Lovely Pandas

Day 01Arrival in Beijing

Our guide will meet you after you go through the baggage claim area at Beijing Airport and transfer you to the hotel. The rest day is on your own to explore the city.

Day 02Beijing

Visit the Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. The Beijing Duck Dinner is served at a famous restaurant followed by a lively Peking Opera performance at the Liyuan Theatre.(B+L+D)

Tips: Peking Opera is a wonderful mix of Chinese folk culture and history. All the actors and actresses perform with elaborate costumes and wearing the special make-up. Before enjoying the brilliant performance, you will have a chance to enter the theatre through the room for players wearing make-up and painting face. Please don't worry about the lyrics you cannot understand. There are electronic captions on the screen in English to assist you catching the general meaning of the performance. May you enjoy it.
 
Descriptions:
Forbidden City - The feudal hierarchy is conveyed from the architecture of the Forbidden City. More than 10 kinds of roofs can be seen there. Take the three biggest halls (the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony) as an example. Their roofs are so different from each other. The roofs are paved by different colored glaze tiles. The roofs of major halls and palaces are yellow-colored. The green-roof houses are intended for princes. The glaze in blue, purple, black, jade green or malachite green is mainly used in the ornamentation of gardens and walls.

Free market, Dunhuang

Day 03Beijing

Visit the Badaling Great Wall. To avoid having lunch at shopping site restaurants, you will be driven to have Sichuan food at a local popular restaurant. Visit the Sacred Way and the Ming Tomb in the afternoon. On the way back to downtown, drive by the Bird's Nest (Olympic National Stadium). You will see its appearance at a distance. (B+L, D is included for luxury series.)

Differences: 
Luxury series: An a la carte dinner of Cantonese cuisine will be served for you at a nice restaurant at Wangfujing Street. Afterwards, some free time will be left for you to explore the prosperous Wangfujing pedestrian.
Standard series: We intend to leave the dinner today on your own. You can explore the city to find the food you like or ask your guide for some advice.
 
Descriptions: 
Great Wall - There are at least seven states have built up their own great wall separately in the Spring and Autumn Period. However, some sections of these walls have been broken down by the order of the Emperor Qinshihuang who conquered other states in 221 BC. It is because this great man would like to unify his territory together. On the other hand, in order to resist the opposed Xiongnu people from north, he sent his general Meng Tian to construct a new west-east great wall from 214 BC.
 
Ming Tomb - Built in 1540, the Stone Archway is the first attraction in the Ming Tombs. It is supported by six white marble pillars carved with dragon, kylin (one of the four divine animals, the rest three are dragon, phoenix and tortoise), lion and cloud patterns. Originally, those patterns were colored with multi-color paints. As time goes by, the paints have gradually weathered. This finely sculptured Stone Archway looks very magnificent and reflects the excellent level of the stone architecture during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Day 04Beijing - Urumqi

Visit the Summer Palace. Take a flight to Urumqi and transfer to the hotel.(B+L)

Tips: We recommend you visit the Regional Museum. The exhibitions in the museum comprise three parts: the Xinjiang minority folk culture exhibits, the excavated historic artifacts along the Silk Road and three ancient mummies excavated from the Tarim basin. It is not far from your hotel and a taxi can get you there in 20 minutes. The entrance fee is CNY20 Yuan. There are free electronic commentators in the museum with a deposit of RMB100 Yuan. It opens 9:30-19:00 in summer and 10:30-18:00 in winter.

Sugong Pagoda, Turpan

Day 05Urumqi - Turpan

Drive to Turpan and transfer to the hotel. Visit the Jiaohe Ruins, the Karez Well and the Sugong Pagoda.(B+L)

Tips: It takes you about 2 hours from Urumqi to Turpan by car. Upon arrival, a long corridor decorated green grape vines will lead you to the Oasis Hotel with pleasant environment. The hotel in situated on the "Grape Street" and you will see a mass of grapes around the hotel is you travel in season. The hotel is constructed in both traditional Islamic and Uigur architectural style. In the peak travel season from April to October, there is folk cultural show in the hotel every night, lasting about 1.5 hours and rating at RMB 50 Yuan per person. If you travel is during that period, you are suggested to take a look after dinner by yourself.

