_ Kiwifruit Growers' Tour to China
18th September to 4th October
2005
Day 1 Auckland/HongKong
Depart Auckland this afternoon arriving in Hong Kong in the
evening.
Overnight Hong Kong
Day 2 Hong Kong
The exciting city of Hong Kong. A chance to relax, try the
shopping and soak up the sights. Visit markets to look at
kiwifruit and discuss the Hong Kong and China markets with
Zespri representatives.
Overnight Hong Kong
Day 3 Hong Kong Beijing
This morning we fly to Beijing. 8.00am depart Hong Kong on
Dragonair arriving Beijing at 11.05am Sightseeing in the city
and check in to hotel.
Overnight Beijing
Day
4 Beijing
No visit to China would be complete without seeing the Great
Wall. Today we visit this incredible structure which is 6350
km long. We stop for lunch on our way back to Beijing and
this afternoon we go to Xiadan Street and look for bargains
in the shops. After dinner walk through the night food markets
where you can buy just about anything you can think of to
eat.
Overnight Beijing
Day 5 Beijing - Xian
We also enjoy many of the famous sights of Beijing including
Tiananmen Square - the world's largest square and the Imperial
Palace (Forbidden City) home of the Ming and Qing dynasty
emperors. Sited on 72 hectares of land with 9000 rooms covering
a floor space of 150,000 square metres. This afternoon we
fly to Xian a city of great historical and cultural interest
and the capital of China for 1087 years (11 dynasties). WH2128
departs Beijing at 4.40pm and arrives Xian at 6.05pm.
Overnight Xian
Day 6 Xian
One of the highlights of our tour is the visit to the buried
army of the Emperor Qin Shi Huang. This 2180 year old terracotta
army of more than 8000 soldiers was discovered in 1974. We
also see the tomb of the emperor who lived from 259 to 210
BC. Other visits include BanPo Museum (the archaeological
site of a 6000 year old neolithic village) the City Wall (12
metres high) which follows the boundaries of the Tang Imperial
City and local markets. This evening an entertaining look
at Chinese culture with the Tang Dynasty Show.
Overnight Xian
Day 7 Xian - Taibei
Drive 40Km to Huxian district where we visit the peasants
painting exhibition. This is famous for local traditional
peasants artist works, such as paintings, paper cuts, embroidery,
wood carving, shadow playing performances. Those works reflect
the local peasants simple and natural lifestyle. Lunch with
farmers family. Then drive 80km to Taibei Summer Resort. We
drive through the countryside and see many fields growing
kiwifruit. We visit farmers on the way.
Overnight Taibei Hotel
Day 8 Taibei - Xian
In the morning, we take the cable car to Taibei Mountain to
see wild kiwifruit (monkey fruit). The season for harvesting
and packing of wild kiwifruit is September. In the afternoon,
visit the Provincial Fruit Tree Research Center of Shaanxi,
which is a centre for research into how to cultivate and grow
new species of fruit (including kiwifruit) and other trees
for China. Here we see many kinds of trees displayed. We can
exchange views with experts in this centre.
Overnight Gudu Hotel Xian.
Day 9 Xian - Chongqing
This morning we fly to Chongqing. WH2521 departs Xian at 9.45am
and arrives Chongqing at 11.05am. Chongqing is also called
Mountain City (like San Francisco) and has the biggest population
of any city in China (16,000,000). The city is located in
the southwest part of China where you can see people, markets
and residential houses which are different from the southern
part of China. We visit a citrus and silk worm cooperative.
This evening board the boat for the Yangtze Cruise.
Overnight On board
Day 10 Yangtze River Cruise
In the morning the boat sets off for Fengdu as we begin our
exciting trip on the Yangtze River. The steep mountains are
very changeable and we see villages with different crops on
the slopes on each side of the river. In the afternoon, we
arrive at Fengdu, the city of ghosts. We take a cable car
ride to visit a Taoist temple and a Buddhist temple.
Overnight On board
Day 11 Yangtze River Cruise
The boat passes White Emperor Temple which was built in 4th
century on the north bank. Then the boat approaches the magnificent
Qutang Gorge. After one hour, we arrive in Wushan County,
Here we take several small boats, spending five hours on a
tributary of the Yangtze to see the Small Three Gorges. During
the journey we can see many coffins suspended half way up
the steep peaks. This is still a mystery. No one knows how
the ancient people hung those coffins on such high steep cliffs.
We return to the main boat. After 2 hours, we go through the
beautiful Lady Wu Gorge.
Overnight On board
Day 12 Yangtze River Cruise
In the early morning, we will pass through the Xining Gorge,
the longest and historically most dangerous of the Three Gorges
and the site of the new Three Gorges Dam project.
Overnight On board
Day 13 Wuhan - Guilin
The boat arrives at Wuhan at 11.30am this morning. Wuhan is
one of biggest industrial cities in China. After lunch depart
at 1.30pm for the overnight train journey to Guilin.
Overnight Train
Day 14 Guilin
There is an old saying in China " the scenery in Guilin
is the best under the sky". It has always been famous
for its stunning limestone peaks. 7.09am arrive in Guilin.
Check in to hotel and this afternoon visit a kiwifruit farm.
Overnight Guilin
Day 15 Guilin
This morning we take a cruise on the Li River, one of the
highlights of the trip and an opportunity to enjoy quite different
scenery compared to the huge Yangtze Gorges. Lunch on the
boat. In the afternoon, we arrive at Yangshuo. This is a tiny
county town set amidst pinnacles, and makes a great base from
which explore other small villages in the nearby countryside.
We take a bus back to Guilin to see the cave Ludi. On the
way back, we will pass many villages with huge rice fields,
orchards, vegetables and fish ponds. We stop to talk to peasants
about their enterprises. Some of the most extraordinary scenery
Guilin has to offer is underground. The cave Ludi (Reed Flute
cave) is rather like a set from "Journey to the center
of the Earth". One grotto the Grystal Palace of the Dragon
King can comfortably hold about 1000 people. The dominant
feature of the cave is a great slab of white rock hanging
from a ledge like cataract, while opposite stands a huge stalagmite
said to resemble an old scholar.
Overnight Guilin
Day 16 Guilin - Hong Kong
- Auckland
Today we fly to Guangzhou departing Guilin at 9.15am on SZ3302
and arriving Guangzhou at 10.05am. A city sights tour this
morning and then travel by train to Hong Kong departing Guangzhou
at 2.28pm and arriving Hong Kong at 4.00pm
Transfer to the airport to connect with your flight to Auckland.
CZ 107 departs Hong Kong at 8.25pm
Day 17 Arrive Auckland
12.10pm Arrive Auckland
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