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Enchanting Mekong Tour
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Code: |
IDCN35 |
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Routes: |
Bangkok - Kunming -
Lijiang - Shigu - Shangrila - Vientiane |
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Duration: |
11 Days |
Itinerary in brief
Day 01: Bangkok - Arrival
Day 02: Bangkok - Damnern Saduak Floating
Market & Rose Garden
Day 03: Bangkok - Kunming
Day 04: Kunming - Stone Forest
Day 05: Kunming - Lijiang
Day 06: Lijiang
Day 07: Lijiang - Shangrila
Day 08: Shangrila
Day 09: Kunming - Vientiane
Day 10: Vientiane
Day 11: Vientiane - Departure
Detail Itinerary
Places
Covered: Bangkok city
centre, Damnern Saduak Floating Market, Rose
Garden, Patpong Night Market, Stone Forest,
Lijiang old town, Market Square, Black Dragon
Pool Park, Dongba Research Institute, Yulong
Snow Mountain Park, Love-Suicide Hill, Glacier
Park, White-water River, Jade Peak Lhama
Monastery, Baisha village, Huangshan Village,
Li-shui-jin-sha, Cloud Hill, Stone Drum Village,
Tiger Leaping Gorge, Ganden Songzanlin
Monastery, Napahai Lake, local Market, Tibetan
Buddhism Book Pavilion, Western Hills, Lake
Dian, Taoist Sanqing Temple, Huating Temple, Wat
Sisaket, Haw Pha Kaew, That Luang, Patuxai, Wat
Ong Teu Mahawihan, Buddha Park, Wat Sok Pa Luang.
Day 01:
Bangkok - Arrival (Dinner)
Arrive in Bangkok airport meet and transfer to
hotel for check-in.
Have an orientation walk-about in the vicinity
of your hotel which is in the city centre to see
for yourself what makes this eclectic city throb
with vibrancy of life, traffic, smells of
pungent foods and roasting meats and contrast
this hurly-burly world with the serenity of its
temples where time seems rooted within their
walls. Find out what Thai health and foot
massage is, drink coffee in a coffee cafe and
watch the human stream flow pass, walk the
lively streets to come at close quarters with
the Thai living and working in their city
environment.
Overnight at Tawana Ramada Hotel (4-star) or
hotel of your choice (see list of hotels),
Bangkok.
Day 02: Bangkok - Damnern Saduak Floating
Market & Rose Garden (Breakfast/ Lunch)
Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Rise early to
take a trip to Bangkok's largest and most
authentic floating market 80km southwest of the
city where a flotilla of sampans loaded with
local produce glide among boats of shoppers
buying their daily sustenance in a large canal
that is the marketplace. The sight of so many
sampans and rowboats milling around is
startlingly picturesque. We will row right up
next to these sampans and you can buy a comb of
bananas or a papaya or a bowl of hot steaming
noodles. See sugar-palm making in the
traditional way in a backyard 'factory'. And as
the sampans and other boats glide away for home,
we too leave the floating market to go and see a
folk show and an elephant show in the
well-landscaped Rose Garden at Samphran. Lunch
at the Rose Garden restaurant. It would be about
5.30pm before we arrive back in the comfort of
your hotel for a dip in the pool.
In the evening as the hundreds of stalls selling
all kinds of Thai and imported products lit up
and open for business, stroll in the Patpong
night market near your hotel. You are among many
shops, restaurants, currency exchange booths and
a host of other things.
Overnight at Tawana Ramada Hotel (4-star) or
similar, in Bangkok.
Day 03: Bangkok - Kunming (Breakfast/ Dinner)
Breakfast at the hotel. Free until time to
transfer to the airport for the flight to
Kunming, provincial capital of Yunnan in
southwestern China. Arrive in Kunming airport,
meet and transfer to hotel. Kunming has a
freshness of air to delight anyone, and wherever
the eye roves there is something natural and
wondrous to see in spite of the old buildings
with character largely gone to be replaced by
concrete blocks; but small enclaves of old
Kunming still exist in the interesting
alleyways. On the way to our hotel for check in
you will see sights of the modernizing city of
3.5 million Yunnanese including Yunnanese
Muslims and Buddhists, and ethnic groups found
nowhere else in the world. Free to amuse
yourself until 6.30pm when we gather for dinner
at the New Canton restaurant for your
introduction to Yunnanese cuisine.
