This fabulous tour is incredible value for the price and covers all of the following: 

• Return Air fares from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane with Thai International into Kunming and out of Chengdu, plus 3 flights within China. 

• A 13 day tour of China including 4 days in mysterious Lhasa, Tibet. Yunnan Province is home for most of China's fascinating hill tribe people. In Chengdu you will visit the wonderful Giant Panda Research & Breeding Centre. 

• Good quality mianly four star accommodation with private facilities throughout. 

• All meals. 

• A two night stopover in Thailand. 

• All transfers and transport.   

• Services of local tour guides in China and Thailand, and if there are 14 or more passengers there will be an Australian tour leader.

If you don't have a travel partner but wish to travel at twin share rates, we will try to match you up with someone else in the same position, but this is not guaranteed. For a single room there is an additional cost of $535.

This will be a small group tour with a maximum of about 22 passengers. 

Tour Itinerary

Terms and Conditions

Booking Form

Top of Page

	Itinerary for  Yunnan (South China) and Tibet Tour
	Included meals are indicated as B = Breakfast, L =Lunch, D = Dinner
09.09.11	Depart Brisbane at 2.00pm on TG474, arriving in Bangkok at 8.20pm. Depart Melbourne at 3.00pm on TG466, arriving in Bangkok at 9.55pm. Depart Sydney at 3.25pm on TG478, arriving in Bangkok at 9.55pm. All flights will be met at the airport and transferred to the 4 star Amari Don Muang hotel for a 2 night stay.
10.09.11 (B,L,D)	Today we head north to Ayuttaya, Thailand's former capital. Our first stop is at the royal folk arts and crafts center Bang Sai Arts and crafts center was the idea of HM Queen Sirikit. The center was established under royal patronage in 1976 and has grown into a hugely successful project covering over 14 acres of land. All materials used in the crafts are local and easily obtainable. Allhandicrafts produced are sold and the money goes to the workers themselves. There is a beautiful pavillion which has been handmade and mirrors the traditional Thai structures which people once called home. This pavillion is where members of the royal family stay when they visit Bang Sai. Within the grounds of the center, there is a bird sanctuary which is a must-see. This center is home to many rare breeds and the bridge across it allows visitors to enjoy the birds close up. There is a gift shop onsite which sells souveneirs. The grounds themselves are stunning and maintained by members of the center who have been trained in gardening. Next we visit the Bang Pa In, the old Royal Summer Residence set in magnificent and extensive grounds. After inspection, we go to the Chao-Phrya River where we get into the long tail boats for a wonderful 45 minutes trip along the river to Ayuttaya where we have lunch. After lunch we inspect the amazing world heritage historical park to see the many temples and pagodas that were sacked by the Burmese in the 18th century. There will  be a short time for shopping at the temple markets before returning to Bangkok.
11.09.11 (B,D)	Transfer to Bangkok airport, departing at 10.50am on TG612, arriving in Kunming at 2.05pm. Arrive in Kunming, a city famous for the mild climate, beautiful natural scenery, and has the nickname of the City of Eternal Spring. Check in to the Golden Dragon Hotel for a 2 night stay.
12.09.11 (B,L,D)	Kunming A full day tour to Stone Forest, one of the most remarkable nature phenomena in China. 86km away from Kunming, it consists of 80 hectares of innumerable bizarre shaped ancient limestone cliffs and peaks created by wind and water erosion some 270million years ago. It is the home of Sani Tribe, one of the branches of Yi Minority People.
13.09.11 (B,L,D)	Kunming - Dali Take the morning flight to Dali, a famous ancient city in China. Visit the Bai People's Town Xizhou for its colourful morning market and the traditional Bai House. Visit the honouable aged Three Pagodas, symbols of outstanding architectural technology, the wisdom of the ancient laboring people and the brillant cultures of Dali. Visit the Old Town of Dali for its traditional Bai's lifestyle and various things in the interesting market. Check into the Landscape Hotel for 1 night stay.
14.09.11 (B,L,D)	Dali-Lijiang After breakfast, drive to Lijiang. Visit the Ancient City, which is regarded as the 'Oriental Venice', unsophisticated and picturesque. Visit Black Dragon Pool renowned for the beautiful reflection of the Jade Dragon Snow-capped Mountain and various famous pavillions. Check into Wangfu Hotel for a 2 nights stay.
15.09.11 (B,L,D)	Lijiang Take the chair lift up to the Yunshan Meadow to view the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. It is a famous mountain with thirteen peaks resembling Jade Pillars. Enjoy the mountain show of Lijiang Impression. Visit Yufeng Lamaim Temple, and Naxi village, Yuhu.
16.09.11 (B,L,D)	Lijiang - Tiger Leaping Gorge - Zhongdian Transfer and visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge, which is one of the world-famous deepest canyons of the world. Then continue to drive to Zhongdian, the plateau under the blue Tibetan sky, and the capital of the Deqin Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Upon arrival, visit the Songzanglin (Guihua) Lamaism Monastery. Resembling the Potala Palace Lhasa, it was built by the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century and having a current population of about 800 monks. Check into the Sightseeing Hotel for 1 night.
