This tour takes you to Yunnan to see the natural beauty of the area such as Stone Forest, Lake Erhai, snow capped mountains, old wooden bridges… and the ethnic people live there and their colourful festivals.
Taizi Festival in Jianchun, Yunnan.
 Taizi Festival takes place on the 8th of the 2nd lunar month. Taizi is the local name for the Buddha. “Sakyamuni” was the prince of a kingdom in India who would be the king upon adulthood. After leaving home he saw the sufferings of people and wanted to help them. He gave up everything to find out the ways to reach an ideal life, which later became the practice of Buddhism. This festival reproduces the event that he left the Royal Palace on his spiritual journey and created the Buddhism. At the festival, villagers clean up the statues of Buddha at ceremonies held in local temples, and carry the statues throughout a demonstration in the village streets followed by singing and dance teams.
Jiejinggu Festival in Weishan, Yunnan
 On the 10th - 12th of the 2nd lunar month, this festival unites the shared patron Gods of the Bais in Dali and Weishan. The shared Gods reside in the two different places during different times of the year. During this festival, people from Dali will go to Weishan to welcome the gods back to Dali. People sing, dance and pray in the temples for days and nights to amuse themselves and gods.
Itinerary
Day 1, Arrive in Kunming
Day 2, Fly to Lijiang
Morning flight to Lijiang and Visit the old town of Lijiang built hundreds years ago in traditional style with rivers running through the town, now it’s the culture heritage site of the UNESCO. Lijiang was at the end of the Tibetan tea caravan route that gave rise to the Naxi women’s strong commercial bent as successful shopkeepers and traders. Walk through the streets of the old town; we will follow up a river to Black Dragon Pool where the water of the Old Towm comes from. Walking around in the park, you can have a very good view of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.
Day 3, Tour of Lijiang
Drive to Puji village where we start to walk through the villages and climb up hill through pine forest for an hour before arriving Puji Monastery, a Tibetan Buddhism monastery built three hundred years ago with copper roofs. Not many people come here but we can meet a few lamas and locals who take care of the Monastery. After the Monastery, we drive to Baisha village to visit the five hundred year old frescos, carry on to Yuhu village where the explorer Dr. Rock used to live for his research, it is a very beautiful Naxi village in front of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, visit the village and meet up with people.
Day 4, Visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge and drive to Jianchuan.
Drive to visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge which 19km long with three very narrow parts, only 30ms from one side to another, it’s said someone saw a tiger jumped over the river and it’s named Tiger leaping Gorge since then. The Gorge has the drops of 3900m from top of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain to the Yangtze. Four hours drive to Jianchuan with a visit to the first bend of the Yangtze.
Day 5,Attend Taizi Festival
One hour drive to Shaxi village to attend the Taizi Festival, the festival starts from a temple. People will clean up the Buddha Image, hold a small ceremony and people carry the Buddha Image and walk through the village followed by groups of dancers and singers, all the villagers will go out to the streets to join the festival, and the whole village is full of music, songs and laughter. Shaxi village is an important stop on the ancient Tea and Horse Caravan Trail; we can still see the remains of the history in the villages.
Day 6, Drive to Yunlong
Seven hours drive to Yunlong with visits to local villages and old bridges along the way. Yunlong is county of Bai people, there are many rivers in the mountains and people built a lot of bridges with local materials like stone, wooden and bamboo in different styles. So the county has the fame of the Museum of Bridges. Most of the bridges are over hundreds of years old and still in good conditions. Bai villages in the mountain are different from those near city; you can see very old villages with traditional Bai people.
Day 7, Tour of Yunlong
Visit Nuodeng village, it’s a old Bai village settled down a thousand year ago, all the houses are built in the traditional style with clay walls and tile roofs. Each family has a garden with one or two houses around it, some have three or four hours in the garden. We walk into the houses and have a close look to the real life of the Bai people. Visit the Tiger Head Mountain on which stands a Taoist temple near the town, take some walks in the mountain. Drive up hill and look at the River near the town which forms a nature design of Eight Diagrams.
Day 8, Drive to Dali
Four hours drive to Dali via the Salween River, visit the old town of Dali. Dali is the Kingdom of Bai people, with Cangshan Mountain on the west and Erhai Lake on the east, people just live on the fertile land between the Mt. Cangshan and Lake Erhai. The area of Dali used to be an independent country called Nanzhao and Dali Kingdoms. Bai people created the own culture and live here for thousands of years.
Day 9, Attend Jiejinggu Festival
Two hours drive to Weishan to attend the Jiejinggu Festival of the Bai people in the temples. The Festival lasts for a few days here, people from Dali come over here in teams and they stay with the local people nearby. They pray and hold ceremonies in temples during the day, at night they would dance and sing to enjoy themselves. At the end of the festival, they will take the God Jinggu back to Dali, they make some stops on the way back to pray, sing and dance.
Day 10, Tour of Dali
Visit the thousand year old Three Pagodas and Chongsheng Temple; this is the biggest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia with hundreds of Buddhist images. Take the cable car up to Cangshan Mountain at 2550m where you can visit Zhonghe Temple with mixed religions, and take a walk on the Clouds Road for a couple of hours where you can have a bird’s eye view of Dali and the Lake.
Day 11, Kunming
Visit Xizhou morning market where people selling food, vegetables and daily uses, walking into the village to visit some traditional old houses of Bai people and meet up with locals. Drive to Kunming, Overnight hotel and tour ends.
Departure:
Mar.8th – Mar.18th, 2011
Price:
US$ 1,090.00 Per person
US$ 270.00 Single Supplement
The price includes:
Flight: Kunming/Lijiang
Hotels with breakfasts
Sightseeing Programs & entry fees
English Speaking Guides
Transfers and transportation by private vehicles
Group Size: 06 -12
You may prefer a different date and time frame for this tour, or wish to adjust the itinerary to suit your interests. We will do all we can to meet your preferences. Please note that tours of less than six persons may cost more per person, and other expenses may increase as a result of customization of your tour. In all cases, however, we are committed to providing the best value for your experience.
|
Culture and Scenery Tours
Email:info@edward-adventures.com
