Explore-A-Province Tour: Sichuan

EAP 7 June 20-July 6, 2008

Route: Guangzhou-Sichuan Province w/Chongqing-Xian-Beijing

Itinerary

Day 1

Depart USA (first date listed for the tour)

Day 1

June 30 (Sat) Arrive in Guangzhou, met at the airport by OCDF and transfer to the White Swan Hotel (5-star)

Dinner on your own

Day 3

Breakfast in the hotel

Transfer to the airport for the flight to Chengdu with OCDF staff

Met at airport by local guide and transfer to Chengdu Crowne Plaza Hotel (5-star)

Provincial delicacies luncheon with "Food of the Region" program

Afternoon tour of provincial government with official greeting

Tour of Chengdu-Provincial Capital including People's Park

Dinner included at hotel

Day4

Breakfast in the hotel

Drive to Wolong

Visit Wolong Panda Reserve, experience a real panda, kids holding/touch a real panda there

Update: Due to the Sichuan Earthquake of 2008, we expect that 2009 tours will visit the Chengdu Panda Research Center instead of going to the Wolong Nature Reserve as listed. If the roads are rebuilt in time for your tour program and the region is safe to travel to, we will include the Wolong Nature Reserve.

Lunch included in the local restaurant

Afternoon drive back to Chengdu

Dinner included in Chinese Medicine Restaurant

Evening enjoy Sichuan Opera

Day 5

Breakfast in the hotel

Morning drive to Leshan, accompanied with OCDF staff and the local guide

Visit Leshan Buddha

Lunch included in a local restaurant

Afternoon transfer to E'meishan

Visit the temple at the foot of the mountain

Check in the best available hotel

Dinner in the hotel

Day 6

Breakfast in the hotel

Morning take the cab car to visit the Wannian Temple

Lunch included in a local restaurant

Afternoon transfer to Chengdu, check in Chengdu Crowne Plaza Hotel (5-star)

Dinner included in a local restaurant

Day 7

Breakfast in the hotel

Transfer to the airport for the flight to Chongqing with OCDF staff

Morning tour of local elementary school or daycare center

Afternoon transfer to your orphanage city

Lunch at local restaurant

Local sightseeing

Dinner included at local restaurant

Stay at best available hotel

Day 8

Breakfast in the hotel

Morning visit to your child's Social Welfare Institute /Orphanage with a local bilingual guide as your interpreter

Lunch included with your orphanage director and appropriate staff

Afternoon visit any locations your family needs (foster family, finding site, activity at orphanage, etc)

Late afternoon transfer back to Chongqing, check in Harbor View Hotel (5-star)

Dinner at the home of a local family

Day 9

Breakfast in the hotel

Morning boat Cruise on the River

Lunch included in the local restaurant

Afternoon visit Er'ling Park including Yangtze Three Gorges Gallery

Hands-on crafts and cooking class

Dinner included in the local restaurant

Day 10

Breakfast in the hotel

Transfer with your OCDF staff member to the airport for flight to Xian

Met at the airport in Xian by our OCDF local guide and transfer to the Aurun International Hotel (4-star)

Lunch at Xian Jiaozi dumplings

Visit to the Muslim Mosque Market with time to shop at the marketplace for Xian farmer paintings and local art

Mid-Afternoon visit Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Tang Dynasty Museum with hands-on calligraphy and painting lesson

Dinner at local restaurant

Evening: Free time

Day 11

Breakfast in the hotel

Morning visit Jade Carving Demonstration

Museum of the Qin Emperor's Terra Cotta Army including Imax movie and visit the unearthed warriors

Shaanxi noodle lunch included at the museum restaurant

Tang Dynasty Dinner Show

Day 12

Breakfast in the hotel

Fly to Beijing in the morning with OCDF staff

Met at the airport and transfer to Holiday Inn Central Plaza Hotel (4-star)

Buffet lunch at hotel

Afternoon visit Temple of Heaven and Hong Qiao Market

Dinner at Old Beijing Noodle Shop

Evening: The Legends of Kung Fu

Day 13

Breakfast in the hotel

Morning visit Great Hall of the People with Sichuan Provincial & Chongqing Municipality Meeting Rooms and then Tiananmen Square

