Come with us on a special trip which combines opportunities
to meet people, explore their neighborhoods and experience local life as well as touring cultural and scenic hightlights in
each city we visit. Our adventure begins in SHANGHAI, China's largest city, where old meets new. We'll visit ancient gardens
and a state of the art museum which houses the country's foremost collection of paintings, bronzes, and sculptures. A whole
day is free to explore and meet people.
Xi'an, another
ancient capital, has a number of reknowned attractions: the highlight will be a day trip to see the 2000 year old army of
more than 6,000 lifesized Terra Cotta warriors and horses.
In Shanghai we'll visit ancient gardens
and a state of the art museum which houses the country's foremost collection of paintings, bronzes and scupltures. We'll
spend a day in the famous canal town of Suzhou with gardens dating from the Song Dynasty. Free day to explore Shanghai.
In Guilin, we'll visit the ancient market town of Yangshou, enjoy a cruise
on the beautiful Li River and see rock formations by Chinese painters and poets. An overnight sleeper train brings us to
Guangzhou, formerly Canton, where we leave the tourist routine to be hosted by members of Servas China. Hosts will meet us
at our centrally located hotel and take us to see local markets or schools, ride the subway or go to places of particular
interest to us. We'll spend an evening visiting neighborhood places where young professionals enjoy an evening out. We'll
check out a restaurant serving famous Cantonese food.
Due to current conditions in Tibet, the itinerary has been rearranged to substitute other places in China but, if conditions
permit, an optional pre tour to Lhasa will be added.
Our optional Hong Kong extension will be hosted by the Hong Kong-America Center. Highlights include a visit to a university,
House of Innovation, Confucius Institute and an afternoon and evening with a host family. We'll end our trip with a farewell
dinner and a professionally led Reflection Period to consolidate the meaning of our trip experiences. There will be free
time to shop or visit the world's largest casino in Macao.