Day 06Turpan - Dunhuang

Visit the Gaochang Ruins, the Baizikeli Thousand Buddha Cave and the Flaming Hill. Take an overnight soft sleeper train to Dunhuang.(B+L+D)

Tips: According to statistics, there are totally more than 50 varieties of grapes in Xinjiang region, mainly mustered in Turpan. In Turpan, the grapes are planted by every family and everywhere around the city, so people named Turpan as the "Kingdom of Grapes". When you visit the Sugong Pagoda, you will see a large market full of variety of grapes in the parking area in front of the pagoda. If you travel in season, we do suggest you buy some to have a taste. If not in season, it doesn't matter either. You can buy some raisins home as gift to friends. In a word, once you are in Turpan, you should not miss the grapes and grape products there.

Ruins of Jiaohe City, Turpan

Day 07Dunhuang

The guide will pick you up at the railway station and transfer you to the hotel. You will experience a short camel-riding along the Echoing-Sand Dune to reach the Crescent Lake and visit the Mogao Grottoes. Breakfast is on your side.(L)

Tips: Here we would like to recommend the largest night market in northwest region of China for you. Walk out of your hotel and turn to west, about 300 meters away you will find the market. It only takes you 5 minutes walking there. The market assembles about 60 booths here and attracts over 8,000 guests here every day. Although there are so many people here everyday, you cannot find even an oil spot on the ground. That's why this market is famous in the country. In the market, you will find different kinds of popular food booths, local native products vendors, ornament stalls and so on. Speaking of the local native products, you must buy some preserved apricots to taste or bring home.
 
Descriptions: Mogao Grottoes - The Mogao Grottoes, the Art Gallery in the Desert, was originally constructed in 366BC and reached to a peak in the Tang Dynasty. The large quantities of frescoes and painted sculptures in the Mogao Grottoes are some of the best artistic creations of ancient Chinese. It is also a rich heritage of ancient Chinese art which provides us with many materials for studying the painting of ancient times. The 45,000 square kilometers murals in the grottoes can shape a gallery stretching 25 kilometers if they are arranged as paintings with two-meter height.

Day 08Dunhuang - Xian

Take a flight to Xian and you will be picked up at the airport. On the way to the hotel, visit the City Wall. After enjoying the a la carte lunch at a famous local restaurant, check in at the hotel. (B+L, D is included for luxury series.)

Differences:
Luxury series: A sumptuous buffet dinner will be served at your hotel upon your arrival in Xian, so that you can have enough time for a good rest this evening.
Standard series: The dinner today will be left on your side. It's easy for you to find a good restaurant for dinner around your hotel.
 
Tips: On the way to Mogao Grottoes, you will pass by some family brick tombs beside the road. The tombs look like several sand dunes from far distance. Actually they are the family tombs from generations. The tombs are constructed of stones and bricks and are spacious inside. If you are interested, you can ask your guide for more information when passing.
 
Descriptions: City Wall - Xian, as a famous civilized city in the world, created brilliant culture with some one thousand years of history as a capital. The City Wall is most symbolic sign of the city, which contains rich historical and cultural remains. It plays as the indispensable part of all festivities and great moment of Xian.

Pit of the terracotta warriors, Xian

Day 09Xian

Visit the Terracotta Warriors Museum. To avoid having the poor food at the site, you will take highway back to downtown to have lunch at a well known Cantonese cuisine restaurant. In the afternoon, visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. (B+L+D)

Differences:
Luxury series: we will arrange the marvelous Tang Dynasty Dinner Show at the splendid Tang Dynasty Palace (Address: No.75 Chang'an Road, Xian).
Standard series: We will arrange the local speciality Dumpling Banquet and Tang Dynasty Dance and Music Show at Shaanxi Opera Theater. (Address: No. 165, Wenyi Road, Xian)    
 
Descriptions: Terracotta Warriors Museum - The amazing Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses belonged to the Emperor Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of a united China in Chinese history. Many people are curious about where this great emperor's last resting place is. It is located to the west of the Museum of Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses. Surviving from over 2,000 years of great calamity, the Mausoleum of the Emperor Qin Shihuang is no doubt one of the most precious cultural relics of all mankind.

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B-- Breakfast     L-- Lunch     D-- Dinner