Ecotourism and Social Change in Southwest China and Tibet
May 28 through June 14, 2005
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Maps
(Yunnan Province is in Southern China north of Myanmar/Burma, Laos, and Vietnam)
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Itinerary
(Click on Images for a Larger View)
| May 28 | Arrive at Kunming Airport. Jason will meet us. Go to hotel and settle in. Take a walking tour of Green Jade Dragon Park. |
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| May 29 | Exlore Kunming. Meet with representatives of the
Center for Biodiversity and Indigenous
Knowledge (CBIK). We will learn about their projects in Yunnan. Visit the Western Mountain Forest Reserve in the morning. In the afternoon, we will visit the Yunnan Ethnic Village - a cultural heritage park built for the Yunnan Kunming World Expo 1999. |
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| May 30 | Kunming to Dali. Dali is a 600 year old Bai built fortress that has become a town on the shores of Erhai Lake. Here we will stay in a hostel inside the city walls and visit a nearby fishing village. |
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| May 31 | Dali. We will take a tram up the mountain to an ancient road that is now home to an interesting collection of "rural outdoor" Chinese Recreation activities. We will stay at the Higherland Lodge, with spectacular views of Erhai Lake and the Dali valley. |
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| June 1 | Dali to Lijiang. Lijiang is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We will stay in the old part of the city and explore the labyrinth like structure of an old world Naxi (a minority group of Yunnan) city. |
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| June 2 | Lijang. Meet with representative from The Nature Conservancy at the TNC headquarters for Yunnan Province. Learn about TNC projects, sites, and policies. Click here for the TNC's Yunnan Great Rivers Project Overview |
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| June 3 |
Lijiang to Wenhai. After staying in Lijiang, we will hike to the Wenhai Ecolodge. We will take a 5-hour hike to a Nazi village that is the site of the lodge. This ecolodge was built in conjunction with the TNC. We will stay one night.
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| June 4 | Wenhai to Jisha to Zhongdian. We will then start our ascent into the Himalayas by bus as we will travel higher into the Tibetan Plateau en route to Zhongdian - the "real" Shangri-la. |
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| June 5 | Zhongdian. A free day to explore the city and relax. Zhongdian is a border town between China and Tibet. Called Gyelthang by the Tibetans and Zhongdian by the Chinese, this town is now referred to "Shangri-La" due to the Shangri-la Nature Reserve established here. |
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| June 6 | Zhongdian to Genay. We will visit a large Yellow-hat Gelupa
Monastery (the Dali-Lama's sect). We will then travel to the small Tibetan
village of Genay for a home-stay in a traditional Tibetan household. |
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| June 7 | Zhongdian to Deqin. This is the portion of the trip where we gain
elevation. The bus ride is 6 hours long and goes over a 4500 meter pass.
This is a spectacular ride deep in the Himalayas. Only opened to foreigners in 2001, this town is being bombarded with development from tourism. Spend night at Mt. Meili Lamasary. |
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| June 8 | Deqin to Mekong River - We had hoped to spend the day treking, but the weather was too threatening. Spend the night in Deqin. |
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| June 9 | Meili Snow Mountain. The Tibetans consider this a holy site, but it has been developed by the Chinese as a tourist destination. They are actively developing infrastructure to accommodate visitors, while the Tibetans make pilgrimages around them. Spend the day hiking to the Glacier. Spend the night in Deqin. |
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| June 10 | Deqin to Zhongdian. While taking the bus back
to Zhongdian, we will stop at the 4500 meter pass an hike around in the
nearby mountains. |
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| June 11 | Zhongdian - Attend the Tibetan horse race festival. |
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| June 12 | Fly Back to Kunming. |
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| June 13 | Kunming. Spend the day exploring downtown Kunming. Visit the bird market. |
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| June 14 | Kunming. Travel to the Airport and back to the United States. |
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