City:

Description:
Day 1 Kunming (1894 meters)

FRI Arrival in Kunming. Meet your guide at airport and transfer to hotel.The capital of Yunnan Province, Kunming is one of China's noted historical and cultural cities.The city is located in central Yunnan at the elevation of 1894 meters above sea level and is praised as the city of eternal spring.Rest of day at leisure.

Lunch and dinner at leisure.

Overnight at 4* Hotel.

Day 2 Kunming (B/L/-)

SAT Buffet breakfast at hotel.


Drive along the new express way to Stone Forest. Stone Forest is 75 kilometers from Kunming and is accessible by a bus ride of 70 minutes. The Stone forest belongs to the typical Karst geomorphology, it consists of innumerable bizarre-shaped ancient limestone cliffs and peaks created by wind and water erosion some 200 million years ago, and this area is praised as the " First Wonder Under Heaven".

Drive back to Kunming by the old road, visit a village en route.

Visit the Flower & Bird Market. Flower and Bird Market, along with old houses that are well kept in its immediate neighborhood, are now under Kunming's protection plan as the Old Town Quarter. Besides flowers and birds, the market offers also state of art samples of traditional Chinese arts, wooden sculptures, bronzeware, China knots, and more.

Lunch at local restaurant, dinner at leisure.

Overnight at 4* Hotel.

Day 3 Kunming to Dali (2100 meters) (B/L/-)
SUN Buffet breakfast at hotel.

Transfer to airport for morning flight Kunming/Dali (45 minutes).Standing against the Cangshan Mountains in the west and adjoining the Erhai Lake in the east, embraced by undulating hills around, Dali was the capital of Nanzhao and Dali Kingdom as early as 1,300 years ago. It is home to Bai minority.
Upon arrival in Dali, proceed to visit the Bai village Xizhou & Zhoucheng, the Three Pagodas, stroll in Dali old town.23 kilometers north of Dali, Xizhou village has a more mixed population and cosmopolitan background. It grew and flourished in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) along with the fortunes of Dali's renowned tea merchants that traded to Tibet. Family Yan's courtyard is a good example of traditional Bai houses. And each morning, villagers in Bai dresses gather in a small market to buy and sell their produce and daily wares.Zhoucheng rests below Yulong Peak and has achieved considerable wealth through its dynamic agriculture and diversified industries, the most famous among which is tie-dyed cloth.Standing in a way of a tripod on the outskirts of old town, the Three Pagodas were constructed in about 850 and 1050 following the model of the Small Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an. For centuries, they are considered landmark of the region.
Rest of day will be at leisure for your own discovery of old town Dali.The old town of weathered gray granite stands at 2,100 meters on a long, narrow rice plain between the Cangshan Mountains and the Erhai Lake, a natural configuration that seems specially designed for a good, bountiful life. Format of the old town is like a chessboard with four gates guarding in the directions of east, south, west and north, a design that was adopted by most towns in ancient China.

Lunch at local Chinese restaurant, dinner at leisure.

Overnight at 4* Hotel
Day 4 Dali to Lijiang (2500 meters) (B/L/-)
MON Breakfast at hotel.

In the morning, overland drive of 180 kilometers, or 3 hours, along the new highway to Lijiang.Visit Shaping Market on the way. Shaping Market is a local market on every Monday. The local people come to the market from surrounding villages to exchange their daily wares, farming products, traditional clothes, or simply foods and vegetables.
Upon arrival in Lijiang, check in the hotel. Afternoon free for your first visit of the old town.A gathering place of rugged mountain people with the Naxi forming the majority, Lijiang is a small mountain town of stone and tile, laced with swift canals, which was enlisted as an UNESCO World Cultural Heritage in 1999.
Old town of Lijiang is a big area with its center, or Si Fang Jie (Square Street) in the form of an official ink stone, hence its name Dayan (ink stone) Town. It enjoys a long history of over 800 years and unlike most of the old towns in China, there is no city walls due to a superstitious belief of the local ruler whose family name is Mu (tree), when encircled by walls, would be Kun (besieged). Wooden structures, mountains, small rivers and lanes integrate harmoniously in this mountain town.

Lunch at local Chinese restaurant, dinner at leisure.

Overnight at 4* Hotel

Day 5 Lijiang (B/L/-)
TUE Buffet breakfast at hotel.
In the morning, drive out to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountains.Visit the Yuhu Village, a simple village of Naxi minority with the former residence of Dr. Joseph Rock. Dr. Rock, an Austro-American botanist and explorer who lived here off and on from 1922-1949, is best remembered for the introduction of innumerable plant species to the West and his rigorous works on Naxi ethnology. Visit also the Baisha village with its frescos dating back to Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Lunch at local Chinese restaurant, dinner at leisure.

Overnight at 4* Hotel
Day 6 Lijiang (B/L/-)
WED Buffet breakfast at hotel.

In the morning visit the Black Dragon Pond with Dongba Research Institute. The Pond provides you the opportunity of taking great pictures of the crystal clear pond with backdrop of snow mountains in a distance.
Then we take a day excursion to the First Bend of the Yangzi River and the Tiger Leaping Gorge.The village of Stone Drum stands at the First Bend of the Yangzi River, some 70 kilometers west of Lijiang. Approaching to Stone Drum offers a dramatic view of the Yangzi's near-180-degree turn, where the wide, swift waters perform a miraculous about-face. For nearly 20 kilometers the river, first flowing south, then north, runs parallel to itself. Locals say if it were not for their village standing guard at the bend, China would lose the water of the Yangzi to Southeast Asia, like that of the adjacent Mekong and Salween Rivers.
The Tiger Leaping Gorge, or Hutiaoxia in Chinese, is the Yangzi's best-known gorge after the Three Gorges in Sichuan and Hubei. Wedged tightly between titanic cliffs, the river is so narrow here, as legend tells us, that a hunted tiger made his escape to the other side in a single bound. Here, the Jade Dragon Snow Mountains and the Haba Snow Mountains lean close to each other and a large volume of torrent moving between them cutting deeper and deeper into the bottom of the gorge. In some places there is a drop of 3,000 meters to the water.

Lunch at local Chinese restaurant, dinner at leisure.

Overnight at 4* hotel

Day 7 Lijiang to Kunming departure (B/-/-)
THU Buffet breakfast at hotel.
Transfer to airport for morning flight to Kunming, 45 minutes.Service ends.

Description of Price:
Price Includes:

Nov.01,2006 - Mar 31,2008
Operates Every Friday (in Kunming)

Basic Package P.P: Share Twin 650 USD, Single
Supp. 156 USD
Extra Night P.P: Twin/Single/Double 55 USD

Accommodation in sharing twin room at specified hotels with daily breakfast;
All lunch as mentioned in the program;
Sightseeing tour with local English-speaking guide;
All entrance fees + sightseeing as indicated;
All transfers and land transportation by private air-cond coach;
Airfares Kunming/Dali and Zhongdian/Kunming;
Domestic airport construction fees for flights Kunming/Dali and Zhongdian/Kunming.



Price Excludes:

Arrival flight to Kunming and airport tax;
Departure flight from Kunming and airport tax;
All dinners, other meals, drinks and personal expenses;
Tips to the guide and driver;
Any program other than mentioned in our program.

Note:
Extra service:

Transfer with private car and English-speaking guide in Kunming:

airport – hotel, one way: 10 USD per person;

airport – hotel – airport, round trip: 20 USD per person.

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