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+ Optional Post tour
to Dali 25-28 March |
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| With lodging and activities organized especially by us |
| The perfect short tour for a week’s sumptuous retreat |
Market tours, gala banquets on top of the world.
Stunning mountain locales in China’s most beautiful province.
Discover Yunnan culture through its foods. |
On this tour every meal is a delicious education, and you will learn about northern Yunnan’s regional fare from the experts.
Plus gala banquets, local textiles, crafts, and arts. |
| Discover a culinary culture unlike any you’ve experienced before! |
18-25 March 7 nights, 8 days
+ optional post tour to Dali 25-28 March |
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Joins usand discover a world of culinary tourism unlike any other, hosted and organized personally by Asian cookbook author Robert Carmack and textile designer Morrison Polkinghorne.
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| Read more about your hosts... |
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5-star+ deluxe accommodation at Banyan Tree prpoerties.
Rated Top 10 hotels in China!! Plus deomstic flight to Shangri La, all airport transfers, admission fees, and guides. Most meals, including gala banquets, cooking classes, and daily hotel breakfast. |
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| www.banyantree.com |
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Kunming Airport is serviced internationally 5 times weekly by Thai Airways via Bangkok, and on Silk Air (a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines) 3 times weekly on Silk Air) via Singapore. plus other regional airlines via Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, Vietnam Airlines from Hanoi, plus an ever-growing list of airlines. There are domestic flight connections from Kunming, Dali and Zhongdian. |
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Prior to the tour, ask us about additional nights at the new Angsana Resort on Fuxian Lake. Just an hour’s drive south of Kunming, our exclusive per night package includes airport transfers, deluxe rooms and daily breakfast. Better yet, it’s managed by Banyan Tree, so you know what to expect from their excellent service. (Any guided day trips can easily be arranged at the hotel’s travel/tour desk, and paid for directly there.) There is also free daily return shuttle into Kunming city, excluding airport. |
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| Welcome to China's most beautiful province. |
| With some 25 ethnic minority groups, Yunnan boasts the country's greatest culinary diversity, from Tibetan yak butter tea to tropical Dai pineapple rice. Our Globetrotting Gourmet® tour meets in capital city Kunming, then focuses exclusively on the province's far north: Shangri La and its Tibetan culture; Lijiang's three Unesco world heritage sites; Old Town Dali and Erhai Lake; plus ancient mountain villages little changed in time. |
| Great accommodation, delicious food, wonderful company. That's our Globetrotting Gourmet® winning recipe. |
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Sunday, Day 1
18 Mar 2012 |
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O/Night Kunming |
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| Arrive Kunming |
Welcome to Kunming, Yunnan's capital and largest city. With day temperatures averaging between 65-72F/18-22C year-round, this is China's "eternal spring city." We can personally attest to the province having the nation's clearest blue skies! But dress warmly for indoors -- as most restaurants, let alone hotel lobbies, will have no central heating, and at night temperatures plummet. YOUR HOTEL ROOMS ARE HEATED. As arrival times vary today, there is nothing scheduled for today/tonight, but depending on numbers, we can arrange a no-host dinner with Robert & Morrison. For those arriving early, walk around picturesque Green Lake. We’ve also organized a get-acquainted breakfast tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. |
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Monday, Day 2
19 Mar 2012 |
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O/Night Shangri-La |
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| Kunming to Shangri La |
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| This morning we’re off to Shangri-La, or Zhongdian -- believed to be the real-life model in James Hilton’s classic novel Lost Horizon. Inspired by the stories of Joseph Rock in National Geographic, the author wove a tale about Shangri-La, a lost kingdom on the Tibetan Plateau. Our visit includes a three-night stay in deluxe converted Tibetan farm huts. Private two floors for every guest/couple, and the room size is enormous. And super-deluxe! |
| Enroute, stop at Ganden Sumtseling Gompa, a stunningly picturesque Tibetan temple of Potala-like design, some 300 years old, and considered the most important in Southwest China. Late afternoon check in, and a uniquely Tibetan dinner at the resort. B/D |
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Tuesday, Day 3
20 Mar 2012 |
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O/Night Shangri-La |