Lunch at Sun Yat Sen Park with fly kites

Afternoon visit Forbidden City

Dinner included at Tianwaitian Restaurant

Evening Beijing Acrobatic Show

Day 14

Breakfast in the hotel

Morning the Summer Palace with boat ride on Kunming Lake

Lunch on your own at McDonalds in Huairou

Afternoon to Great Wall at Mutianyu

Dinner included at Agrilandia

Day 15

Breakfast in the hotel

Morning Hutong Tour by pedicab including visit to Drum and Bell Tower with a Tea Ceremony at Prince Gong's Palace

Visit to Shichahai Sports Training Institute where Olympic gymnastics, Wushu and Ping Pong athletes are trained

Lunch at local family home to make dumplings

Afternoon visit to sports venues for the Beijing 2008 Olympics: The Bird's Nest, The National Swim Stadium (Bubble), and the Gymnastic Stadium

Peking Duck Dinner included

Day 16

Breakfast in the hotel

Morning to Panjiayuan Market and Silk Alley for last chance shopping

Lunch on your own

Afternoon free time on own

Dinner on your own

Day 17

Breakfast in the hotel

Transfer to airport for flight to USA

Options for Pre-trip & Post-trip Activities

Sichuan Explore-a-Province Tour Includes:

Activities in Sichuan Province:

Back to the Explore-a-Province Tours page

Welcome to Sichuan!

Chongqing Municipality:

Location in China

Sichuan, in China's western hinterland, covers most of the Sichuan Basin. Surrounded by mountains, it is situated at 26'03"-34'20" north latitude and 97'22"-110'10" east longitude with an area of 567,000 square kilometers, accounting for 5.1% of China's total area. Sichuan is high in the west and low in the east in terms of topography. Generally speaking, the western part is plateaus and mountainous regions some 4,000 meters above sea level, while the eastern part features basin and hilly land with an elevation between 1,000 and 3,000 meters.

Climate

The climate in Sichuan is vastly different between its eastern and western parts. The Sichuan Basin has a humid sub-tropical monsoonal climate, with mild winters, hot summers, long frost-free period, plentiful rainfall and mist, high humidity, and less sunshine. Its average temperature in July, the hottest month, is 25-29oC; in January, the coldest month, 3-8oC. The Western Sichuan Plateau with its plateau climate has lower temperature and less rainfall than the Sichuan Basin, both of which differ again in the southern and northern sections of the plateau.

Administrative Division and Population

It is divided into 5 districts, 3 autonomous prefectures, 13 prefecture-level cities, 18 county-level cities, 124 counties, and 3 autonomous counties, with a population of 83.29 million as of 2000.

Food

Sichuan Cuisine, one of the Eight Great Cuisines in China, emphasizes the use of chili, red hot peppers and garlic. Typical menu items are: Hot Pot, Smoked Duck, Kung Pao Chicken, Twice Cooked Pork, Mapo Tofu. Shuizhu Niurou (steamed beef with a variety of seasonings and spices), Yuxiang Rousi (a roast pork dish cooked with bamboo shoots, mushrooms), Zhangcha Duck (salted, smoked duck), etc.

Culture

Chuanju (Sichuan Opera), Xieju (comic opera)

Brief Introduction

Sichuan Province, Shu for short, is located in southwest China, with Chengdu as its capital city. Sichuan, generally classified as a rice region, abounds in agricultural products. It is listed as one of China's major producers of rice, wheat, cotton, rapeseeds, raw silk, oil-bearing crops, meat, and fruit, and also holds a significant place in production of medicinal herbs, pigs and cattle. Sichuan's major industrial products are metals, coal, petroleum, machinery, electric power, well salt, chemicals, electronics, textiles and foodstuff etc.

Sichuan is known as the "Land of Abundance" and has three places listed as the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, namely the Jiuzhaigou Scenic Area, the Huanglong Scenic Area, and Emei Mountain including the Leshan Giant Buddha. Visitors to this province can experience a wide variety of beautiful landscapes including plateaus, mountains, ravines, basins, hills, plains, rivers, lakes, hot springs, waterfalls and limestone caves. Most of the rivers in Sichuan belong to the Yangtze River system.

Sichuan is gifted with lush mountains and exquisite waters, and abounds in historical and cultural resources. Its main scenic spots and historical sites include Emei Mountain, Qingcheng Mountain, and Long Valley, the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, Leshan Giant Buddha, and Jiuzhaigou (Nine-Village Valley). The Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan is home to the Chengdu Giant Panda Research Base, one of the most important centers in the world for the captive conservation of the Giant Panda.