17.09.11 (B,L,D)	Zhongdian - Lhasa Transfer to the airport for the flight to Lhasa. Free at leisure in the afternoon to adjust yourself for the high altitude. Accommodation at Tangka Hotel for 4 nights.
18.09.11 (B,L,D)	Lhasa After breakfast, first visit the holy place for Tibetan, Potala Place, first and foremost the residence of the Dalai Lama and his large staff. In addition, it was the seat of Tibetan government, where all ceremonies of state were held; it housed a school for religous training of monks and administrators; and was one of Tibet's major pilgrimage destinations because of the tombs of past Dalai Lamas. Nowadays, its more like a museum. Then visit the Johkang Temple. This is a holy temple for Tibetan's, which is still active. Everyday, there are thousands of Tibetan praying and worshiping to the statue of Ancient Tibetan King, Songzam Ganpo, and statue of Sakyamuni, which was brought  to Lhasa by the Nepal Princess in the 7th century. Here you can see how religious the Tibetan are. Finally you will mingle with local Tibetan in Bhakor Street bazaar around Jorkang Temple. In the market, you can find all kind of handicrafts and daily things for tourists as well as the Tibetan people. The surrounding trail is also the pilgrims' route in the early morning and late afternoon. Turning their praying wheels, Tibetans make the holy circles, mumuring their praying words for the happiness of their lives.
19.09.11 (B,L,D)	Lhasa Visit the Drepung Monastery, which is known as Tibet's largest and the most important temple of Gelug Sect of Buddhism. It is considered on of the 'Three Great Temples' (the other two are the Ganden Temple and the Sera Temple). Covering an area of 250,000 square meters, it held 7,700 monks in total amd possesed 141 fazendas and 540 pastures in its heyday, and is the largest-scale temple among the ones of the same kind. After that, we will visit Sera Monastery. As one of the three famous temples in Lhasa along with the Drepung Temple and the Gandem Temple, Sera Temple is also one of the six great temples of the Gelug Sect of Buddhism in Tibet. There, in the afternoon, the most interesting thing is to see the monks, after finishing their morning scripture classes, do debating in the courtyard, which is quite like quarrelling or fighting. It is a way to find the truth of the Tibetan religion. The day will be finished with a visit to the Summer Palace, also Norbulingka. Construction began in the 1740's, the area used to be wasteland with wild animals, weeds and scrub which the Seventh Dalai Lama liked and often visited, and, as a result, the Qing magistrate had a palace built. Years later, Kelsang Potrang was built by order of the Seventh Dalai Lama. Later it was used as the Summer Palace for successive Lamas, where they solve the political problems and held festive celebrations.
20.09.11 (B,L,D)	Lhasa Transfer to visit Namsuo Lake, is head of the three big God Lakes in Tibet. Opposite it, there are the high snow-covered dominant peaks of the Danggula Mountain whose inverted image lies in the lake. This scene is very wonderful and marvelous. Thousands of believers go to Namsu Lake to pilgrimage in the year of the sheep. These believers circle the lake clockwise, waving the Jingtong (a kind of instrument used in Buddhist ceremonies), and reading Buddhist sutras. It takes them 10 days to complete their travel on foot. If they wak and kowtow at the same time; it takes 3 months to accomplish. En route, stopover to visit the Tibetan villages.
21.09.11 (B,L,D)	Lhasa - Chengdu Transfer to the airport for the flight to Chengdu. Upon arrival, visit Jinli Street and Wuhou Temple, which is built for memorial of the Shu kingdom premier during Three Kingdom period. Have a short walk at Jinli street next by, all of the buildings along thsi street are in traditional Chinese construction style. Check in at Dilun for 2 nights.
22.09.11 (B,L,D)	Chengdu In the morning, drive to see the pandas at Chengdu researching center of giant panda breeding, panda cubs, baby pandas and grown-up pandas are all for your visit at the center. Visitors are allowed to hug a panda and take picture with it given that you would like to donate the panda protection project. In the afternoon, visit Jinsha museum where the original relics unearthed site is on shown, you will found the ancient sichuan cultural about 3000-4000 years ago was amazingly attractive. Then visit Huanhua park where we can have a sip of Chinese tea and enjoy leisure life as the local Chengdu people.
23.09.11 (B)	Morning free in Chengdu. Transfer to the airport for flight TG619 departing at 2.00pM, arriving in Bangkok at 5.35pm. Sydney passengers depart Bangkok at 7.15pm on TG475, arriving in Sydney at 7.20am (24.09.11). Melbourne and Brisbane passengers will be transferred into Bangkokfor a Thai dinner and display of classical Thai dancing before being transferred back to Bangkok airport. This cost is $58.00 per person. People can choose to stay at the airport instead of doing this if they wish. Brisbane passengers depart Bangkok at 11.59pm on TG473, arriving in Brisbane at 11.50am (24.09.11).
24.09.11	Melbourne passengers departt Bangkok at 12.15am on TG465, arriving in Melbourne at 12.05pm.
Note:	It is possible that the Brisbane and Melbourne passengers will be asked to pay $25.00 Bangkok departure tax because they have left the airport.

