Gaoligong

Gaoligong by UTMB® Travel Package

Package A ： Tengchong

Package B ： Shangrila

Package C ： Tengchong and Shangrila

Package A ：Tengchong

Duration：

8 days and 7 nights

Cost:

5100 RMB/per person（735CHF/ per person）

Schedule:

March 6

Arrival in Tengchong

Visit Tengchong Jade Market

Welcome banquet

Five – star hotel accommodation

March 7

Trip to Gaoligong Mountains: (driving time 1 hour by bus, approximately 40km from the city). Race course recce between CP6 and CP7 with total distance 9km - hiking in the Gaoligong mountains on ancient paths in the mountain jungle, through rhododendron forest.

Return to Tengchong

“Magic Tengchong” theatre performance in the evening in the city

Five – star hotel accommodation

March 8

Jietou Village and Mountain Flower Meadow (driving time 1 hour by bus, approximately 40km from the city) – photo opportunities, and a chance to do the last run before the race.

Papermaking experience – learn how to make paper using thousand- year old methods with the masters of the craft (Jietou Village)

Return to Tengchong in the afternoon

Race package and bib collection

Pre-race briefing

Five – star hotel accommodation

March 9

Travel to race start (10 min by bus)

Race starts

Activities for race participants’ family and friends

Five – star hotel accommodation

March 10

Family members travel to race finish in Heshun Old Town (10 min by bus)

Visiting Heshun and participating in activities provided by organizers

Five – star hotel accommodation

March 11

Family members travel to race finish in Heshun Old Town (10 min by bus)

Visiting Heshun and participating in activities provided by organizers

Awards ceremony

Five – star hotel accommodation

March 12

Visit Tengchong Soldiers’ Cemetery and World War II Museum

Hot springs

Five – star hotel accommodation

March 13

Departure from Tengchong

Services included:

7 nights in five-star hotel (shared standard twin or double room, with breakfast)

Lunch and dinner (13 meals in total)

Transportation (bus) for eight days

Chinese and English guides

Entry tickets for 4 scenic spots and Magic Tengchong show

Personal insurance

Services not included:

Race registration fee

Visa fee

Transportation to and from Tengchong

Single supplement or room upgrades

Personal expenses

Package B ：Shangrila

Duration：

8 days and 7 nights

Cost:

11100 RMB per person（1600 CHF/ per person）

Schedule:

March 13

Fly from Tengchong to Lijiang via Kunming (flight time with stopover approximately 3 hours)

Spend the night in five –star hotel in Lijiang

March 14

Breakfast

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (driving time 30min) – take cable car to the upper glaciers, then visit the Ganhaizi Grassland, Shuhe and Baisha Villages (recommend) and Baishuihe and Yushuizhai scenic sites

Watch Impression Lijiang performance

Spend the night in Lijiang

March 15

Breakfast

Tiger Leaping Gorge (2 hours by bus)

Lunch in Tiger Leaping Gorge

Drive to Shangrila (3 hours from Tiger Leaping Gorge)

Spend the night in Shangrila

March 16

Breakfast

Sightseeing in Shangrila – Dukezong Old Town, Songzanlin Monastery

recommend Napa Lake and surrounding villages

Spend the night in Shangrila

March 17

Breakfast

Benzilan Village (2 hours drive)

Deqin Town – on the way visit the spectacular First Bend of the Yangtze, and Baima Pass (4358m)- total driving time 4.5 hours.

