Kazakhstan-China-Mongolia

Route: Kazakhstan-China-Mongolia
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Road trip from Central Asia to Mongolia via China.

View in Google Map: Kazakhstan-China-Mongolia

Duration: 26 Days

Highlights
Chinese history and religion, China’s capitals Beijing and Xi’an during several dynasties, The most famous and classic attractions such as the Great Wall and Terracotta Warriors, Several UNESCO world cultural and natural heritage sites, Megacities and remote areas of china, The History of the Communist Party of China and the History of the Red Army, Tibetan areas, Tibetan Culture and Art Center Area, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Learn about Uyghur history and culture, silk road(Starting points and important stops)…

Itinerary

Day 1: Horgos Port
The guide will wait for you at the china side of the border. Procedures for people and vehicles.
Today can’t stay in car or camping. Leave your vehicle at the Customs control department, driver
will come back tomorrow.
Overnight: Today can’t stay in car or camping.

Day 2: Horgos Port
We will finish the rest of the procedures Today. Obtain your temporary driver license and number plate.
Today can’t stay in car or camping.
Shopping opportunity: medicine, oxygen, car parts. You’d better prepare car parts that need to be
replaced in your own country, cause some can’t be bought in china, especially when there is no such vehicles in china.

Day 3: Horgos Port – Urumqi, 661km
Fruit Gully, Jieyou Princess Lavender Garden, Sayram Lake,

Day 4 : Urumqi
Visit : Tianshan Grand Canyon, Tianchi, Daban Cheng windmills, No.1 Glacier

Day 5 :Urumqi – Turpan, 200km

Visit: Kumtag Desert, Tuyugou Mazha Village, Grape Valley

Day 6: Turpan
Grape Valley, Ancient City of Gaochang, Ancient City of Jiaohe, Karez System, Flaming Mountain, Astana-Karakhoja Ancient Tombs, Aydingkol Lake, Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves, Desert Botanical Garden, Emin Minaret, Tuyugou Valley Mazha Village

Day 7: Turpan – Hami, 420km
Hami King’s Palace, Hami Museum

Day 8: Hami – Dunhuang, 420km
Mogao Grottoes are located in Dunhuang at the western end of the Hexi Corridor. Its excavation lasted about 1,000 years from the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms to the Yuan Dynasty, which is unique in Chinese grottoes. It is not only a brilliant art treasure house of ancient Chinese civilization, but also an important witness of the dialogue and exchanges between different civilizations that took place on the ancient Silk Road. There are 735 caves in Mogao Grottoes, more than 45,000 square meters of preserved murals, more than 2,400 painted sculptures, and 5 wooden eaves in Tang and Song Dynasties. It is a microcosm of the development and evolution of Chinese grotto art and enjoys a high historical status in grotto art. The paintings and sculptures of Buddha statues and the content of Buddhist scriptures in the caves are places for Buddhists to practice, view images and worship. The Dunhuang Grottoes are a three-dimensional art combining architecture, sculpture and murals. Mogao Grottoes are UNESCO World Heritage.

Day 9: Dunhuang – Jiayuguan, 400km
Jiayuguan Fort, Overhanging Great Wall

Day 10：Jiayuguan-Sunan-Qilian, 344km, 8 hours
Most of the time is off road.

Day 11：Qilian-Rebkong, 440km, 6 hours
Qilian, a County in the middle part of the Qilian Mountains, the average altitude of 3169m.

Day 12. Rebkong- Labrang Monastery, 110kms
Rebkong (Tongren) area is not yet a tourist-developed place, it is highly recommended to stay in this area for one night, people here including Tibetans and the various Muslim peoples are friendly and hospitable.
This area is definitely the center of Tibetan Buddhist culture and art. Rebkong(Tongren), then drive to Labrang monastery.

Day 13-14. Labrang Monastery-Xi’an,800km
Labrang Monastery was founded in 1709 by Ngagong Tsunde (E’angzongzhe in Chinese), the first-generation Jamyang (a line of reincarnated Rinpoches or living Buddhas ranking third in importance after the Dalai and Panchen lamas), from nearby Ganjia. The monastery is one of the six major Tibetan monasteries of the Gelugpa order (Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism). The others are Ganden, Sera and Drepung monasteries near Lhasa; Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse; and Kumbum Monastery outside Xining in Qinghai.

