Includes all transportation within Tibet, meals and accommodations,
fees for guides and support staff.
Does not include airfare to Chengdu, China,
where we will begin our journey into Tibet.

Tour 1: June 19 to July 4, 2009
Our On-Location Plant Expert: Didier Roguet
Curator at the Conservatory and Botanical Gardens
Gneva, Switzerland

Tour 2: July 11 to July 26, 2009
Our On-Location Plant Expert: Steven King
Noted Ethnobotanist / Author / Explorer

Tour 3: August 5 to August 16, 2009
SOLD OUT

Painting of Lancea tibetica
from Mountains Near
Oh Szang Village (Aigaki, 2007)





The Dream of the Turquoise Bee Botanical Illustration Tour to Kham, Tibet affords a select group of 12-14 people the opportunity to travel to eastern Tibet, explore the rivers, meadows and high mountain passes for Tibetan flora—rare, endangered and common. Staying in traditional Tibetan tents, we will journey out each day to collect flowers, sketch and paint them, creating journals and notebooks of our exploration. When we tire of the glory of the meadows (is that possible?), we’ll visit Tibetan orphanages, monasteries and nunneries, temples and sacred sites, bathe in hot springs, shop for antiquities, go to traditional Tibetan dance festivals, and share meals with local Tibetan families. This journey is designed for far-sighted, self-reliant individuals with keen inquiring minds. At the same time, the tour is designed to be fun, relaxing and a travel partnership of joy for all who come along. We provide the options, you set your own pace. As such, the purpose of our journey is two-fold: 1) To allow you an unparalleled opportunity to travel into Tibet and explore the flora of this endangered expanse of nature; 2) To have unique experiences with local Tibetan people, seeing how their lives work, making life-long friends with people from this fascinating culture.

The Travelers on the Tour Will Spend Time With:

• Local Tibetan people; Families from Oh Szang Village will be our camp logistics coordinators and back-up for the journey, as well as our botanical exploration guides.

• Monks and nuns living at the spiritual centers in eastern Tibet.

• Artisans and craftspeople who work in leather, cloth, silver, gold and are master thangka (Tibetan spiritual paintings) painters.

The tour format includes Tibetan translators and guides at every step of the way, plus special invited guests at lunches and dinners, ensuring a personal and in depth experience for all travelers.

Our Primary Focus:
Flora exploration and collection, botanical sketching, painting and photography.

Additional Activities of Interest in All Areas We Visit:

• Cooking Classes: Tibetan cooking classes can be arranged for as few as three people, or if you wish you can help Khandro, our Tibetan cook in the tent camp, prepare lunch or dinner and learn while you hang out.

• Horse Back Riding: Those who wish can go by horse into the mountains and on longer treks to search for wildflowers and on pleasant day excursions

• Hot Springs: There is a number of hot springs in the area where we will be traveling. We will stop there for a break and for lunch and go to more establish Hot Springs Bath Houses for showers and relaxation.

• Meditation Walks: Join local Tibetans as they carry their prayer beads on morning or evening walks and circle the village stupas, and pilgrimage sites; a great way to start or finish your days in Tibet.

• Monasteries and Nunneries: Every community we are near has a major monastery and nunnery; those who wish can visit one or all of these sites of Tibetan Buddhism. The spiritual centers are hundreds of years old, and have in recent years been restored after destruction during the Chinese Cultural Revolution

• Shopping: Almost every village and town has a plethora of stores and individuals selling Tibetan antiques; prayer beads; purses; ivory and silver handled knives; jewelry; gorgeous silk cloth and brocades; silver; coral, turquoise and amber beads of all sizes; bronze and brass ladles, pots and pans, wooden and silver bowls, paintings, children’s clothing, etc.

• Festivals: We will try to coordinate wherever we are, s time at festivals and horse races, which occur on flexible schedules during the summer months.