the opportunity to shop in Barkor, the crowded central market of Lhasa. In the afternoon you will visit is Sera Monastery, a fifteenth century sprawl of golden roofs and whitewashed walls. This well preserved monastery is located just a few miles North of Lhasa and is home to several hundred monks. Its famous debating activities are happening 3-4pm quite regularly every day, so remind your guide not to miss it.
At last a trip to Tibet would not be complete without experiencing the vital Potala Palace. This palace is Lhasa's cardinal landmark and is a wonder of Eastern architecture. Your first site of this massive structure will be a magical moment remembered for years to come. It has been a palace since the fifth or sixth century and was once home to the Dalai Lama.

You will visit Norbulingka Palace, situated in the west side of Lhasa is just around a km southwest of Potala Palace. Norbulingka meaning 'Treasure Park' covers an area of around 360000 sq. m. and is considered to be the biggest man made garden in Tibet. You will be amazed to know that there are more than 370 rooms inside its premises. It is called summer palace because after the 7th Lama, Dalai Lamas used to visit here during summers to hold religious and government related activities.
As a part of "Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace", UNESCO added Norbulingka in its list of world heritage sites.Then you will visit Sera Monastery, founded in 1419, at its height, Sera monastery was residence to more than 5,000 monks and five monastic colleges. Although much less active now, with only several hundred monks currently in residence, one of the most interesting times to visit the monastery is in the afternoon when monks, after finishing their morning scripture classes, can be seen debating in the courtyard.
 
This truly amazing day will ended with a visit to the Drepung Monastery. Once the world's largest monastery, housing 10,000 monks, Drepung monastery lies hidden in rocky ridges just beyond the city. Surprisingly much of the building was left untouched throughout so many hundreds of years.

Heading north away from the delights of Lhasa to delights unknown, at the truck-stop town of Dangxiong make a detour north-west, passing the Jangra gompa (Gelukpa) set high above the road, and crossing Lhachen La (5150) before eventually reaching the town of Tashidor - the hermitage caves here are rumoured to have been used by Guru Rinpoche and his consort, and are still used today by Nyingmapa and Kagyüpa devotees - on the shores of Namtso Chukmo (Namu Cuo), Tibet’s biggest lake (4718m), with clear views of the Niangqian Tanghula mountain (7162m) - considered the son of the lake - in a wide open grassland. Held very sacred by Tibetans, every year thousands of pilgrims come to do a kora around its perimeter. For bird lovers, there’s a nearby bird sanctuary.

Visit Namtso Lake in the morning, drive to Naqu.

Today’s drive crosses 3 major passes - Langlu La (4300m), Jakhyung La (4700m) and Shara La (4744m) - driving through the barren landscape of the Sok region. The county capital Suoxian is home to Tsanden gompa (Gelukpa), built by Mongols in the 17c. In the old Tibetan quarter is a 12c Nyingmapa temple, destroyed by the very same people who built the Gelukpa temple, though it’s since been restored. Another small stretch to Baqing, also host to a large horse festival, befitting its roots as the centre of the Horjyad nomads. 

Cross the major pass of Chak La (4502m) before the trail drops down to Rongbu, set at the base of the 6000m+ Pugyel Gangri snow range on the banks of a Salween tributary. Monasteries around town belong to the Nyingmapa and Gelukpa, a pattern common throughout this area. The trail then climbs up to the spectacular views of Shel La (4830m). With dusk closing in arrive the farming valley where Dingqing (3750m) straddles the river, the old Tibetan quarters on one side facing the new town on the other bank. A couple of B?n gompas in the area.

Today the trail leaves the barren plateau, passing through a gorge into forested landscape. Pass Zezhol gompa – the biggest B?n gompa in Kham. Just west of the county capital Leiwuqi (not much to see here, unless you’re a trucker), turn north to Riwoche (3600m), home to the famed Tsuklakhung gompa, founded 13c by the Taklung Kagyüpa sub-order. A huge affair that once was home to upwards of 2000 monks, it’s long captured the imaginations of hard core gompa stompers, but owing to red tape (in the way of permits) and bad roads, has long remained unseen by outsiders. In a remote valley here are the recently ‘discovered’ Riwoche Horse, possible a survivor from the Stone Age, just over a metre high.
Zizhu Monastery and Zizhu Mountain in Dingqing County,Chamdo.