As one of the largest provinces, Sichuan has more than 15 minority groups living with the Han people. Among these are the Yi, Hui, Tibetan and Miao peoples. Each of these minorities has its own charm, ethnic style and folk custom. Some of the ethical festivals like Leshan Great Buddha International Tourist Festival, Southland Ice and Snow Festival, Liangshan Yi Minority Torch Festival and Zigong Lantern Festival have become Sichuan's unique tourist resources.

Also a municipality directly under the Central Government, Chongqing is the largest industrial and commercial center in southwest China, and a hub of land and water transportation in the upper Yangtze valley. Situated 105'11"-110'11" east longitude and 28'10"-32'13" north latitude, it has an area of 82,000 square kilometers, neighboring Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Shaanxi provinces.

Brief Introduction

Chongqing is called Yu for short. It is situated in the southeast of the Sichuan Basin and the confluence between the Yangtze River and the Jialing River. It is the largest and most densely populated municipality directly under the Central Government. Efforts are being made to turn Chongqing into a modern metropolis with the largest foreign market oriented industrial base in West China. On March 14, 1997, Chongqing was officially proclaimed the fourth municipality directly under the jurisdiction of the Central Government.

Chongqing abounds in biological resources, ore and waterpower as well as the Three Gorges tourist resources. Being the largest industrial and commercial center in southwest China, Chongqing boasts comprehensive industries of advanced iron and steel, chemicals, electric power, automobile manufacturing, machine-building, shipbuilding, construction materials, textiles, and foodstuff. Chongqing is also the land and water communication hub in southwest China. The port of Chongqing is the biggest in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Known as a "Mountain City", Chongqing was constructed on the mountain slopes and along the riversides. It has a long history and numerous scenic spots and historic sites. It is renowned in particular for gardens with unique beauty. Famous tourist sites include the stone carvings in Dazu County, the Three Gorges scenery, the South Hot Spring Park, the North Hot Spring Park, and Red Crag Memorial Museum, etc.

Climate

Chongqing has a sub-tropical monsoonal climate, with warm winter, hot summer, early spring and short autumn. Annual average temperature is around 19.2oC. The average highest temperature is 27-38oC in summer and the extreme temperature can reach as high as 43.8oC. Hence it had got the name of furnace city. The annual average rainfall is above 1000 mm. Chongqing is also called foggy city, for there is much fog from the end of autumn to early spring with at least 68 foggy days a year. Chongqing is also one of the cities with shortest sunshine time in China. The annual sunshine time is 941.9 hours.

Administrative Division and Population

It is divided into 13 districts, 16 county-level cities, 6 counties and 5 autonomous counties, with a population of 30.90 million as of 2000.

Food

Chongqing Hot Pot, Dandan noodles, Wu Chaoshou, Chongqing Ma La Tang ("ma" means numbness in the mouth, "la" is chili hot and "tang" means piping hot), Mapo Tofu, Double Cooked Pork.