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| Savour your unique Tibetan surroundings, and the comfort of the lodge. At leisure breakfasting til mid morning. If you are up early, take a stroll to nearby Ringha Temple; staff will direct you. Mornings are cold at high altitudes, so we’ve discovered the perfect antidote: hot Tibetan butter tea. Watch it churned before your eyes, here in typical Tibetan style with pu-erh tea, yak butter and tsampa roasted buckwheat. (The Naxi of Lijiang add walnuts and raw egg.) |
| Our group activities begin at the local market, where you can see myriad wild mushrooms, plus cakes of pu-erh tea, mounds of aged yak butter and yak cheese, well-priced saffron, and cordyceps. The latter is a fusion of caterpillar cum twig, and more expensive than gold. (They also make the most ambrosial chicken soup.) Lunch is a simple but delicious Han style sand-pot rice or noodle cooked over roaring flame. |
| Afternoon, stroll through the cobble stone streets of Dukezong Old Town, with a history tracing back 1200 years. We’ll stop at a yak creamery cheese shop, to taste the best curds in the country. Also take in the world’s largest Tibetan prayer wheel. (Our hotel is an easy taxi ride back, for those wishing to explore longer on their own.) Return to the resort for a brief rest, and later head back to Dukezong for a communal steamboat dinner, then party with the locals dancing in the streets around small bonfires – very Tibetan style. |
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Wednesday, Day 4
21 Mar 2012 |
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O/Night Shangri-La |
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| After breakfast, take the Blue Moon Valley chair lift up to the mountain peaks of Shika Snow Mountain. There’s two sets of chair lifts and the views are breathtaking – but dress warm. Lunch is with a Tibetan family, then drive around picturesque Napa Lake, which at this time of the year is an ornithologist’s paradise. If the road’s are passable, we’ll also visit Tanwei, Tibetan pottery village. |
| Tonight the chef’s cooking demonstration gives us a delicious introduction to Tibetan cookery. |
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Thursday, Day 5
22 Mar 2012 |
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O/Night Lijiang |
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| This morning we drive to Lijiang, via famed Tiger Leaping Gorge, one of the deepest on the planet. We’ll drive up the recently re-opened, and higher, north passage. The mountain road is beautiful and winding, with late afternoon arrival to the stunning land of Shangri-La. |
With its lauded Unesco heritage status, Lijiang is a hot tourist spot, but there are actually three designated historic sites under its banner. Largest, and most impressive of Lijiang’s old towns is Dayan, but also its most commercial.
After check in, we’ll explore smaller Loquan village (Shu He Old Town), and a snack there before returning to hotel. Be sure to try the local yak jerky or biltong. Sun dried and salty, with many flavor variants. B/L |
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Friday, Day 6
23 Mar 2012 |
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O/Night Lijiang |
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| Today begin at Black Dragon Pool, its museum and ancient halls. This is an exquisite park, and time permitting, a short serenade of Naxi music al fresco. We finish at the Naxi cultural museum, and be sure to check out its exquisite selection of high-grade antiques at the museum gift shop. Lunch in a nearby courtyard eatery, then to Dayan’s Old Town market -- a great place to purchase hand-hammered steamboat fondues and yak yogurt. |
| In the evening return to Lijiang proper, for views of Dayan (old Lijiang) by night. Dinner is included, then an option of walking the old town streets with our guide, or concert.B/L/D |
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| Option: an evening of ancient music. Naxi sounds are registered by Unesco as the world’s oldest surviving musical art form, and Lijiang boasts an orchestra of extremely old gentlemen, who risked their lives to save their instruments and music through the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution. Let us know if this is of interest. (Dress warmly in the theatre.) (surcharge applicable) |
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Satuday, Day 7
24 Mar 2012 |
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O/Night Lijiang |
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| Over some three decades, from 1922-49, Joseph Rock studied local Naxi culture, and wrote widely about Yunnan for National Geographic. His residence was high in the mountain village of Yuhu/Yufu, which we visit this morning. Then off to Baisha village, the third Unesco heritage site, and home to Yunnan's most famous frescoes. The Dabaoji Palace art was saved from the Cultural Revolution by a quick thinking soldier who plastered the frescoes with newspapers featuring Chaiman Mao's image. The Red Guard were too intimidated to tear down the chairman's picture, and left the underlying art as is. Remaining afternoon free, and tonight we've scheduled a gala dinner extraordinaire. |
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Sunday, Day 8
25 Mar 2012 |
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tour ends |
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After breakfast, flights back home, or onward…
Tour ends. Onward flights to China and back to Kunming available by surcharge. |
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Why now is the time
to visit Yunnan.