Overnight at Huazhou (4-star) or Bank Hotel
(5-star) or hotel of your choice, Kunming.
Day 04: Kunming - Stone Forest (Breakfast/
Lunch/ Dinner)
Breakfast at the hotel. A full-day excursion to
the Stone Forest, one of China’s most
remarkable natural phenomena, located 98km
southeast of Kunming, a short scenic drive of
one-and-a-half hours. It consists of 80 hectares
of innumerable fanciful-formed limestone cliffs
and peaks created by wind and water erosion some
270 million years ago. Marine fossils found here
indicate that it was once under the sea. The
Stone Forest area (Shilin) is home to the Sani
minority group, a branch of the Yi tribe reputed
for their diligence, valour, wisdom, exquisite
embroidery, melodious songs and graceful dances.
They put on nightly performance showing their
cultural activities. Check out the medicine
stores where you can buy China's famous herbal
medical products valued for their efficacy.
Lunch at Ashima Great Hotel. After lunch we
enter the Stone Forest National Park for
sightseeing. At about 4pm we drive
one-and-a-half hours back to Kunming for dinner
of Yunnan rice noodle and pot-steamed chicken.
Overnight at Huazhou or Bank Hotel (5-star) or
hotel of your choice, Kunming.
Day 05: Kunming - Lijiang (Breakfast/ Lunch/
Dinner)
Morning call at 8am and breakfast before leaving
the hotel to go to airport for the flight to
Lijiang. Upon arrival in Lijiang, transfer to
town and check into hotel before dashing into
the old town for lunch followed by sightseeing.
This lovely old town is a gem of northwest
Yunnan and high in popularity among visitors. It
is a world heritage site crisscrossed by canals
of rushing waters, quaint bridges and a
labyrinth of narrow granite streets. The focal
point of interest is the Market Square full of
Naxi women in their traditional dress around
mid-morning. Old Lijiang town has a majority
population of Naxi (descendants of the Tibetan
Qiang tribe), traditional houses of wood
surrounded by a profusion of flowers and
decorative plants, cobbled streets and gushing
canals between them and crisscrossing one
another, spanned by stone bridges, combined with
a gracious people and wonderful scenery to make
it a tourist destination not to be missed. In
the afternoon, tour the Black Dragon Pool Park
and visit the famous Dongba Research Institute
to learn something about Naxi shamanism culture
and see the real ancient Naxi script. Later in
the afternoon, go on a guided tour of Unesco’s
''Ancient City of Lijiang'' for about 2 hours
and be fascinated by this world heritage site.
In a recent earthquake when the new buildings in
Lijiang new town collapsed all those in the old
town remained standing. Dinner in a restaurant.
Overnight at Jiannanchun Hotel in the old city,
or Guanfang Hotel in the new city, Lijiang.
Day 06: Lijiang (Breakfast/ Lunch/ Dinner)
Breakfast at the hotel. At 9am we depart from
our hotel to drive one-hour to Yulong (Jade
Dragon) Snow Mountain National Park. A two-way
cable car goes to Love-Suicide Hill (where
horses can be hired to ride up to Dragon Spruce
Meadow, but we won’t go there). We take the
cable car to go farther up the mountain range to
Glacier Park- the highest chairlift in Asia. The
views of glaciers at such close quarters are
mesmerizing. Snowy peaks glitter in the sun
before our eyes. A ski-resort is in the making
here. At White-water River we will stop for 30
minutes to take in the scene before going to
lunch at the Snow Mountain Villa. At 1.30pm we
proceed to Jade Peak Lhama Monastery for an
encounter with Tibetan monks and talk to them
through your guide or if you speak Tibetan or
Chinese then directly. At Baisha village we make
a photo-stop. Naxi dinner with Chinese classical
music show will keep us entertained at Huangshan
village. For those people who have not have
enough of music and shows they can pay USD15 to
see the ''Splendid Lijiang Show'' at
Li-shui-jin-sha. The others are free to walk in
the Unesco-adopted ''Ancient City'' - a better
proposition - before we return to our hotel.
