Guizhou - Lusheng Festival

Dates:	Tuesday, November 2 to Saturday, November 6
Price:	RMB 7,480 p.p.
	Single Supplement: RMB 980 Child w/ extra bed: RMB 4,550
Deposit:	RMB 1500 due by September 30
Balance:	Due by October 15

Guizhou, isolated from the rest of the world for centuries by its mountainous terrain, remains one of China’s most isolated and unspoiled provinces. Celebrated for its hospitality, the province is a lively mix of thirteen different ethnic groups, many of which continue practicing their ancient ways of life and time-honored traditions. The Miao Lusheng Festival is the most ceremonious traditional festival celebrated on the grandest scale, attracting up to forty thousand people.

DAY 1
Fly to Guiyang and upon arrival, drive 2.5 hours to Kaili where we will check into the 4-star Grand Dragon Hotel. Tonight at dinner, we will taste the local specialty dish – sour fish soup.

DAY 2
Today, we will start our tour with a visit to the villages of Langde, a gem of a place full of traditional wooden houses and waterwheels. Here, we will take time to enjoy the beautiful singing and dancing of the Miao people. After lunch in Leishen County, we will continue our journey to Datang, a Miao village where the women still wear the traditional "miniskirts." En route, we will stop at Paika Village to see how the lusheng (the Miao people's most important musical instrument) is made. Afterwards, we will drive back to Kaili at the late afternoon.

DAY 3
This morning, we will visit the Miao embroidery museum in Kaili for an embroidery class. Afterwards, we will drive approximately 2.5 hours to Gulong in Huangping town for the Miao Lusheng Festival. At this magnificent festival, we will feast our eyes on such things as the unique lusheng (reed) pipes, stunning silver jewelry worn by the women, girls wearing huge silver horned headdresses, and crowns with delicate designs of birds, flowers and coins. As they gracefully dance, the girls’ jewelry and headdresses make wonderful musical sounds. We will also have a chance to watch local activities such as bull fighting and displays of birds owned by the local people. In the late afternoon, we will drive back to Kaili.

DAY 4
In the morning, we will drive 2.5 hours to Shidong. Here, we will experience the weekly market day, with over one hundred years of history. More than twenty thousand people from surrounding villages gather each week to buy and sell a wide variety of stunning silver jewelry, Miao embroidery, paper cuttings, and cloth dye. En route, we will visit a local primary school. We will transfer back to Kaili in the late afternoon.

DAY 5
We will have leisure time until our 2.5 hour drive to Guiyang, where we will enjoy a short city tour with a visit to the flower and bird market. We will have a vegetarian lunch at the Hongfu Temple before transferring to the airport for our return flight to Shanghai.