Silk Road Tour by Luxury Orient Express Train
Tour A: Departure on Aug 31 (Xian - Urumqi)
Tour B: Departure on Sept 6 (Urumqi - Xian)
Day01: LAX – Beijing by flight
Depart from LAX and aboard a spacious jet for your transpacific journey.
Day02: Arrive at Beijing Beijing Pullman Hotel or same
Upon arrival, you will be transferred by air-conditioned coach to the hotel. After this long voyage, it will be a pleasure to settle into your luxurious accommodations. The rest of the afternoon will be free for you to spend as you wish.
Day03: Beijing (B/L/D) Beijing Pullman Hotel or same
You will visit the Great Wall today. On the way, you will have a short visit at a jade factory, where you will enjoy the beautiful jade art. Then, onto the legendary Great Wall, one of the wonders of the world, which took several dynasties to complete. Plan to bring comfortable walking shoes if you want to scale the Great Wall and its magnificent history. You will have a photo stop at the Olympic venues: Bird Nest and the Water Cube late in the afternoon. Dinner time you will enjoy the delicious Beijing specialty – Beijing Roast Duck diner .
Day04: Beijing – Xian by flight (B/L/D) Xian Sheraton Hotel or same
Today you will fly to Xian, the renowned starting point of the ancient Silk Road. Xian was also the capital belonging to eleven ancient dynasties in Chinese history. It is a city rich in over 5,000 years of culture and history, and a must stay while visiting China. Today you will visit the Han Yang Ling – the mausoleum of the 4th Emperor of the Han Dynasty where you will see many small size terra-cotta warriors and horses. Then you will go to visit the 600 years old City Wall. In the evening, you will enjoy the delicious Chinese dumplings banquet while watching the show Tang Dynasty Dance and Music.
Day05: Xian (B/L/D) Xian Sheraton Hotel or same
In the morning, you will drive to visit the Qin Terra-Cotta Army Museum, which has single-handedly transformed Xian from a provincial capital to a world-famous tourist destination and archaeological site. The site was first discovered on March 1974 by the local farmers when they were digging a well for irrigation. You will get a once in a life experience to witness these life size terra-cotta soldiers and horses which was created more than 2,000 years ago. You will visit the famous Big Wild Goose Pagoda; the place where the renowned Buddhist monk, Xuanzang (of the Tang Dynasty, from 1000 years ago), translated Buddhist scriptures brought back after his journey from India. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda was said to have been built by this famous monk for the sole purpose of translating the criptures. Our experienced guide will tell you the story why the Pagoda got the name Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Your trip to the Silk Road will also follow his steps to explore this mysterious ancient transportation way. After the Pagoda, you will go to visit the newly built Shaanxi History Museum, where you will enjoy many historic relics found in this Shaanxi province and get to know more about the Silk Road history. In addition, you will enjoy a renowned local specialty of various dumplings (meat, vegetable, seafood, fruit, etc.), a lesson in dumpling making, and the regional authentic recreation of Tang Dynasty (1000 CE) music, dance and costuming (The Tang was a very liberal period, as the clothing clearly shows).
Day06：Xian – Tianshui (B/L/D) on the deluxe train
Today you will leave Xian by taking the deluxe express train to the Silk Road tour. You will take the air-conditioned deluxe train to explore this wonderful Silk Road with over 2000 years history, but back to 2000 years ago the people could only go to this road on foot or by riding camels. When arriving at Tianshui, you will first visit the one of the 4 major Buddhism grottoes in China – the Maiji Mountain gets it's name from its giant, haystack-like shape. The mountain's fame arises not just from its appearance, but from the many Buddhist caves that are gouged into its southwestern face. This is the fourth largest area of concentrated Buddhist grottoes in China. After your visit in Tianshui, you will continue your journey by train to Lanzhou.
Day07: Lanzhou – Jiayuguan (B/L/D) on the deluxe train
You will arrive at Lanzhou by train in the morning. Lanzhou is the capital of Gansu Province in China’s far north and home to several of China’s many ethnic minority peoples. Lanzhou used to be a key point connecting central China and the western regions, as well as a vital city on the Silk Road. Today, Lanzhou is a hub of the Silk Road, with Maiji Caves to the east, Bingling Thousand Buddha Caves to the west, Labrang Monastery to the south and Dunhuang Mogao Caves to the north. Visit Yellow River water mill, Gansu Provincial Museum where you will see many antiques related to the ancient Silk Road. After dinner, you will continue the trip to Jiayuguan. The overnight train (soft sleeper train) are quite comfortable and offer wonderful evening and morning views of the regional countryside.