At its peak, Labrang housed nearly 4000 monks, but their ranks greatly declined during the Cultural Revolution. Modern Labrang is again such a popular destination for young disciples that numbers are currently capped at 1800 monks, with about 1600 currently in residence, drawn from Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Inner Mongolia.

Day 15. Xi’an
Xi’an used to be the political, economic and cultural center of China and the first city to open to the outside world. The famous Silk Road started from Xi’an; the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum, one of the “Eight Wonders of the World”, shows the city’s majestic and profound historical and cultural heritage. . The long historical and cultural accumulation makes Xi’an enjoy the reputation of “Natural History Museum”. The cultural relics are second to none in the country in terms of their variety, quantity, and value, and many of them are rare treasures that are unique in China and rare in the world.

Visits: Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shihuang, Shaanxi History Museum, Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Day 16. Xi’an-Hukou Waterfall-Yan’an, 450km
The Hukou Waterfall is the largest waterfall on the Yellow River, the second largest waterfall in China and the world’s largest yellow waterfall.

Day 17. Yan’an-Pingyao, 350km
To understand the history of the Communist Party of China, the Red Army, and the Long March of the Red Army, you must visit Yan’an.

Day 18. Pingyao Ancient Town-Mt. Wutai, 300km
The ancient city of Pingyao was the financial center of China in the late Qing Dynasty, and has the most complete ancient county layout in China. Pingyao is also the birthplace of China’s banking industry. It was appraised as world cultural heritage by UNESCO in 1997.

Day 19. Mt. Wutai
Mount Wutai is the only Buddhist monastery in China where Chinese Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism complement each other. It is said that Mount Wutai has 128 temples, and there are 47 existing temples in total. Among them, many temples were built by imperial decree, and many emperors came to pay homage. The famous ones are: Xiantong Temple, Tayuan Temple, Pusa Temple, Nanshan Temple, Dailuoding, Guangji Temple, Wanfo Pavilion, etc. Wutai Mountain has been officially included in the “World Heritage List”.

Nanshan Temple
Nanshan Temple was first built in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). The stone carvings and clay sculptures in the temple include Buddhist legends, Taoist allusions, and patterns of trees, flowers and plants, which are unique in Mount Wutai. Standing on the top floor of Youguo Temple, you can overlook the other four towers of Mount Wutai.

Xiantong Temple
Xiantong Temple is the largest and oldest temple in Wutai Mountain. It is the earliest temple in China along with the White Horse Temple in Luoyang. In the bell tower in front of Xiantong Temple, there is the largest bronze bell in Wutai Mountain – the Changming Bell. On the surface of the bell is engraved a Buddhist scripture in regular script with more than 10,000 characters.

Tayuan Temple
Inside the Tayuan Temple is the Dabai Pagoda, the landmark building of Mount Wutai. The tower is 56.4 meters high and the whole body is pure white. There are more than 200 copper bells hanging on the top of the tower, and the sound is crisp when the wind blows. The Sutra Pavilion is located on the north side of the Dabai Pagoda. It is a wooden structure building. There are more than 20,000 volumes of scriptures written in Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan.

Bodhisattva top
Bodhisattva Peak is the largest and most complete Tibetan Buddhist temple in Wutai Mountain. It is the main site of the Yellow Sect Dharma Association from the fourth to the fifteenth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar every year. During this time, you can see the grand occasion of lamas “suppressing demons” when climbing the mountain. . Because the emperors of all dynasties have visited the top of the Bodhisattva, there are many steles and plaques inscribed by the imperial pen in the temple. In the hall and backyard of the east courtyard, there are two white marble steles with four prisms. The four sides of the stele are engraved with inscriptions written in four languages: Han, Mongolian, Manchu and Tibetan, all of which were handwritten by Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty.

