Colegio Los Nogales Presents
CHINA October 6 - 21 / 2012
Itinerary Oct 6/7 Bogota-Chicago-Beijing Flight Oct 7 Settle at hotel then explore Tiananmen Square Oct 8 Forbidden City & Great Wall Oct 9 Summer Palace & Pearl Market Oct 10 Botanical Gardens/Train to Shanghai- Bund Oct 11 Architecture Museum & World Trade Center Oct 12 Yuyuan Bazaar / Domestic Flight to Hong Kong Oct 13 Habor Tour, Big Buddha & Jade Market
Oct 14 Oct 15 Oct 16 Oct 17 Oct 18 Oct 19 Oct 20 Oct 21
Hong Kong to Yangshuo via Bus Li River boat & bike through the Karst Mountains Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces of Longsheng & Domestic Flight to Xi’an Terracotta Warriors & Hau Shan Sacred Mtn. Hau Shan and Temples & Train to Beijing Peking High School & Chinese Opera Panjiayuan Market & Flight Home Beijing – Houston – Bogota
Costs Approx Cost of the Trip Including Airfare
$4,500 - $5,000 USD * Cost covers all transportation, lodging, meals, and entrance fees. Immunizations, spending money, and any necessary documentation are not included in this amount.
Trip Notes Day 1 – Oct 6 - Sat Depart Bogota at 12:15am on Continental flight to Chicago. Arrive at 10:05am. Two hour layover and then depart at 12:05pm for Beijing on Continental. Day 2 – Oct 7 - Sun Arrive in Beijing at 2:40pm. Total duration of travel: 25 hours. Get picked up by shuttle and taken to hotel. For those students that feel up to it (the time in Beijing will be 12 hours different from Bogota. That means that it will feel like 2:40 am for all of us.) we will get in the shuttle and go to walk around Tiananmen Square and visit Mao’s Tomb located there. The students that are not feeling well can stay at the hotel and rest. We will all go to dinner and then back to the hotel to sleep. Day 3 – Oct 8 - Mon Shuttle to Forbidden City. This is located right on Tiananmen Square so those students who did not see the square the day before will see it now. Stay through lunch at the Forbidden City. Shuttle will pick us up and take us to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall north of the city. We will stay there until sunset and have dinner in the town of Mitianyu. Shuttle then takes us back to our hotel in Beijing. Day 4 – Oct 9 - Tues Spend the whole day in the wonders of the Summer Palace. Stop at the pearl market across the street as we prepare to leave and go back to the hotel. Day 5 – Oct 10- Wed Spend the morning at the Botanical Gardens or some free time depending on what the group needs. Eat lunch and then the shuttle takes us to the train station. Depart at 1:05 pm for high speed (300kph) train to Shanghai. Arrive at 6:30 pm go to hotel and then dinner on the Bund. Day 6 – Oct 11- Thurs Go to the Architecture Museum in the morning and then have lunch in downtown. After lunch go the world highest observatory platform on the 100th floor of the World Trade Center building where you can see the curvature of the earth! Dinner and a Chinese acrobatic show that night. *This would be dependant on the weather being good for the observatory platform. Otherwise we would switch it from the afternoon to the morning.
Day 7 – Oct 12 – Fri Free time or visit the Yuyuan Bazaar and Gardens in the morning and then depart at 3:05pm on a China Eastern Airlines flight to Hong Kong. Arrive in Hong Kong at 5:35pm. Go to the hotel and then dinner. Day 8 – Oct 13 –Sat Harbor cruise in the morning and then over to the Big Buddha statue at Po Lin Monestary on LanTau Island. Back to Hong Kong Island and up to the top of Victoria Mountain for Sunset. Day 9 – Oct 14 – Sun Sleep in and then get on a hired bus for the 6 hour drive into the mountains of Guangxi Provence. Arrive in the magical city of Yangshuo on the Li River and head to our hotel. Day 10 – Oct 15 – Mon Take a river boat ride down the Li River valley. One of the most beautiful places in the world. Elpore the small towns on the river and perhaps do a two hour long bike tour through the limestone spires. Day 11 – Oct 16 – Tues Leave Yangshuo by hired bus to the village of Longsheng, Guangxi. Walk among the 1,000 vertical meters of rice terraces the will be golden in the autumn landscape. After lunch go the city of Guilian to catch a domestic flight north to the city of Xi’an. China Southern Airlines flight departing at 5:00pm and arriving in Xi’an at 8:05pm. Go to hotel. Day 12 – Oct 17 – Wed Go to the tomb of Qin Shi Huang and see the over 8,000 terracotta warriors that guard him in the next life. Stay through lunch and then travel up the valley via the shuttle for a hike up Hau Shan Mountain and stay at the Taoist Monastery that night in the mountains. Day 13 – Oct 18 – Thurs Continue to explore the temple complex in the sacred mountains of Hau Shan and then come down from the mountain in mid afternoon. Dinner in Xi’an and then catch the 6pm (overnight) train to Beijing. Students will have sleeper cars on the train, 4 to a cabin. Day 14 – Oct 19 – Fri Arrive in Beijing at 9am. Shuttle transfer to the hotel and then go to Peking High School for lunch and stay through the end of the school day. Explore a Beijing houtong and have dinner then off to the theatre for Chinese Opera.
Day 15 – Oct 20 – Sat Panjiayuan Market for gifts and treasures. Get lunch and then on the shuttle to the Beijing Airport. Depart on Continental flight departing at 3:45 for Houston. Arrive in Houston at 9:45pm (2 hour 14 min layover) and depart at 11:59pm on Continental flight for Bogota. Day 16 – Oct 21 - Sun Arrive in Bogota at 4:59am. CLN China Trip 2012 complete!