|
Route: Kunming-Mangshi-Ruili-Lianghe-Tengchong-Dali-Lijiang-Kunming
Duration: 10 days/9 nights
Tips: The programs given on this webpage is only for reference; any tour program is subject to the contracts concluded by travel agents and their clients.
Day 01: Kunming Arrival
*Arrive in Kunming by air (your own tickets, flight details to be advised). After airport formalities, meet your guide and be transferred to hotel. Serving as the capital of Yunnan, Kunming is historically and culturally renowned throughout the country. It is the center of politics, economy, culture, science and technology in Yunnan. With an annual average temperature of 15 degrees Celsius, it is well known as the City of Eternal Spring without bitter cold in winter and intense heat in summer. Visit to Yunnan Provincial Museum.
*Dinner at leisure – on your own account
*Overnight in Kunming
Day 02: Kunming /Mangshi-Ruili
*In the morning, visit the Western Hill including the Dragon Gate and Hua Ting Temple.
The Western Hill is a range of 4 mountains stretching over 40 kilometers by the western shore of the Dianchi Lake. Its skyline resembles a Sleeping Beauty. It offers the best scenery and some of the finest temples in the entire region: the Dragon Gate, a grotto complex of rooms, sculptures, archway and tunnel chiseled along sheer cliff s by local stonemasons from 1781 to 1853. Hua Ting Temple, the biggest Buddhist complex in Kunming.
Transfer to Kunming Airport for afternoon flight Kunming-Mangshi [50 minutes].
Mangshi, formerly known as Luxi, capital of Dehong Dai & Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, is home to Dai and Jingpo minorities. Upon arrival, proceed to a ride of 100 kilometers (2.5 hours) to the border city of Ruili. This road is refurbished portion of the famed Burma Road.
Ruili is an interesting town in Southwest China. It’s just a few kilometers from Myanmar and has a real border-town feel. In the evening, we will take stroll in the city with stops to visit it night markets.
*Lunch en tour at local restaurant
*Overnight in Ruili
Day 03: Ruili-Lianghe-Tengchong
*In the morning, visit the Golden Duck Pagoda, and Hansha Temple.
The Golden Duck Pagoda is an attractive stupa set in a temple courtyard. It was established to mark the arrival of a pair of golden ducks that brought good fortune to what was previously an uninhabited marshland.
Hansha Temple is a fine wooden structure with a few resident monks. The surrounding Dai villages are interesting; then overland drive of 230 km (6 hours) via Lianghe to Tengchong.
En route, take stop to visit in Lianghe the Former Residence of Local Officer dating back to Ming and Qing Dynasty. The local officer was officially called Tusi in Chinese, title of local minority hereditary headman in minority regions during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. We will also visit Jingpo and Dai ethnic villages on the way.
*Lunch en route at local restaurant
*Overnight at hotel in Tengchong
Day 04: Tengchong
*Visit in and around Tengchong to the Volcano Park, Heshun Village and Hot Springs.
In the morning, take an excursion to visit the extinct Volcanoes at Mazhan Town. Tengchong is one of the main earthquake territories in China, having experienced 71 earthquakes measuring over five degrees on the Richter scale since 1500 AD. There are about 20 volcanoes and quite a few hot springs in the vicinity of the town. On the way back to Tengchong, visit the Heshun village and the Hot Springs.
Heshun Village, or the so-called Retirement Village, is famous for its overwhelming percentage of overseas Chinese. Heshun boasts the largest library in township-level in China, housing over 60,000 books. Bestowed by love of books and culture, the peasants here are so peaceful and courteous. The village is remarkable for its age-old houses, clean lava-paved lanes.
Hot springs are found on the outskirts of Tengchong. Rich in sulphur and other minerals, they are believed to be curable of certain diseases. Then, take a (guided) stroll in the old town including visit to the former British Consulate General Office back in 1920s which is now a warehouse of Tengchong County Foodstuff Bureau.
*Lunch en tour at local restaurant
*Overnight in Tengchong
Day 05: Tengchong-Dali
*Overland drive of 380 meters (6 hours) to Dali. En route, we will cross the Mekong River and the Salween River and visit the Ailao Museum in Baoshan City.
