8 Days Yunnan Minority life Experience to Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La

Then drive to Kunming Train Station on 16:00pm and take a late afternoon high-speed/Bullet train to Dali. Meet and pick up by the local guide and driver, transfer to your hotel.

Then transfer to Zhoucheng village and learn to make the local famous Tie-dye cloth. Then drive back to visit old town of Dali, weathered gray granite stands at 2,100 meters on a long, narrow rice plain between the Cangshan Mountains and the Erhai Lake, a natural configuration that seems specially designed for a good, bountiful life. Format of the old town is like a chessboard with four gates guarding in the directions of east, south, west and north, a design that was adopted by most towns in ancient China.

After lunch, continue to heading to Lijiang. Upon arrival, check in the hotel. Then visit old town of Lijiang with Zhongyi Local market and Black Dragon Pond with Dongba Museum. A gathering place of rugged mountain people with the Naxi forming the majority, Lijiang is a small mountain town of stone and tile, laced with swift canals, which was enlisted as an UNESCO World Cultural Heritage in 1999.

Then visit the Yuhu Village, a simple village of Naxi minority with the former residence of Dr. Joseph Rock. Dr. Rock, an Austro-American botanist and explorer who lived here off and on from 1922-1949, is best remembered for the introduction of innumerable plant species to the West and his rigorous works on Naxi ethnology. (if clients don’t want to visit the former residence of Dr. Joseph Rock.) Then drive back to visit Si Fang Jie (Square Street) of Old town of Lijiang is a big area with its center, or in the form of an official ink stone, hence its name Dayan (ink stone) Town. It enjoys a long history of over 800 years and unlike most of the old towns in China, there is no city walls due to a superstitious belief of the local ruler whose family name is Mu (tree), when encircled by walls, would be Kun (besieged). Wooden structures, mountains, small rivers and lanes integrate harmoniously in this mountain town.Visit Yushui village of Naxi.

Buffet breakfast at hotel. We drive to Zhongdian, also named Shangri-La with stops and visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge on the way. Go hiking in the Tiger Leaping Gorge for two hours,from Halfway guesthouse to Tina’s guesthouse. Wedged tightly between titanic cliffs, the river is so narrow here, as legend tells us, that a hunted tiger made his escape to the other side in a single bound. Here, the Jade Dragon Snow Mountains and the Haba Snow Mountains lean close to each other and a large volume of torrent moving between them cutting deeper and deeper into the bottom of the gorge. In some places there is a drop of 3,000 meters to the water. Clients will change to a local van and up to half-way guesthouse and start they 2 hours’ hiking from half way to Tina’. Then meet your driver and drive to Shangri-la, have a short stop at Xiaohzongdian and take some photos, enjoy the high-altitude grassland scenery. Arrive at Zhongdian in the late afternoon, check in the hotel

Then, drive back to Du Ke Zong Romantic Village and learn to do Hand-paint Mani Stone, in addition to the "six-character truth" and Tibetan scriptures "卍" symbols, Mani stone carvings are also carving various Buddha statues as well as dragons, frogs, fish, birds, lions, elephants, pagodas ,Flowers and other patterns. In addition to pay attention to decoration, Mani stone carvings also incorporated the rich worldly life into the sculpture. Today, Mani stone is no longer as a symbol for religious meaning, it becomes a life-oriented artistic. People put Mani stone in the room for decoration.

Today you will be transferred to the airport and back to your sweet home, wish you have a pleasant home journey.