Overnight at Jiannanchun Hotel or Guanfang
Hotel, Lijiang.
Day 07: Lijiang - Shangrila (Breakfast/
Lunch/ Dinner)
Breakfast at the hotel. Morning departure by
road through fantastic scenery to Zhongdian,
recently renamed ''Shangrila''. After an hour's
drive we arrive at the small town of Shigu at
the first bend of the Yangtze River. Here we
will stop for half-an-hour to admire the beauty
of the river-and-rapids and ponder on the great
significance of this little place. If not for a
hill of rocks (Cloud Hill) blocking the
southward flowing Yangtze River thereby
diverting it north and eastwards, the Yangtze
would not be flowing through the heartland of
China - with disastrous consequences to Chinese
civilization. Proceed to Stone-Drum village to
see how the rural Yunnanese live. Tour the
awesome Tiger Leaping Gorge, a deep-sided ravine
twisting with the furious rush of frothing water
to form a spectacular scene of sheer beauty and
power. A two-hour drive takes us to Shangrila,
the fabled land that captured the imagination of
millions who read and heard about the book ''The
Lost Horizon'' written by James Hilton in 1933.
Tonight's dinner will be at our hotel or in a
restaurant in Shangrila. Be entertained tonight
by participating in a visit to a Tibetan family
and enjoy its cultural activities. Return to
your hotel filled with wonderment at this
Tibetan ''hada''.
Overnight at Gyalthang Dzong in the countryside
or Tianjieshenchuan Hotel in town, Shangrila.
Day 08: Shangrila (Breakfast/ Lunch/ Dinner)
Morning call at 8am and followed by breakfast at
the hotel. The fabled ''Shangri La'' of James
Hilton's waits to be discovered. The name
''Shangri La'' crops up everywhere to the
confusion of travellers. Deqin county is called
''Shangri La''; so also is the town of Zhongdian
renamed ''Shangri La''. Restaurants and even
grocery stores latch on to the name Shangrila.
Like the name ''Angkor'' in Siem Reap (Cambodia)
the eye-catching and mind-boggling name appears
everywhere. So also is the great scenery
everywhere in Zhongdian Shangri La. Sightseeing
of the Ganden Songzanlin Monastery where the
frescoes completed in the 15th century depicting
Taoist, Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist themes are
reputedly of the highest order. See Napahai Lake
beautiful only in summer; at other times it is a
marsh for flocks of birds. We will visit a local
market and a Tibetan Buddhism Book pavilion.
Lunch in a local restaurant and free until time
to transfer to the airport for the flight to
Kunming. Upon arrival in Kunming, meet and
transfer to tour the Western Hills on the
western side of Lake Dian for sightseeing. We go
up to the mountain top by cable car and see the
Dragon Gate grottoes, sculptures and pavilions
gouged into the cliff-face by a Taoist monk in
the late eighteenth century and have a bird's
eye view of Lake Dian. Visit the Taoist Sanqing
Temple (actually a group of temples, shrines and
pavilions which was a country villa of a Yuan
prince) before taking the mini-train back to our
waiting coach. On the way to the airport, we
stop at Huating Temple for a 30-minute visit. It
was the most important temple of the ancient
Nanzhou kingdom displaying fine statues, stupas
and superbly designed gardens. Then have a
leisurely lunch of pot-steamed chicken and
Yunnan wild mushrooms.
Free afternoon for self-exploratory of Kunming,
go shopping, experience a mineral bath, or a
Chinese massage.
Overnight at Huazhou or Bank Hotel or hotel of
your choice, Kunming.
