Day By Day
Day 1 Any
of city in mainland China/Dunhuang
Meals: None
Places to visit: Shazhou
Night Market
You are met by our tour guide at the airport and will be escorted to the Hotel.
Then start an evening visit to Dunhuang Shazhou Night Market.
Shazhou Night Market: It is a night market held on the main thoroughfare, Dong
Dajie, in the city centre of Dunhuang, popular with tourists during the summer
months. Many souvenir items are sold, including such typical items as jade,
jewelry, scrolls, hangings, small sculptures, leather shows puppets, coins,
Tibetan horns and Buddha statues. A sizable number of members of China‘s ethnic
minorities engage in business at these markets. A Central Asian dessert or
sweet is also sold, consisting of a large, sweet confection made with nuts and
dried fruit, sliced into the portion desired by the customer.
Day 2
Dunhuang/Turpan (Train Overnight)
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Mogao Caves, Echoing-Sand Mountain and
the Crescent Lake, Camel Riding
Mogao Grottoes, housing the ancient thousand buddhas and mural paintings from
the 4th to the 14th centuries, are the famous Dunhuang highligh of buddhist art
treasures shrine on the north-west Silk Road China.Cameras are not permitted.
Echoing-Sand Mountain, Crescent Moon Lake is quite literally an oasis
surrounded by sand dues. It is a good place to ride a camel or climb stunning
the dunes for spectacular view, 5 kilometers (about three miles) away from the
city of Dunhuang.
Train information (overnight soft sleeper with good aircondition, 4 berths in
one compartment)
Day 3 Turpan
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Bezklik Grottoes, Astana Tombs
Meet guide at train station and drive 40 minutes to the hotel in Turpan. And
then visit Astana Tombs, the Flaming Mountain, Bezklik Grottoes and Local Uyger
family in the Vineyard.
The Astana Cemetery or Astana Graves is a large site 37 km southeast of
present-day Turpan, 6 km from the ancient city of Gaochang. It served mainly as
the cemetery for the descendents of Chinese settlers in Gaochang from the 4th
century to the first half of the 8th century. The complex covers 10 square
kilometres and contains over 1,000 tombs. Due to the arid environment many
important artifacts have been well preserved at the tombs, including natural
mummies.
The Bezeklik/Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves: Bezeklik means a place with beautiful
decoration. It is famous for ancient murals with exsiting 60 caves, and over 40
caves have ancient murals of 1200 square meters.
Day 4 Turpan / Urumqi (190kms 2.5 hrs drive/ 1 hrs bullet train )
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Jiaohe Ruined city, Karez Irrigation
system, Sugong Minaret
Pay a morning visit to Jiaohe Ruined city, Karez Irrigation system, Sugong
Minaret; Back to Urumqi after lunch in Turpan, then visit Erdaoqiao &
International Bazaar.
Jiaohe Ruins, is an archaeological site with the largest, oldest, and best
preserved city gates, streets and lanes, government office, temples, domestic
houses, cave houses, wells, and an underground temple, showing it as an
important stop on the Ancient Silk Road.
Karez Irrigation System, made up of vertical wells, underground channels,
ground canals and small reservois, is one of China‘s three greatest feats of
ancient engineering of underground irrigation channel, along with the Great
Wall and the Grand Canal.
The Sugong Pagoda, or Emin Minaret is a local Islamic building. At the time of
some traditional festivals, Muslem people push their way to the Sugong Pagoda
to pray for blessing just like a pilgrimage.
Day 5 Urumqi / Kashgar by Air
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Xinjiang Museum, Heavenly Lake
Visit Xinjiang Museum, Heavenly Lake with a boat cruise. Then you will take the
afternoon flight around 17:00 to Kashgar and will be picked up to check in the
hotel upon your arrival.
Xinjiang Museum is the main institution to collect and investigate the
unearthed cultural relics and specimens in Xinjiang. There are more than 50
thousand pieces of various kinds of cultural relics stored in the museum, among
them, the ancient mummies represented by ‘the Loulan Beauty‘, manuscripts in
Chinese, Kharosthi, Qiuci, Yanji, Tibetan, Uigurian and other characters
prevailed in ancient Westen Regions, the silk ,wool, cotton and hemp fabrics
and folk rainment, etc., are unusual tidbits in the world.
Heavenly Lake, covering an area of about 5.9 square kilometers, has eight
beautiful scenic spots in the lake scenic area; they are "A Ray of Stone
Gate", "Dragon‘s Pool and Green Moon", "Magic Needle for
Guarding the See", "Three Stones Bearing the Sky".
Day 6 Kashgar
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Karakul Lake (200kms 3 hrs drive)
After breakfast take the drive to visit the Karakul Lake and enjoy the Pamir landscape.
The Karakul Lake is a paradise of bonfire night parties for boy and girl
khalkhas with tourists. The party is full of ethnic songs and dances, as well
as good smell of roast lamb skewers.
Day 7 Kashgar
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Sunday Bazaar, Id Kah Mosque, Old Town,
Apak Hoja Tomb, Handicraft Street
In the city east, Kashgar Grand Bazaar, Sunday Bazaar, Mal Bazaar or the
livestock market on Sundays, daily Yengi Bazaar etc. show the glory of the
largest international trade market or fair on ancient China Silk Road. Before
1992, Kashgar grand bazaar was only held on Sunday. So that foreiners called it
Sunday Bazaar on travel guidebooks. In fact, the market is open everyday for
people,but the highest busy tide still comes on Sunday.
The Id Kah Mosque is located on the central square in Kashgar City, Xinjiang
Uigur Autonomous Region. As the biggest mosque in China, it is a group of old
Islamic constructions with strong ethnic style and religious features.
Kashgar Old Town is the best place to see how the local Uyghur ethnic group has
lived for centuries. The old town district has a history of over 2,000 years.
Day 8 Kashgar Departure
Meals: B
After breakfast you will be escorted to the airport for your next destination
by air.
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