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 Kingdoms in the Tang and Song dynasties. It is home to the Bai ethnic minority.
Upon arrival in Dali, check in at hotel before visiting the Three Pagodas and taking a (guided) stroll in the old town of Dali.
The Three Pagodas in the north of Dali Old Town 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 Dali.
*Lunch en route at local restaurant
*Overnight at hotel in Dali
Day 06: Dali-Lijiang
*In the morning, drive to Caicun Village to take a small boat and have a cruise on the lake to Jinsuo Isle. Visit the Bai minority fishing village on the Isle with its colorful market. Then, proceed to overland drive of 180 km (3.5 hours) to Lijiang. En route, we will take stops to visit the Bai ethnic villages Xizhou and Zhoucheng.
23 km 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 Yang’s courtyard is a good example of traditional Bai houses.
30 km north of Dali, Zhoucheng village is nearly pure Bai. 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. The marketplace with a Bai-style opera stage and the Benzhu Temple are worth visiting.
As the gathering place of the Naxi ethnic minority, Lijiang is a small mountain town laced with swift canals, which has been listed as a world cultural heritage site by the UNESCO. Upon arrival in Lijiang, check in at your hotel before walking to visit the Black Dragon Pond with the Wufeng Temple (Five Phoenix Pavilion) and Dongba Museum. The Pool provides you opportunity of taking great pictures of the crystal clear pond with backdrop of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in a distance.
*Lunch en tour at local restaurant
*Overnight at hotel in Lijiang
Day 07: Lijiang
*In the morning, drive out to the Yak Meadow of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Take chairlift (roundtrip) ride up with elevated views of the mountains and valleys. Good weather permitting, you will be able to see snow-capped thirteen peaks. On the way back to Lijiang, visit Yufeng Monastery, the Naxi villages, Baisha Fresco and Suhe Old Town.
11 km northwest of Lijiang, the Yufeng (Jade Peak) Monastery is famous for a 500-year-old camellia tree that bears ten thousands of flowers from December to next March.
North of Lijiang is the Liulidian Temple and Daobaoji Temple at Baisha Village, housing 558 mural paintings on 12 walls that can date back to the Ming Dynasty. Buddhism, Taoism and Lamaism manifest in integration in styles of the Han Chinese, the Tibetan, the Bai and the Naxi people on the murals, a proof of exchange on politics, economy, culture and religion between the mainland and China frontiers. They are now listed as key cultural relics under state protection.
Shuhe is a small Naxi ethnic town a few kilometers on the outskirts of Lijiang. The center of the town is a square said to be the prototype of Sifangjie (the Square Street) in the old town of Lijiang.
*Lunch en tour at local restaurant
*Overnight in Ljiang
Day 08: Lijiang/Kunming
*Visit the First Bend of the Yangzi River and the Tiger Leaping Gorge.
The village of Shigu (Stone Drum) stands at the First Bend of the Yangzi River, some 70 km west of Lijiang. The Stone Drum offers a dramatic view of the Yangzi's 180-degree turn, where the swift waters stage a miraculous about-face. For nearly 20 km the river, first flowing southwards, then northwards, runs on parallel to itself.
The Tiger Leaping Gorge is a well-known gorge on the Yangtze River. Flanked by the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Haba Snow Mountain the gorge exhibits an elevation difference of nearly 3,000 meters in some places. Fly back to Kunming the same day after the tour is over.
*Lunch en tour at local restaurant
*Overnight in Kunming
Day 09: Kunming
*Take a full day excursion to the Stone Forest. The Stone Forest Scenic Area is approximately 80 kilometers away from the downtown of Kunming. Covering 400 square kilometers, it has been a State 5A-level Scenic Attraction, National Geo Park, World Geo Park, National Key Scenic Area as well as a World Natural Heritage Site accepted by UNESCO in 2007. The Stone Forest is famous for the Karst landform and the ethnic culture of the Sani People (a branch of the Yi ethnic minority).
*Lunch en tour at local restaurant
*Overnight at hotel in Kunming
Day 10: Flexible
*Departure or extend your tour in Kunming to visit other Tourist Sites.
|