The trail today is really getting off the beaten path, heading further into the unexplored areas near the Qinghai-Tibet border. A morning’s stretch to Chakzamka (Jiasangka) township where the Dzi-chu river is crossed, and then another hop to Chichu in Drukpa Kagyü country, located on the TAR-Qinghai border. 
From here to Treltsa the trail crosses three 4000m+ passes, before arriving in the little market town of Nangqian, capital of this area, set alongside the upper Mekong. 

A long day on the road, seeing some fantastic out-of-the-way sites in route to the hopping city of Yushu. Rather than heading due north for Qinghai, instead veer east along a rough road, crossing the nail-biting Yigu La (5000m) before descending to the Tsi-chu river valley to reach the remote 15c Surmang Namgyal-tse, largest of the Surmang gompas with upwards of 700 monks based here. It’s a major Karma Kagyüpa gompa, and suffered heavily at the hands of Gushri Khan’s Mongols, bent on converting the whole of Tibet to the Gelukpa school. Largely destroyed, over the years it’s being gradually renovated. Just north of Surmang Namgyal-tse, the road forks; take the eastern path to Dordu Gon (Sakyapa).
 
Shortly beyond this is a detour south to visit Surmang Dutsi-til, another 15c Karma Kagyüpa gompa with a long history, also heavily destroyed so but a shadow of its former self, it’s also undergoing reconstruction. Again hitting the road, now heading north towards Qinghai through landscape of deep valleys and high mountains, the road rises to cross Gela Pass into the drier landscape north of it, before reaching the site of the very old (14c) Benchen gompa (Karma Kagyüpa), which has also recently undergone renovation. About half an hour before Yushu is Wencheng Temple.

A day to rest up in Yushu (3700m) - providing the roads just travelled haven’t used it up!. The biggest town in these parts, there’s plenty of street life to entertain oneself, and even a few internet cafes. Jyekundo gompa (Sakyapa) sits on a hill behind town. 

Leaving Yushu, the trail soon leaves the gorge country of Kham, created by the 3 rivers – the Yangtze, the Mekong and the Salween – which flow off the plateau in close proximity. Shortly out of town is Gyanak Mani - a football field-sized pile of mani stones which must surely be the largest such mani dui from here to Lhasa. An early lunch in the tiny hamlet of Xiewu, with perhaps a visit to the Sakyapa gompa which overlooks town. 
 
The trail then is soon leaving Kham and crossing into the vast rolling plateaus of Amdo Tibet, birthplace of many of the DLs and an area strong in Mongol influence. It’s a great road dotted by yaks and the black-haired yak tents of the Golok nomads, amid vast rolling plateaus surrounded by distant mountains The road climbs steeply to Drubgyuling gompa, well worth a visit, with hundreds of young student lamas.
 
Sightings of the Asiatic wild ass (kiang) and the Tibetan Gazelle relatively common around here. The unmistakable profile of Machen Gangri (6282m) - the highest peak of the Amnye Machen (Magyel Pomra) range, held sacred by all schools of Tibetan Buddhism as well as by Golok nomads and followers of B?n - looming above the horizon signals the night's destination. The nearby town of Huashixia is a one-yak truck stop providing only the most basic of accommodation, so it might be more desirable to camp within sight of the solitary peak of Machen Gangri. 

An early start for the long haul north over the high grasslands to the major metropolis of Xining. A high remote road (generally over 4000m) through empty land populated only by the Golok people, offering vast views, small towns, and the ubiquitous Muslim Hui restaurant. Closer to Xining, can visit Kumbum gompa, famous and revered as the site where Tsongkhapa (founder of the Gelukpa order) was born.
 
Rather museum-like and touristy compared with what we’ve seen so far, it’s interesting for a visit if just to note the contrast. The city of Xining dates back to early Qing dynasty, when it was established to serve as imperial China’s administrative seat for this region. Today’s it’s still a major hub, and a place where comfortable beds and hot showers are in abundance. 

On a trail of this length, over roads like these, it’s advisable to allow an extra day for unforseeables, or simply to allow extra rest time.
Dongguan Grand Mosque in Xining City,Qinghai.