| Three Beaches National Park, Gansu, China | |
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A Day Walks Guide (4-page A4 PDF) is now available which you can download, print out and bring with you to the retreat.
Guided day walks are now available between the retreat and small villages in and near the park.
These are guided by local villagers who have a good knowledge of the park and have keenly embraced this new opportunity as their isolated location and government restrictions introduced to protect the park have made it quite hard for them to make a living.
Basic accomodation is available at the villages which means that day hikers walking between the retreat and the villages won't have to carry much gear.
Day hikes (for groups of at least two peple) are allowed for intermediate hikers and overnight camping for experienced hikers.
Please bring your own equipment (only tents are available at the retreat) and make sure the retreat staff know of your plans and timelines.
The walks are mainly along the bottom of canyons, hence they are not too strenuous unless you want to take a short-cut over a mountain!
You can download a 1:100,000 topographical map (1MB, A3 size for ease of printing). This is a Russian map from the 1970's so its accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
You can swim in the retreat's swimming pool, the creek running through the retreat, the main river one kilometre from the retreat, or in a number of natural lakes which can be found further into the park.
Small-scale fishing is allowed in the main river where freshwater fish and crabs can be caught and prepared as your dinner by the resident chef! A fishing pool is currently being prepared to allow more fishing in an economically-sustainable fashion.
The park is extremely well-suited to mountain-biking as many tracks are along the bottom of canyons and based on single-lane four-wheel drive tracks. Please contact the retreat in advance if you want to hire mountain bikes.
Rafting in and near the national park has become a popular summer pastime for many local tourists.
The retreat staff can help you organize a day's rafting.
Campfires are allowed at the retreat (no felling trees allowed, only wood on the ground can be collected). Spend the evening roasting lamb kebabs and corn or making popcorn over a campfire next to the murmuring creek - the retreat staff can even teach you a Chinese song or two!
Day trips can be organized for visiting the breathtaking mountain Buddhist temples at Cheng Xian.
If you are heading west after visiting Three Beaches, catch a coach from Hui Xian Town to just before Tian Shui to see the Maiji Shan Buddhist caves, then take another coach changing at the Hui Muslim town of Ningxia for Xia He, the largest Buddhist monastery town outside of Tibet
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