CHINA EXPLORER ITINERARY:
Day 1: Depart USA
Board your international flight for your journey into China.
Day 2: En route
Day 3: Arrive in Beijing
The excitement begins as your plane touches down in Beijing,
China’s incredible capital. Big Five's representative welcomes
you and takes you to your deluxe hotel in the heart of the city.
Remainder of the day at leisure. Choice of Hotels
Day 4: Beijing
No visit is complete without a walk through Tiananmen Square
and the phenomenally beautiful Forbidden City. Superlatives fail
to do justice to the complex of palaces and hidden places, where
Emperors held court for 500 years. Then travel to Empress
Dowager’s extravagant Summer Palace on serene Kunming Lake.
Choice of Hotels (B,L)
Day 5: Beijing
A highlight of any Beijing stay is a walk on the Great Wall.
Stroll ancient promenades, step into watchtowers, and photograph
the wall rising and falling over impossibly steep mountain
ridges. Visit Ming Tombs and grotesque Spirit Way on your return
to town. Choice of Hotels (B,L)
Day 6: Beijing
Today’s activities in the Hutong area are designed to offer
a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people. Take a rickshaw
ride through the narrow streets, visiting a local kindergarten.
After a private lunch with local family, continue to the sublime
Temple of Heaven, a 15th century Ming architectural masterpiece.
Venture northeast to Yonghe Gong Lama Temple, Palace of Peace
and Harmony. Now the foremost Buddhist temple in China, it was a
center of learning for the Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Lamaism.
It houses a fine collection of Tibetan art, including a 75-foot
sculpture carved from a single tree. Choice of Hotels (B,L)
Day 7: Beijing / Xian
Fly from Beijing to the arid plains of Xian, gateway to the
ancient Silk Road that once linked China with travelers from as
far away as Rome and Istanbul. The capital of eleven dynasties,
Xian exemplifies the continuity of Chinese
civilization. Explore Xian’s past in such scenic antiquities as
Ming Gate and Bell tower and Tang Dynasty Big Goose Pagoda.
Shangri La Golden Flower (B,L )
Day 8: Xian
Xian’s most spectacular archaeological site – the army of
lifelike terra cotta soldiers and horses – is the focus today.
The discovery of this unlikely army astounded the world in 1974.
This 2,200-year-old wonder was part of the Tomb of Qinshihuang,
China’s first emperor of China. Now enclosed beneath a
protective hangar, the site contains some 8,000 individually
sculpted warriors and horses. Step into the adjoining museum to
see a fantastic bronze chariot and figures that still have some
of the original bright paint. End the day with a Chinese banquet
and stage show at Tang Dynasty Theater. Shangri La Golden Flower
(B,L,D)
Day 9: Xian / Guilin
Fly to the green hills of Guilin, China’s great scenic city
on poetic Li River. Check into your riverfront hotel before
setting out on a memorable tour of the city and Reed Flute Cave,
with its unusual lantern-lit formations. Finish with a tour of
Elephant Trunk Hill. Daewoo Guilin Hotel (B,L)
Day 10: Guilin
A pleasure cruise on Li River fills your day, passing
through unique scenery around which many folktales and legends
have been woven. Floating past cormorant fishermen, valleys and
bamboo groves, misty limestone pinnacles, and rock formations
resembling horses and elephants, you feel you are in a Chinese
scroll painting. Daewoo Guilin Hotel (B,L)
Day 11: Guilin / Shanghai
Today you’re off to cosmopolitan Shanghai. After hotel check
in, begin your tour in this vibrant, trend-setting metropolis.
Stroll Bund waterfront lined with Art Deco buildings from
colonial era and the sleek new skyscrapers of her futuristic
Pudong District. Step into the past as you cross zigzag bridge
into Yu Yuan Gardens. See mystical Jade Buddha Temple and
teeming lanes of Old Quarter. See a charming display of cultural
skills mastered by youngsters at the Children’s Palace. Tonight,
enjoy the daring performance of Shanghai’s famous Acrobats.
Choice of Hotels (B,L)
Day 12: Shanghai / Suzhou
Depart this morning to Suzhou, an ancient cultural city
built 2,500 years ago in the Yangtze River Region. Visit the
grand canals and the Humble Administrator’s Garden. Private
gardens built during and after Song Dynasty made the city
famous. Sheraton Suzhou (B,L)
Day 13: Suzhou / Shanghai
Return to Shanghai via train. This afternoon is free for
independent activities. Choice of Hotels (B)
Day 14: Shanghai / Depart
With images of this timeless land leaping toward
modernization, you depart on your homebound flight. (B)
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