Spend the night in five –star hotel  in Deqin Town

March 18

Watch sunrise over the mountains before breakfast

Breakfast

Visit Feilai Temple

Drive to Mingyong Glacier (1 hour driving time)

Spend the night in five –star hotel nearby

March 19

Breakfast

Drive to Pudacuo National Park and Shangrila

Lunch in Shangrila

Visit Napa Lake

Spedn the night in Shangrila

March 20

Fly from Shangrila to Kunming (50 minutes)

Services included:

Tengchong – Kunming – Lijiang flights

Shangrila – Kunming flight

7 nights in five-star hotel (twin rooms)

Lunch and dinner (12 meals in total)

Transportation (bus) for eight days

One English – speaking guide

Entry tickets for 11 scenic spots

Personal insurance

Services not included:

Gaoligong Ultra registration fee

Visa fee

Transportation to Tengchong from Kunming, including flights and bus tickets

Additional hotel rooms or room upgrades

Personal expenses incurred during the stay in the hotel (such as minibar, room service, etc) and personal purchases

Package C ：Tengchong and Shangrila

Duration：

15 days and 14 nights

Cost:

16200 RMB/per person（CHF 2335/ per person）

Schedule:

Combine of Package A & B

Services included/Services not included:

Combine of Package A & B

About Tengchong:

Tengchong – China’s Best Kept Secret

Tengchong Municipality is a natural gem yet to be discovered by travellers. It is located in the subtropics, close to the border with Myanmar, next to Gaoligong Mountain chain - a great reservoir of biodiversity, untouched nature and traditional cultures that few visitors to China have ever had a chance to experience. It is a land of volcanoes – their cones arise just outside the city and the geothermal activity has produced hundreds of hot springs.

History here goes back thousands of years – in antiquity Tengchong was a vital hub on the Tea and Horse Trail, also known as the Southern Silk Road. The Tea and Horse Trail was a trading route connecting Southern China, Myanmar, India and Persia, and started operating almost two and a half millennia ago. Caravans piled with silver, tea, jade, as well as transporting the prized Tibetan horses, continued on their journeys until the 1950s. To this day, Tengchong abounds with historical sites and artifacts, which are only very recently started to gain first visitors.

The first mention of Tengchong in Chinese historical records calls it a place which: “Is far from the provincial capital Kunming, and the local people here ride mighty elephants.” There are no elephants here anymore, but is indeed a strong connection with South East Asia in Tengchong – the local food is similar to Thai cuisine and the well-preserved culture of the local mountain ethnicities makes Tengchong feel quite different from China proper.

During World War II, fierce battled raged here between the Japanese and the allied Chinese and American forces. Since the war, the ideological differences left the heroes of these campaign forgotten, but recently this heritage has been rediscovered and the US and Chinese soldiers are honoured yet again - the legendary Flying Tigers, American volunteer pilots stationed right here during the war have regained their status of heroes and friends. The tribute to this military past can be observed in the fascinating, modern World War II museum in the city.

Tengchong for Chines is synonymous with jade – a semi-precious gem admired and prized by Chinese for its warm delicate colour. Tengchong lives and breathes jade, it is part of the local culture and amazing pieces of jade craftsmanship and art can be admired and bought at the jade market in Tengchong.

The local people are also very special – Tengchong a hotpot of different ethnicities, and the isolation, broken only recently by building roads and airports, has left their customs and way of life as they were centuries ago. Long considered wild, unruly borderlands, far from the center of civilization, Tengchong is now ready to showcase itself to the world, and it has plenty to offer to those adventurous to wander off the beaten path.

Here in Tengchong you can enjoy hiking volcanos, exploring untouched jungle home to clouded leopards, red pandas and gibbons, hike across the Gaoligong Mountains on the cobbled paths older than the Roman Empire, admire traditional architecture in Hexun Old Town, or relax in one of the hundreds of local hot springs. Most importantly, here you can truly explore, and do so in complete safety, and assured of a welcome that exceeds all your expectations.

About Shangrila:

Northern Yunnan – Tibetan Borderlands

This trip will take travelers through what only fifty years ago was remote wilderness, where only the bravest of travelers and true explorers dared to venture. This region is one of the most diverse and fascinating pasts of China, and must not be missed if you are visiting the country.