12 Key Steps For OCDF Travelers:

  1. Look at the various itineraries and decide what time of year you wish to travel and which tour fits your family's needs. Download the article: Returning to China with Your Adopted Child (pdf), and begin preparing for your trip. 
  2. Download the pdf file for that tour or print off the itinerary. Full color brochures can be obtained from OCDF by calling 309-829-8202 or email: lynn@ocdf.org . 
  3. If your family desires a customized trip - please download our Customized Travel Planning Booklet and contact Jenny Peng (jenny@ocdf.org) to assist you with your quotation. Any regular OCDF China Tour can be scheduled for custom groups, or new tour itineraries created just for your family and friends! 
  4. See the tour costs. A $500 per person non-refundable deposit is due at the time of registration. Any gift certificates must be presented at the time of registration. Only one gift certificate can be used per family. Payments can be made by check, money order, bank check and Visa or Mastercard. Questions? Ask jane@ocdf.org . 
  5. Check your passports to be sure they will be valid for at least 6 months AFTER the dates of your travel. If you do not have passports, or your passports will expire during that time-frame PLEASE make getting new passports a HIGH PRIORITY for your family as passport application and processing takes much much longer now than in the past. 
  6. If you wish to visit a child's orphanage as part of your tour or as an add-on, please complete the file called the Orphanage Request Form and return it to jenny@ocdf.org. Jenny Peng, our travel planner, will assist you by gaining the approval for your orphanage visit, arrange for interpreters and guides, and arrange travel. She will provide you with a quotation for add-on costs for the orphanage visit should it not be included in your tour itinerary. 
  7. Download the registration form or obtain a printed copy from OCDF by calling 309-829-8202 or email: lynn@ocdf.org. For international air fare: contact Marta LaCour (marta.lacour@travnet.net) at www.travnet.net to assist you with your international airline reservations. Call Marta at: 1-800-359-6388. For insurance: contact Medex for your trip cancellation and travel medical insurance. 
  8. Submit your registration form (as complete as it can be at the time - you may need to add new passport numbers later) either online or to OCDF at PO Box 1243, Bloomington, IL 61702-1243. Be sure to include a photocopy of each person's passport who is traveling with your family AND your $500 per person non-refundable tour deposit (See Important Information about Tours if you have questions about cancellation policies). Please check that your passports are signed (parents should sign for children) prior to making the photocopies. 
  9. Check the Travel Information Fact Sheet (Word file) for travel medical preparations and obtain any vaccinations and medications needed for your tour such as Hepatitis A & B series (takes 6 months to get all shots in the series), a Tetanus booster (if needed), blood typing, and prescription for antibiotics. 
  10. Receive from OCDF three things: 
    • Invoice by email showing tour payment and balance due
    • Email Welcome to OCDF China Tours from Jane
    • A package from OCDF Office in the USA with t-shirts, travel planning booklet, luggage tags, and passport holder. Please READ your travel planning guide. Join the egroup for your tour program! 
  11. Pay your balance of tour costs by the deadline - 3 months prior to your tour. Update your tour registration with new passport information. Questions about your invoice should be addressed to steven@ocdf.org or jenny@ocdf.org . Our USA office can tell you if your check/payment was received (309-829-8202), but they will not know the details of your travel plans - the Beijing Office will handle this. Thus emailing Steven or Jenny may be best. 
  12. Apply for your Visa through the Chinese consulate near your home, or use our recommended courier services www.mychinadocs.com . They will assist you with your visa application. Do not apply for your visa more than 90 days (3 months) prior to your trip or the visa will expire before you travel. About 4-6 weeks before your tour is enough time to apply for your visa. Once you have your visa, please email sunny@ocdf.org with your visa numbers, expiration and issue dates.
That's it! Review the what to pack lists, and get ready to travel!
Thank you!

Questions? Please Email the OCDF Staff: 

Jane Liedtke,  jane@ocdf.org OCDF China Tours 

Jenny Peng, jenny@ocdf.org Orphanage contacts and additional travel in China

Contact by Telephone: 

Jane Liedtke at OCDF Office in China - 011-8610-8403-4979 (answering machine available) 

OCDF Office in USA - 309-829-8202 ask for Lynn Warren (answering machine available) 

Jenny Peng, Travel Planner in China - 011-86-13011086069

Contact by Mail in USA: 
Our Chinese Daughters Foundation 
109 West Monroe 
Bloomington, IL 61701

Mailing Address in USA: 
OCDF 
PO Box 1243 
Bloomington, IL 61702-1243 USA

Contact by Mail in Beijing: 
OCDF China Tours 
199 Chaoyangmennei 
Richland Court Room 105 
Dongcheng District 
Beijing 100010 China

Brief Background on OCDF China Tours

OCDF China Tours has its own trained staff and guides and also contracts with CITS in China for in-China travel services. To assure you a quality tour program, OCDF directs all tour programs and selects all staff members who work with our groups. Dr. Jane Liedtke, CEO and Founder of Our Chinese Daughters Foundation, lives and works from the Beijing and Bloomington Offices of OCDF. Her daughter Emily was adopted from Jiangmen Social Welfare Institute in 1994 and is 14 years old (will be 15 in April 2008). Jane has organized tour groups to China for adoptive families, educators and professional groups with experience in China since 1987. OCDF began Chinese Culture Camps for adoptive families in 1996 and extended them to China in 1998. OCDF was the first organization to offer Chinese Culture programs to adoptive families via tour programs to China. We work extensively with adoptive families and orphanages throughout China to insure your family has the best experience possible upon your return to your adopted child's birth-country.

Back to the Explore-a-Province Tours page