The Road to Shangri La
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Trip Highlights
- Volunteering with English teaching, harvesting and crop planting, learning about Chinese medicine
- Yunnan Province’s diversity and matchless beauty
- Boat cruise through the fairytale landscapes on the Li River
- Dali - the colourful ancient capital of the Bai people, known for their marble & brilliant textiles
- Tiger Leaping Gorge and Yangtze River
- Tibetan tablelands
- Shangri La - the pearl of South Kham, famed for its impressive mountains and the most beautiful highland lakes on earth
Your "Taste of Volunteering" Project
It is with the Naxi people in South-West China that you will volunteer by teaching English, harvesting and crop planting, and where you will also learn about Chinese medicine.
Trip Summary
Starting from Hong Kong, you’ll visit the southwestern province of Yunnan with its diversity and matchless beauty and you continue on the Li River from Guilin to Yangshuo to arrive in Dali, the colourful ancient capital of the Bai people.
This journey takes you from China’s south coast to the southwestern province of Yunnan: a region where the results of nature’s forces can be seen in all their diversity and matchless beauty. We start from the city of life in Hong Kong; after our leisurely cruise through the fairytale landscapes on the Li River from Guilin to Yangshuo, we fly via Kunming to Dali. Dali is the colourful ancient capital of the Bai people, known for their marble, brilliant textiles and excellent horse breeding. We drive southeast to Lijiang, home of the Naxi people who even today maintain a matriarchal society.
It is with the Naxi people that you will volunteer by teaching English, harvesting and crop planting, and where you will also learn about Chinese medicine.
This routing leaves us enough time to really appreciate the fascinating mountain people who populate the lush valleys of the Upper Yangtze, as well as the awesome landscapes through which we travel. It also means that we can reach some of the less frequented sites such as the sacred Yulong Shue Shan (Jade Dragon Peak), and the breathtaking Tiger Leaping Gorge through which the Yangtze River foams and roars on her way down to the plains, offering some of the most dramatic views in China.
From here, our trip takes us across the Tibetan tablelands to Gyalthang, also known as Zhongdian, or, Shangri La - the pearl of South Kham, famed for its impressive mountains and the most beautiful highland lakes on earth.
* Note Comfort Level
Accommodation is in comfortable 4* hotels (12 nights), with one night on overnight sleeper train, and one night in a guesthouse in Tiger Leaping Gorge.
If you like this trip, you may also be interested in:
Indonesia - Lombok Love Affair
Laos - Sticky Rice
Nepal - Native In Nepal
Thailand - Smiles of Siam
Thailand - Thai/Lao Explorer
Vietnam - Hanoi & Hilltribes
Feel free to contact us if you have any enquiries about this trip.