Top of Page

Deposits and Payments - A non-refundable deposit of $200.00 per person is payable within 7 days of booking. This deposit is not refundable should you later cancel. The balance is payable in full 8 weeks prior to departure.

Refunds and Cancellations - Cancellations after final payment will result in a refund limited to whatever we can recoup from the airline.

Insurance - Adequate travel insurance is essential. We can arrange this for you if desired.

Passports - All travellers require a current passport with at least 6 months left on it at the end of the tour. Non-Australian passport holders require a re-entry visa for Australia.  Visas are required for all Australian passport holders to China. Visa fee for an Australian passport holder is $40.00 plus consulate processing fee of $55 and we charge $30.00 for processing.  Please note: Visa fees are subject to any increases imposed by the Chinese Consulate.

Basic Tour Price and Taxes - Air taxes and fuel levies are included in the basic tour price, and as air taxes and fuel levies change regularly  the exact amount will be advised at time of invoicing. At present air taxes and fuel levies come to $410 for the standard tour. Total tour cost may therefore change.

Not  Included in the Cost -  Travel insurance and all items of a personal nature such as telephone calls, drinks, excess baggage, tips, meals (except those specified in the itinerary), etc. are not included in the cost.
Similarly, credit card payments can only be accepted if 2% is added to the price to help defray the heavy merchant fees charged to us by the credit card companies.

Breakaway Fee
All fully inclusive prices are based on group travel and any deviation from the set itinerary will incur a breakaway fee.

Booking through other Agents - As we keep the cost of our tours as low as possible, there is insufficient margin for us to be able to pay commission to other travel agents, so some bookings can only be accepted if the client pays the other agent's commission. 
Macleay Valley Travel is a fully licensed travel agent and as such any monies paid to us are fully insured by the Travel Compensation Fund. We are happy for any prospective traveller with us to check us out with your local Consumer Affairs (fair trading) department.

Health and Fitness -Macleay Valley Travel recommends that the passenger is reasonably healthy and/or fit to participate in this tour.  Persons with a disability requiring special assistance must be accompanied by a companion. Macleay Valley Travel and their representatives cannot provide this service.  Macleay Valley Travel reserves the right to accept/decline or terminate a passenger's participation in the tour under certain circumstances.

Limitation of Liability - As Macleay Valley Travel acts only as agent for the Airlines, Hotels, Coach Companies etc., providing accommodation, transportation and other services, Macleay Valley Travel shall not be liable or responsible for death or injury to any person or loss or damage to any property including baggage arising out of or connection with any transportation, accommodation or other services, or resulting directly or indirectly from acts of God, fire, breakdown in machinery or equipment, acts of Government or other authorities, de jure or defacto wars, whether declared or not, hostilities, civil disturbances, strikes, riots, thefts, epidemics, quarantines, medical or customs regulations, delays or cancellations caused by changes in schedules or itinerary, or over bookings or defaults or for any causes beyond Macleay Valley Travel's control or any loss or damage resulting from improper or insufficient passports, visas or other documents and neither Macleay Valley Travel, and its servants or employees shall be or become liable or responsible for any additional expenses or liability sustained or incurred by the tour member as a result of the foregoing causes.
Top of Page