The Wall Street Journal |
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tgtgNewsletter
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| TRAVEL ADVISORY |
Yunnan altitudes are high, so if you suffer from any medical ailments please check with your doctor first. Kunming is 1900 meters high, Dali is 2200m, Lijiang is 2400m, and Zhongdian 3200m. By comparison, Lhasa in Tibet is 3700m, Mexico City 2240m and the mile-high city of Denver a lowly 1600m/5281 ft.
*To roughly convert meters to feet, triple the meters, then add 10% |
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Kunming |
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69 |
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Shangri-La |
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10 |
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Lijiang |
Hi |
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49 |
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Dali |
Hi |
68 |
20 |
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44 |
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Sunday, Day 8
25 Mar 2012 |
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O/Night Dali |
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Optional Post Tour 25-28 March
4 days/ 3 nights |
| Lodgings are in a renovated Chinese-style mansion with private courtyards. |
| For those joining our post tour, we’ll drive from Lijiang to Dali over some of Yunnan’s most picturesque countryside. |
In the evening, bask in the old village charm of Xizhou and our rooms in a resorted mansion.
Learn about the history of the four courtyard Yang Family Compound that now houses its award-winning cultural retureat. Begin with a three-course Bai tribe tea ceremony in which the dupfuls of bitterness, sweetness, and bitter-sweet represent the three phases of a person's life. Following, a chef's choice set menu highlighting seasonal ingredients unique to the region. Finally, a Dongjing music performance. You'll be whisked away to a land of yesteryear. |
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Monday, Day 9
26 Mar 2012 |
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O/Night Dali |
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| After breakfast, drive to Shaping market. During our last trip here we were so impressed by its rustic authenticity. Enroute, taste the village's best baba, a rolled griddle cake (often likened to pizza) especially popular at morning. Comes both sweet or savory. Afterwards, head to bustling Xizhou market. Visit shops making rice noodles and canola oil, haggle with vendors over prices for hand-woven baskets, and shop for local foodstuffs. |
| Lunch on typical Bai-ethnic dishes. In the early afternoon, a walking tour of historic Xizhou village, stopping in some of the many pristine architectural sites showcasing the unusual Bai style of building. Learn how the Cultural Revolution left its mark on local Bai people’s lives and heritage, and talk to the village elder, who is highly knowledgeable of Xizhou’s history and architecture. Remaining afternoon free. |
| Return to the comfortable confines of the Linden Center, then regroup for a very special dinner. Yunnan has a rich -- albeit tragic -- history of Moslem immigrants, dating from the times of Genghis Khan. Although liberal in many facets, such as drinking alcohol and not praying 5-times daily to Mecca, they religiously adhere to a pork ban. Consequently, you can readily identify thier restaurants by large slabs of air-dried beef -- often salty and always delicious. Our hostess Mrs Ma will teach us how to make Hua ]Zhuan flour twist steamed bread, before sitting down to her lavish spread. |
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Tuesday, Day 10
27 Mar 2012 |
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O/Night Dali |
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| Savor the spectacular scenery of the Cangshan Mountain and the Erhai Lake. This morning join local fishermen in their cormorant boats and sing with them on the boat to encourage their hunt. Enjoy today's unique midday meal back at the hotel, and in the early afternoon a local famrer escorts us thorugh his tea fields, to explain the economic shifts he has experienced. |
| Sample freshly procesed green and pu-erh teas, and if you like, a hands-on experience picking and processsing the tea. We're here peak season, so frsh leaves should be ready for picking. |
Afterwards, wander on your own thorugh old town Dali. We’ve left this time free for you to explore its quaintly restored town on your own. It is dazzling by night, and there's teems of restaurants, bars and coffee shops to choose from. Our favorite: a sizzling hot pot courtyard, but we’re also partial to the local Bai restaurnts where you select fresh greens and meats from glass counters, for the chefs to cook. Another favorite is the local dumplings. Then regroup for return to hotel. If you wish to stay longer in town tonight, we can help you arrange alternative transport back later. |
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Wednesday, Day 11
28 Mar 2012 |
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tour ends |
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After breakfast, say good bye to Dali and Erhai Lake. We include morning airport transfers, allowing you convenient afternoon connections from Kunming airport. Onward flights to China or back to Kunming available by surcharge. |
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