Tour AC08 - Tracing the Silk Road

Day 1: Canada - Beijing
We start our journey to the Middle Kingdom with a transpacific flight to Beijing.

Day 2: Beijing We arrive in Beijing, the political and cultural capital of China. We are greeted at the airport by our local tour guide and make our way to the hotel. We get a good night’s sleep and prepare for our first day of touring in this land of wonder and mystery.

Day 3: Beijing - Urumqi
Today, we leave Beijing for Urumqi by air. Urumqi is the provincial capital of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, known for its majestic open landscapes. Upon arrival, we go sightseeing at the Lake of Heaven. At an elevation of 6,435 feet above sea level, it is a beautiful highland lake. Flanked by rugged pines and cypresses, the lake is home to clear waters that reflect the figures of surrounding mountains. In winter, the site provides an excellent place for an alpine skating rink. After this visit, we go to the Hill of Heaven Grassland. We take part in a dinner banquet where roasted lamb is served to us as we enjoy the calm evening.

Day 4: Urumqi - Turpan
We eat breakfast and then take our motor coach to Turpan. This Uighur town is set in a large oasis surrounded by desert and dry mountains. Upon arrival, we visit the mysterious Gaochang Ruins. We see a prosperous ancient trading center and even a military stronghold. You have an opportunity to sightsee the Flaming Mountains and Baizeklik Thousand Buddha Caves. We enjoy the minority group’s singing and watch a dancing show in the evening.

Day 5: Turpan - Urumqi
While in Turpan, we take the opportunity to eat its famous large and sweet grapes. A visit to the Grape Valley and the Karez Underground Irrigation Channels is a real treat. We then take our motor coach back to Urumqi in the evening.

Day 6: Urumqi - Dunhuang
On this day, we fly to the city of Dunhuang. During the Han and Tang dynasties, Dunhuang was a major interchange between China and the outside world, a stopping-off post for both incoming and outgoing trading caravans. Upon arrival, we sightsee the Singing Sand Mountains and Crescent Moon Lake.

Day 7: Dunhuang
A week into our tour, we visit the Mogao Caves and the World Art Treasure House. It is possibly the world’s most important site of ancient Buddhist culture. The grottoes, also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddha, preserve nearly a thousand years of Buddhist cave-temple architecture, clay sculpture, mural paintings, and manuscripts. They date back to the fifth to fourteenth centuries. The Mogao Grottoes are carved into desert cliffs overlooking a river valley about 25 kilometres southwest of Dunhuang. The caves vary enormously in size, from tiny single-room cells that served as living quarters for individual monks to huge, cavernous worship halls housing monumental sculptures and mural cycles. We enjoy the local cuisine for dinner and a singing and dancing show.

Day 8: Dunhuang - Lanzhou
We fly to Lanzhou, the capital city of the Gansu Province in the morning. Once we are there, we tour the Zhongshan Iron Bridge, the first bridge built on the Yellow River. We also treat ourselves to the well-known local hand-made beef noodle.

Day 9: Lanzhou - Yinchuan
After breakfast, we take a boat to Yongjing County to visit the Bingling Grottoes. Bingling is a Tibetan term meaning ten thousand Buddha. Today, there are about 183 caves with 694 stone sculptures, 82 clay figures and 900 square meters of murals have been preserved. The statues all come with different postures and facial expressions. After a long day of exploring caves, we have a nice dinner and then take a sleeper train overnight to Yinchuan.

Day 10: Yinchuan
We arrive in Yinchuan, a multifaceted place with the ancient Yellow River Culture, distinctive Islam Culture, unique Western Xia Culture, and frontier fortress culture in the morning. Upon arrival, we visit the Western Xia Tombs. The tombs were originally created by the founder of the Western Xia Kingdom nearly 1,000 years ago. There are nine main tombs and 140 annex tombs left, containing various important people, relatives, concubines or even empty spaces. We sightsee the Shahu Lake and the Helan Mountain Sculptures.

Day 11: Yinchuan - Baotou
We take a train to Baotou in the morning and visit Genghis Khan's Mausoleum, clearly the biggest attraction in this part of Inner Mongolia. The Mausoleum attracts thousands of visitors every month, and has been elevated to the status of a holy site.

Day 12: Baotou
We visit the Kubuqi Desert and the Resonant Sand Gorge. It is more a place of natural beauty than of historical importance. It receives its name from the echoing "shhhh" that the sand makes as you step on its surface. Visitors here can go on camel rides, parasail, slide down the dunes, or simply build sand castles.

Day 13: Baotou - Xilamuren
We take our motor coach to Xilamuren Grassland in the morning. Here you test your skills with Mongolian wrestling, horse and camel riding, rodeo competitions, or archery. We visit a traditional Mongolian tent (also called “yurt”), and venture to the Aobaos (which are rock mounds that are normally festooned with flags, meant for worship). In the evening, the camps prove to be an interesting sight. Several performances can be seen including traditional dancing, singing, playing from traditional Mongolian instruments.

Day 14: Xilamuren - Huhhot - Beijing
We take our motor coach to Huhhot. There, we visit the Tomb of Wang Zhaojun, one of the four beauties in Chinese history. We also visit the Five Pagoda Temple, a miniature temple built in Indian style, named for the five four-sided pagodas that jut up from the rectangular base of the building. We fly back to Beijing later that afternoon and enjoy the famous Peking Duck dinner with an acrobatic show.

Day 15: Beijiang - Canada
Today, our local tour guide sees us off at the airport, and we fly home to Canada. Have a wonderful trip!