General Information

Duration:

3 Days

Location Start:

Lijiang

Location Finish:

Zhongdian

Phone:

01273 322048

Fax:

01273 732 791

Payment Types:

• Cash
• Credit Card
• Cheque
• Travellers cheque
• Paypal
• Wire Transfer

We Speak:

English

Last updated: 03/12/2009

Itinerary

Day 1

Lijiang - Arrival in ZhongdianYou'll begin by travelling overland to Zhongdian which is a few hours drive away. During the drive you’ll pass through mountain passes and valleys. You’ll travel by bus and experience what it’s like to travel by public transport through China. At times your sitting space may be limited; however you’ll be sitting in between locals and enjoying cheerful- albeit mostly unintelligible- music.

After about 6 hours you’ll reach Zhongdian, which thanks to a Chinese publicity stunt is also known as Shangri-La. You’ll be awaited by a driver and a guide and together you’ll drive on to the picturesque Tibetan countryside. You’ll spend the night with a local family in Napa village near Napa Lake. As you can imagine, you won’t stay in a luxurious accommodation. You'll have your own bedroom, however you’ll share the bathroom facilities with the family and more often then not there is no hot water. In the evening you’ll have dinner with the family.

Day 2

The following morning you’ll have breakfast with the family and then you’ll have time to go on a walk through the village or around the lake. There’s a temple and a school that you can visit. Children in this town receive education with a minimum of materials available to them. Around noon the time will come to say goodbye to your host family and the village and you’ll drive on another 30 minutes to Zhongdian.

You’ll be dropped off at a charming Tibetan style hotel in the historic part of the city. If you like, you can take a taxi cab to the three hundred year old Tibetan Ganden Sumtseling Gompa Monastery. The monastery is home to more than 300 monks and lies on the outskirts of Zhongdian in a magnificent natural environment. The monastery is the most important Tibetan complex in south-western China. After visiting the monastery you can go into the old town for a meal.

Day 3

Departure from Zhongdian Today this module will end and you’ll arrange your own transport to the Zhongdian airport. If you’d like to visit Tibet, there are two morning flights to Lhasa each day. You can also visit the karst mountains near Guilin (transfer in Kunming) with the Bamboo sailing through karst mountains module. If you like you can also travel back to Lijiang, perhaps to hike the Tiger Leaping Gorge, or travel to Dali by bus.

Extra Information

Inclusions -

Transfer Lijiang station, transport, accommodation, 1x dinner, 2x breakfast, English speaking guide in Zhongdian

Exclusions -

Other meals and drinks, entrance fee