2013 China Tibet Tour

CHINA - TIBET For Artists, Photographers, Families

Sh an gha i , D a l i , Li j i a n g, Sh a n gr i L a , Ti be t, B e i ji n g M ay 24 - J u n e 6 , 2 0 1 3 - 1 4 d ays Experience five thousand years of history, culture, and art. Discover the inherent mystery and intrigue of some of the world’s oldest civilizations. Artists, photographers, friends and companions are invited to join us on this private tour (with approximately 10 other likeminded travelers) under the direction of artist, experienced tour director and Beijing native, Dong Shang.

See China through an artist’s eyes as a source of creative inspiration.

This tour will feature time to paint and photograph, visit museums and attend special cultural events.

LOCATION HIGHLIGHTS • SHANGHAI: Bund

TOUR FEATURES

• Art expedition/programs led by artists that U.S. touring companies are not able to accommodate. Scheduled time for artists and photographers to explore and wander at most destinations • Experience the history, people, food and culture of a remote part of the world, Tibet • Both international and domestic air travel (coach) and first-class, air-conditioned ground transportation • 4-5 star world-class hotel accommodations • English-speaking, local tour guides under the direction of our tour director • Western-style breakfast buffets, Chinese cuisine lunches and dinners • This itinerary is specially designed to gradually acclimate yourself to the effects of high altitude.

• YUNNAN: Dali, Lijiang, Shangri La • TIBET: Potala Palace, Gelupa Monastery, Jokhang Temple, Barkhor Street, Shigatse, Yamdrok Tso Lake, Gyangtse, Tashilhunpo Monastery...

• BEIJING: Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen

$3350 / per person

plus international airfare Tour director: Dong Shang 229-347-6293 dongshang@hotmail.com

• OPTION: Extention 5 Days Best of XinJiang Scenery Tour $500 deposit due upon registration, deadline: Jan. 15, 2013, remaining balance due before Feb. 15, 2013

CHINA - TIBET 2013 - Itinerary FOR ARTISTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, FAMILIES Day 1 USA/Shanghai Begin your journey exploring China & Tibet. Cross International Date Line and one calendar day is lost.

Day 2 Shanghai (D) Arrive in Shanghai and check in the hotel.

Day 3 Shanghai/Kunming (B,L,D) Take early morning flight to Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province. Visit Dali, a small city with cobble stone streets and traditional stone architecture on the western edge of Erhai Lake at an altitude of 6,000 ft. with mountains rising over 12,000 ft. behind the town. Visit the South Gate in the Old Town and make a photographic stop at the legendary Three Pagodas.

Day 4 Dali/Lijiang (B,L,D) Explore the Xizhou ethnic Minority Village and a “Bai” minority’s bazaar. Take a scenic ride through lush grassland, dense forest, and mountains to Lijiang, the “Venice of the Orient.” Visit Lijiang Old Town, built in the late Song dynasty(960-1279A.D.) and the early Yuan dynasty (1206-1368A.D.). Enjoy a boat cruise on scenic Erhai Lake. Lijiang is a historical and cultural heritage in China and it has been included in the World Cultural Heritage, Day 5 Lijiang (B,L,D) Visit the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Baisha Fresco and Yufeng Temple. Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is 4,000 meters above sea level. The highest peak Shanzidou is 5,569 meters high. They together with other 13 peaks which run 35 kilometers from the south to the north, look like a giant crystal jade dragon and thus get the name.

Baisha Fresco was made from 1385 to 1619, employing the eclectic artist energies of Chinese Daoist, Tibetan and Naxi Buddhists and local Dongba Shamans. Yufeng Temple, built in the last year of the Kangxi Period of the Qing dynasty, it is one of the five important Lamaist temples in Lijing.

as the mythical Shangri-la in James Hilton’s novel “The Lost Horizon”

Day 7 June 11, Monday Shangri La/Lhasa (B,L,D) Take the flight to Lhasa, the heart and soul of Tibet and capital since 1642. Have the remaining day to rest to acclimatize to the high altitude.

Day 8 Lhasa/Gyangtse/Shigatse (B,L,D) Drive to Shigatse via Yamdrok Tso and Gyangtse. Visit the magnificent Yamdrok Tso - one of the three sacred lakes in Tibet, and Palcho Monastery - a complex composed of sixteen monasteries of three different sects on the way.

Day 9 Shigatse (B,L) Visit Tashilhunpo Monastery in the morning. Built in 1477 by the first Dalai Lama, it’s the seat of the Panchan Lama, one of the six important Gelupa monasteries in China.

Free explore Shigatse in the afternoon.

Day 10 Shigatse/Lhasa (B,L,D) Drive back to Lhasa through vast and scenic mountain terrain and see the deep gorges of the highest river in the world. (*if the road is still under repairing, we will return back Lhasa as the same road on Day 8)

Hotel: Thangka Hotel

Day 11 Lhasa (B,L,D) Visit the world wonder Potala Palace, the oldest temple in Tibet - Jokhang, and Barkhor Street.

Jokhang Temple is the spiritual center of Tibet. Every day, pilgrims from every corner of Tibet trek a long distance to the temple to pay homage. Some of them even progress prostrate to the threshold of the temple. Barkhor Street is an essential pilgrim route.

Hotel: Thangka Hotel

Day 12 Lhasa/Chengdu/Beijing (B,L) Take morning flight to Chengdu, and then fly to Beijing.

Day 6 Lijiang/Shangri La(Zhongdian) (B,L,D) Afternoon Option: The rest of the time is at your leisure A scenic coach ride takes you through beautiful highlands or Chinese Painting workshop/National Art Museum and mountains on the great Yunnan/Tibet Highway. View Day 13 Beijing (B, L) the upper reaches of the mighty Yangtze River and stop at Excursion to the Great Wall. the giant bend of the river at Shigu town (Town of Stone) Visit imposing Tian An Men Square and exquisite Imwhich channeled the river to the northeast and ultimately perial Palace within the Forbidden City, as well as the to its mouth near Shanghai. Visit Tiger Leaping Gorge Palace Museum’s collection of imperial jewelry. and experience the “thundering might” of the river as it drops nearly 1,000 ft. over a 12 mile stretch in a series of Day 14 Beijing/USA (B) Transfer to the airport and fly back to U.S. 34 rapids through a narrow cleft with near vertical cliffs soaring directly up from either side of the stream for Day 14-19 XinJiang (option) 7,000 ft. Travel to the grasslands of Shangri-la. This is 5 days best of Xinjiang scenery tour. the exact place commonly believed to have been depicted t: 229-347-6293 / e-mail: dongshang@hotmail.com / web: www.freewebs.com/dongshang

1. Itinerary subjects to minor changes.

2. B-breakfast, L-lunch, D-dinner