Day08: Jiayuguan (B/L/D) Jiayuguan Hotel
Jiayuguan is/was known as the “mouth of China” because of its position at the end of the Great Wall of China where it guarded the western boundary of Ming Dynasty China. The narrow river passage heading southeast from here is known as the Hexi Corridor and is nicknamed the “throat of China”. In Jiayuguan, you will visit the Great Wall Castle Pass Castle and the Great Wall built on the cliff. Tonight you will stay in the best hotel in Jiayuguan.
Day09: Jiayuguan – Dunhuang, by tour coach (B/L/D) Dunhuang Hotel
You will continue the journey by train to Dunhuang today. It is good to enjoy the landscape of the Gobi desert. Dunhuang (meaning ‘Blazing Beacon’) was an important trading center because it was the western-most outpost of China during the first century BC. Before dinner, you will visit Mingsha Sand Dunes and Crescent Lake. Here, you will have the option to ride camels or to climb the sand dunes for outstanding views of desert scenery that awed ancient travelers as well.
Day10: Dunhuang-Turpan (B/L/D) overnight in deluxe train
After breakfast in the morning, you will spend the whole morning visiting the Mogao Grottoes, where people say that in the 4th century, a Buddhist monk had a vision of 1000 Buddha, and began to carve on the sandstone cliffs of these grottoes, add art objects and Buddhist images. Many of these astonishing wall paintings and objects from the 4th century are still preserved today at the Mogao Grottoes where you can still have a first-hand taste of their beauty and serenity. After lunch, you can visit a factory where artisans still produce luminescent wine cups using jade from the Qilian Mountain. Continue your train journey to Turpan.
Day11: Arrive at Turpan (B/L/D) Turpan Hotel
Arriving at Turpan in the early morning. Turpan’s earliest names, Huozhou (“land of fire”), derived from its intense summer temperatures (over 40 C or 104 F) between June and August. Turpan is in the Turpan Basin, some 80 metres (260 feet) below sea level. The climate is extremely dry. Nearby Moon Lake, 154 metres (505 feet) below sea level, is the second lowest continental point in the world next the Dead Sea. There are many attractions you will be exploring: the Karez, an ancient sophisticated irrigation system devised by the Uygurs (a Moslem Turkic people); the Flaming Mountains, which look like they are on fire during the mid-day sun; the Ruins of Jiaohe, a Han Dynasty garrison that was destroyed by Genghis Khan. and the Emin Minaret. In the evening, you will enjoy the delicious roast lamb dinner and there will be a local Uygur traditional dance in the vineyard of the hotel. After the show, you can all visit the evening food market to experience the life and culture of the local people.
Day12： Turpan-Heavenly Lake-Urumqi (B/L/D) Hoi Tak Hotel or same
In the morning, you will take a bus drive to Urumqi (meaning “Beautiful Pastures” in Mongolian), the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. After lunch, you will drive to the azure Heavenly Lake (Tian Chi). In the foothills of the Heavenly Mountains, Kazakh families pitch their yurts during the summer and graze their herds of horses, sheep and cattle.
Day13： Urumqi - Shanghai by flight (B/L) Shanghai Huating Hotel or same
Today you will take the flight to Shanghai - the largest and most prosperous city in the nation. Shanghai is one of the economic, financial and cultural centers of the world. You'll be fascinated by all the different sites as you tour or walk the streets of Shanghai.
Day14: Shanghai ( B/L/D) Shanghai Huaing Hotel or same
Today you will take the city excursion to visit the Yu Garden and the old section of Shanghai, then you will go to visit. Shanghai Museum – one of the best museums in China, then the Nanking Road – the largest shopping street in China and in the late afternoon you will go to visit the Waterfront Bund where you will enjoy the beautiful view of Shanghai to see its glorious past in 1930s and today’s newly developing Shanghai. You can get a sense of the fast-paced, fashionable lifestyles of Shanghai residents.
Day15: Shanghai (B) Shanghai Huating Hotel or same
World Expo 2010 Shanghai, China. This is a great event to explore the full potential of urban life. Centered on innovation and interaction, it will also offer a wonderful opportunity for cross-culture dialogues. Today you will have a full day to Today you will have a full day to visit this World Expo. Note: Shanghai World Expo 2010 will be from May 1 to Oct 31, 2010. For more info, please visit: http://en.expo2010.cn/
Day16: Shanghai – LAX MU583 13:30pm/10:30am
You will take the maglev train to the airport and fly from Shanghai back to LAX in the afternoon. Your trip to China will finish today.