Day 09: Kunming - Vientiane (Breakfast/
Lunch/ Dinner)
Breakfast at the hotel before proceeding to the
airport for the flight to Vientiane, the capital
of Laos, by QV827 (only Wednesdays & Sundays),
dep.1045/arr.1155. Upon arrival at Wattay
airport, meet and transfer to lunch at Hung
Hsing restaurant before check-in at your
pre-booked hotel in the city centre. Sightseeing
of Vientiane will include Wat Sisaket (built by
Prince Anou in 1818 of Thai design that was not
destroyed by the Thai invaders of the early
Bangkok period), Haw Pha Kaew (a former royal
temple built in 1565 to house the Emerald Buddha
that is now in Bangkok since 1779), That Luang
(the holiest of Lao temples that annually holds
a huge religious fair that attracts devotees
from all over Laos), and Patuxai (Laos' own Arc
de Triomphe). Dinner at Kua Lao restaurant of
good Lao food.
Overnight at Royal Dokmaideng or Lao Plaza Hotel
or hotel of your choice, Vientiane.
Day 10: Vientiane (Breakfast/ Lunch)
Breakfast at the hotel. Morning tour of the the
outskirt of the city to see rural Laos villages
and see how the villagers live. On the way out,
drop in at Wat Ong Teu Mahawihan in Thanon
Setthathilat, one of the most important temples
in Laos originally built by King Setthathirat in
the mid-16th century, was destroyed by the
Siamese, and rebuilt in the 19th century. The
wooden façade of the sim is a masterpiece of
Lao carving. There are three other temples along
this road but are of no particular interest
except for Wat Mixai with its Bangkok-style sim
and giant demons guarding its massive gates and
sharing the compound with a school of smiling
Lao children upon seeing visitors. We then drive
20km to the Lao-Thai border to visit Buddha Park
(Xieng Khuan) stopping at a couple of villages
along the way. On the opposite bank of the
Mekong River at this border is Nong Khai
(Thailand). This park was built in 1958 by Luang
Pu Bunleua Sulilat, a yogi-monk-shaman who
merged Hindu and Buddhist beliefs and mythology,
depicting this mish-mash in strange-looking
statues of the Buddha, Vishnu, Shiva and other
deities. A pumpkin structure represents the
three layers of earth, heaven and hell. This
yogi-monk now resides at Wat Khaek in Nong Khai
after he fled to Thailand following the 1975
communist take-over of Laos. Lunch in a
restaurant before returning to Vientiane. You
are free for the rest of the afternoon to engage
in more sightseeing or better still indulge in a
typical Lao herbal steam bath (US$1) and good
Lao massage (US$2) at Wat Sok Pa Luang located
in the road by the same name. Or for those who
want to meet Lao students they would want to
visit Dong Dok University about 9km north of the
city where students at the Foreign Language
Institute there are delighted to talk to
foreigners in English, French, Japanese and
Vietnamese.
Overnight at Royal Dokmaideng or Lao Plaza Hotel
or hotel of your choice, Vientiane.
Day 11: Vientiane - Departure (Breakfast)
Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to the airport
for your departure flight.
End of Tour & Services
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Prices inclusive of:
Domestic
airfares Kunming-Lijiang, Shangrila-Kunming
10 nights' hotel accommodation with daily breakfast
7 dinners and 8 lunches
All transfers and transportation in air-conditioned car/van/coach
Tours as stated in the programme
All entrance fees when on tours, tolls and parking charges
Boat fares in Bangkok
Cable car and train fares in Yunnan
English, Thai, Chinese speaking guide services |
Prices exclusive
of:
Regional
airfares and their airport taxes: BKK-Kunming, KMG-Vientiane, and
departure flight from Vientiane
Visa fees of China (US$40) obtain at embassy & Laos (US$30)
visa-on-arrival
Drinks at meals other than what is served at table
Expenses of a personal nature like massage, use of hotel mini bar,
laundry, phone calls, room service and the like |
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