Shangrila

The North of Yunnan Province, where Shangrila is located, is ethnically mainly Tibetan and is part of Kham, the eastern-most part of the Tibetan world. Here two different cultures meet and have coexisted for centuries – the Tibetan and the Han Chinese, but this region is also home to other mountain ethnicities, each with its own customs, language and proud history.

The landscape here is stunning - mountain valleys covered with primary forests, with many lakes, fast flowing mountain rivers, and soaring, ice capped mountains above. The local Tibetans are called Khampas – warriors, renowned for their toughness, good humour and powerful build.  The town of Shangrila itself is more than 1000 years old, its original name – Gyalthak (also rendered as Dukezong) was changed to Shangrila fifteen years ago, and it fits it extremely well. There is a special feel about Shangrila, it stands at 3,300m above sea level, on a wide plain where countless yaks graze, fenced off by high mountains. The Tibetan villages, which surround the town, remain authentic, the local women wear traditional Tibetan attire, and yaks have a habit of wandering into town, oblivious to vehicles and people.  One of the most magnificent Buddhist temples – Sonzanlin Monastery, now restored to its former glory stands just outside the town.

The attractions around Shangrila are many -  Benzilan, a green oasis where wine is made, the picturesque Pudacuo National Park, the seasonal Napa Lake - home to great diversity of birds, and, further North, the giant Baima Snow Mountain, the views of the first bend of the great Yangtze River and the Tibetan town of Deqin with its frontier feel – Tibetan herders come down from the surrounding mountains wearing their traditional costumes. The way of life here is changing fast, but this part of Yunnan still retains its original frontier feel, and now welcoming visitors from abroad - the region was opened to foreign travelers just 15 years ago.

Lijiang

Almost a thousand years old, this now modern city was the key hub on the Tea and Horse Trail, also known as the Southern Silk Road, a trading route connecting Yunnan, Tibet, India and Persia. The local ethnic group here are the Naxi (pronounced nah-see), mountain people with a remarkable culture – a shamanistic (known as dongba) religion where the future was divined using the sounds and behavior of wild ravens, and a unique script which, once forgotten, is now being revived. 

The Old Town of Lijiang, declared UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986, is now one of the most popular tourist destinations in the whole of China. The main attractions of Lijiang are Jade Dragon Snow Mountain – a magnificent 5596m high peak capped by vast glaciers, and the ancient trading villages of Baisha and Shuhe just outside the city.

Between Lijiang and Shangrila lies one of the most dramatic sites in China – Tiger Leaping Gorge. This narrow, nine-kilometer-long canyon, where the mighty Yangtze rages and thunders through a stone channel as narrow as a dozen meters wide, below a sheer drop of hundreds of meters of rock face, it is equally terrifying and magnificent. The hike through the canyon has been ranked as one of the most spectacular world-wide.

This trip will take you from the subtropical jungle and South East Asian feel of Tengchong to the rugged, high-altitude landscapes of the Tibetan borderlands, a contrast that few other locations in the world can offer.

NOTE

Altitude

This trip involves visits to locations at considerable altitude – Shangrila is at 3,300m above sea level and Jade Dragon Snow mountain may take you as high as over 4000m metres. For this reason, be aware of risks involved with altitude – avoid overexertion on the first few days, make sure you are properly hydrated (dehydration is very rapid at altitude due to increased rate of breathing), also make sure you bring sun screen and lip balm and a hat to protect against the sun at altitude.

Weather

High altitude and proximity to the Himalaya makes weather rather unpredictable in northern Yunnan, which may affect flights and other travel arrangements.

Local customs

This trip includes visits to active places of worship, such as Buddhist temples. Please remember to respect the local customs and religious feelings, behaving courteously and mindfully at all times.

Accommodation

Couples and friends travelling together are required to let us know in advance so that we can make appropriate arrangements regarding hotel rooms.

Those travelling alone will share a room with a fellow member of the group. Female travelers travelling alone will be housed together wherever possible, but if you have requirements to have a single room, please let us know in advance, but please not additional cost maybe involved.