Yunnan Experience 8 Days | Starts/Ends: Kunming
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TRIP NOTES Yunnan Experience 8 days | Starts/Ends: Kunming PRIVATE TOUR: Home to many of • 1 overnight train: Lijiang - Kunming (soft unmatched anywhere else in China for its China's ethnically diverse minority sleeper cabin) scope of history, landscape and peoples, • peoples, Kunming and the Stone Lijiang - Naxi Music show there is an awesome diversity of geography, • Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (chairlift climate and nationalities, making it one of the Forest, delightful Dali, UNESCO- ride) country’s most colourful provinces. In Yunnan, listed Lijiang and the awesome • Airport arrival and departure transfer day there are 28 recognized ethnic groups, more Tiger Leaping Gorge. Yunnan 1 and day 8 than any other province in China. Comprising Province offers an uncommon • Excursions and touring of Kunming, Dali 25% of the population, the indigenous list Chinese experience. and Lijiang includes the Naxi, Wa, Dai and Bai, Jingpo, • English speaking specialist guides at local Nu and other ethnic groups, in addition to sights a host of ethnic groups shared with other HIGHLIGHTS AND INCLUSIONS • All relevant transfers and transportation provinces or adjoining foreign neighbours. • Trip Highlights Entrance fees to all included sites For a different side to China, you can’t go wrong with Yunnan Province, where you’ll • Kunming - Western Hills, Dragon Gate What's Not Included see and experience a different side to that Grotto, Stone Forest • International flights and visa of the country’s far east, west or north. The • Dali - Lake Er Hai • Laundry, drinks, items of a personal attractive provincial capital, Kunming, earned • Ancient temples and local villages en nature the province it’s name, thanks to it’s mild route • Tipping - an entirely personal gesture climate. Yunnan literally means ‘South of the • Butterfly Springs and Three Pagodas Clouds’. • Lijiang - UNESCO-listed Dayan Old Town, DETAILED ITINERARY Naxi Music Show, Tiger Leaping Gorge - Situated at an elevation of 2000m above sea level on the fertile Yunnan plateau, trekking/walking Day 1 : Kunming • Yulong Xue Shan (Jade Dragon Snow making a reference to it’s mild climate, Kunming - Welcome to Yunnan Province Mountain) Kunming is known as the City of Eternal and the start of your holiday! Enjoy an • Yufeng Si Monastery Spring.Subtropical Kunming is skirted by arrival transfer to our hotel. With it’s remote mountain ranges to the north, east, and west, What's Included southern location, frontiers that rub shoulders whilst to the south lies a large lake called with neighbouring Tibet, Burma, Laos and Dianchi. Whilst Kunming’s climate is usually • 7 breakfasts, 5 lunches and 6 dinners Vietnam and shielded from the rest of China very mild, thus allowing the city to live up to • 5 nights superior hotels (deluxe upgrade by the jagged mountainous provinces of its name, there are sometimes cold winds in available on request) Sichuan and Guizhou, Yunnan Province has winter, chilly days in spring and heavy rains in • 1 overnight train: Kunming - Dali (hard always sat at arms length from the rest of summer. sleeper cabin) the motherland. Within this single province, Yunnan Experience - 8 days updated on 23-09-2021 04:16:36 www.onthegotours.com This information has been compiled with care and good faith. They give an accurate illustration of the proposed arrangements for this holiday. Circumstances beyond our control such as changes in local conditions, inclement weather or other reasons could force us to make changes to UK 020 7371 1113 [email protected] this itinerary. Any costs shown are subject to change, though are an accurate reflection of costs at time of writing. Please also note that visa AUS 1300 855 684 [email protected] requirements are subject to change and are the responsibility of the traveller and not that of On The Go Tours. NZ 0800 44 77 69 CAN 1 866 890 7038 - 1 - USA 1 866 606 2960 SA 0800 990 311 TRIP NOTES Yunnan Experience Kunming has a history spanning more than continues to Qi Cai Yunnan en route back to Built when the region was a major Buddhist 3,000 years. It is known to have been a small Kunming. Overnight - Sleeper Train (B, L, D) centre, Dali’s distinctively tall pagodas remain settlement as early as 109 B.C., trading in upright, despite wars and earthquakes. The salt, silver, gold, silk and lumber. Through Day 3 : Dali largest of them - Qianxun tower dates back the eighth to the 13th centuries, it was the to 824 AD, some hundred years older than secondary capital of a small kingdom in the the two smaller octagonal pagodas behind, is region, before falling to the Mongols in 1374. A 64m high, and is embellished with Buddhas