Day 20. Mount Wutai-Yingxian Wooden Pagoda-Hanging Temple, 260km
Yingxian Wooden Pagoda: It is the oldest and tallest wooden pagoda in China. It is impossible to verify the exact date of its construction, but it can be confirmed from its architectural style and related cultural relics that it was built in the Liao Dynasty and was repaired many times in the Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. The tower has experienced several major earthquakes and was shelled in a warlord melee in 1926, but the tower never fell. The tower is 67.31 meters high, and the main structure is all wooden. The tower body has five floors, of which the first to fourth floors each have a dark layer as the base of the upper layer, and the top of the tower is made of iron. Tasha. There are statues of Buddha in the inner tank of each tower room, among which a 10-meter-high Sakyamuni statue is placed in the inner tank of the first floor, and murals are painted on the inner wall. Due to the complex structure of the wooden pagoda in Yingxian County, there are 54 different types of bucket arches in the whole pagoda. The maintenance plan of the pagoda has been in a state of controversy since the 1970s, and it was not until 2013 that the relevant plan was finally determined.

Day 21. The Hanging Temple in Hunyuan County-Datong, 80km
The Hanging Temple: This Temple is a temple integrating Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The temple was first built during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-535), and the existing buildings were rebuilt during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The entire temple is built on the hillside of Cuifeng Mountain, relying on 27 wooden beams to support all the main buildings of the temple. From a distance, it looks like it is suspended in the air, so it is called Xuankong Temple.

Day 22. Datong-Beijing, 340km
Yungang Grottoes: Located in the western suburbs of Datong City, Shanxi Province, China, the Yungang Grottoes were mainly built between the second year of Xing’an (453) and the nineteenth year of Taihe (495) in the Northern Wei Dynasty. It is the first large-scale grotto in China that was excavated by royal dignitaries. The whole cave group is divided into east, middle and west parts. There are more than 1,100 large and small Buddha squats and more than 51,000 large and small Buddha statues. The largest Buddha statue is 17 meters high, and the smallest Buddha statue is only 2 centimeters high. The largest grotto is Cave 6 (excavated by Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty), which is 20 meters high from the ground to the top of the grotto.

Huayan Temple: Located in the ancient city of Datong. It is the most complete preserved Liao Dynasty temple. There are still monks practicing in the temple.

Shanhua Temple: Located in Xiaonan Street, Datong, it was built in the Tang Dynasty. It was called Kaiyuan Temple during Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, it was renamed Dapuen Temple during the Later Jin Dynasty of the Five Dynasties, and it was renamed Shanhua Temple in the tenth year of Ming Zhengtong. It is the largest and most complete Liao and Jin style temple in China. The only colorful glazed five-dragon wall in Datong is preserved in the temple.

Day 23. Beijing
The Forbidden City: The Forbidden City in Beijing is the palace of 24 emperors in the Ming and Qing dynasties of China. It is also the best place to learn about ancient Chinese architecture, history and culture. Learn about China’s long cultural traditions here, and as the largest and most complete ancient building complex in the world, its plane layout, three-dimensional effect, and majestic form can be said to be rare in ancient times, and it is therefore recognized by the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Cultural Affairs Bureau. Organization listed as “World Cultural Heritage”. Some palaces in the Forbidden City have also set up comprehensive historical art galleries, painting galleries, classified ceramics galleries, the Four Treasures of the Study Hall, and Qing Dynasty court regulations and cultural relics exhibitions, etc., with a large collection of ancient art treasures. It is not to be missed. The Forbidden City is the palace that witnessed the grand ceremonies held in ancient times, and the place where the emperors and empresses lived. The Forbidden City houses a large number of precious cultural relics, accounting for one-sixth of the total number of cultural relics in China.

We will visit Tiananmen Square and Jingshan park together with forbidden city.

The Temple of Heaven: It is famous all over the world for its rigorous architectural layout, unique architectural structure and magnificent architectural decoration. Visit the places where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties offered sacrifices to the heavens and prayed for a good harvest, and feel the majesty of ancient royal buildings. Cross the Danbi Bridge, a corridor running from north to south, explore the Circular Mound Altar and Huangqiongyu in the south, and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest and Huanggan Hall in the north. Witness the echo wall, three-tone stone, dialogue stone, etc. built using acoustic principles, and understand the advanced level of ancient Chinese architectural craftsmanship.

Day 24. Great Wall of China-Ulanqab, 300km

Day 25. Ulanqab -Erenhot, 340km

Day 26. Erenhot-Mongolia