small group of Mongols still exists at Tonghai, made from local richly veined marble on each about 75 miles south of Kunming. of its 16 levels. Whilst sealed (preventing entrance inside), in any case the pagodas are In the early 20th century it became best seen from a distance to take in their an important rail hub when the French sheer size. Back in Dali,enjoy some free time constructed the rail link between Vietnam and exploring the old section of the town. Most China, and during WW II it was one end of places of interest are on Fuxing Lu, though the Dali. All meals. Hello Dali! Picturesquely the Burma Road built by the Allies as a supply narrow stone streets are good for a wander. situated on Lake Erhai with a backdrop route for it’s forces. Some 16km from Kunming The Dali Museum is worth a look, Yu’er Park formed by the peaks of the 50km long are the Western Hills (which rise to 2,500m) is a nice peaceful spot for relaxation amongst Cang Shang range, Dali is a great place for and Dragon Gate, a series of winding steps, the camellias and fruit trees, and if you feel like some gentle-paced exploration and a little tunnels and statue-filled grottoes leading up a spot of souvenir shopping, head to Huguo relaxation. With it’s proximity to the legendary to a lookout point, which is also served by Lu. Overnight - Dali (B, L, D) a chair-lift. The views from the top extend Silk Road, Dali’s fortunes kickstarted when over Lake Dian, which provides for Kunming’s an aspiring 8th century prince named Piluage Days 4-5 : Tiger Leaping well-irrigated surrounding lands. Dianchi, also invited some rivals to dinner. Casting alight Gorge known as Kunming Lake, covers 130 square the tent they were in, he then set to miles and was formed by a geological fault in establishing the Nanzhao Kingdom here, a the central Yunnan Plateau. It has long been realm that was later expanded to include famous for its fish. Indeed, Marco Polo praised large tracts of modern Burma, Thailand and the variety and bounty of catches in his 13th Vietnam. Various overthrows occured and century account of his travels in theregion. a smaller kingdom was set up by the Bai Enjoy an excursion to the Western Hills and people, until Kublai Khan and his Mongolian Dragon Gate. Overnight - Kunming (D) henchmen descended on the region in 1252, and imposed Chinese rule. This persisted until Day 2 : Kunming 1856 when there was a Muslim uprising and Kunming - Stone Forest - Kunming - Dali. the town capital was declared an independent Dali - Lijiang. Leaving Dali, you’ll travel north Yunnan Province’s premier natural attraction state. In 1873, a wholesale massacre of by coach/bus to Lijiang. The seat of the has to be Shilin, the Stone Forest, an exposed the Muslim population occured and Dali Naxi minority peoples, Lijiang lies at 2,500 bed of limestone karst spires weathered was decimated, never to recover its former m in a fantasic mountain setting bordered and split into amazing clusters that take political position. to the north-west by Tibet. The Naxi are a on the appearance of a petrified forest. At matriarchal society descended from a race Muslims and Han Chinese remain today, least 270 million years old, the dramatic of Tibetan nomads who settled the region though the majority of the regional population scenery created compels one to explore before the 10th century who bought with them are Bai. Covering only about 4 sq km, much and take a closer look. The sharp angles what are considered the sturdiest horses in all of Dali is contained by the remains of its and delineations create a strong contrast of of China and a shamanistic religion known as Ming-dynasty walls. An earthquake did more shadows just right for photography. Scattered Dongba (there are still a handful of shamans in or less flatten the town in 1925, though it through this strange landscape are natural Lijiang). With a history spanning 1,300 years, was rebuilt in its former style.Sightseeing and artificial ponds, tiny bridges and classical Lijiang possesses rich architecture in what is in Dali and surrounds includes a cruise pavilions. The tallest stone pillar towers close coined it’s ‘Old Town’. An earthquake in 1996 on Lake Erhai, some orientation stops at to 100 feet. The most interesting natural caused considerable damage, but despite some ancient temples and villages, a visit to sights are the Sword Peak Pond, Lotus this concerted efforts have been made to Butterfly Spring - a popular spot surrounded Blossom Peak, Jade Lake in the Stone Forest painstakingly rebuilt it in the old style. The by a marble ballustrade and overhung by and the Peak View Pavilion. Enjoy some Old Town is now a UNESCO World Heritage an ancient tree that produces butterfly-like time exploring at Shilin, before the journey Site.