2008/2009 Expeditions

Africa

Antarctica

Asia

Australia & New Zealand

Central & South America

Europe, Russia & the Arctic

North America -

Photos courtesy of Kristi Waterland

Ever-Popular Favorite!
BACKROADS CHINA
October 3-19, 2008 With Angkor Wat Extension to October 22, 2008.

Nestled in Southwestern China, edging 18,000 ft. Himalayan peaks, is the most scenic, spectacular, and culturally rich area in China - Yunnan Province. More distinct ethnic groups live here, drawn through history by the "Burma Road", than in any other area of the country.

A profound cultural transition is underway in Yunnan as traditional cultures in cities and remote country villages confront a vibrant, rapidly modernizing Chinese society. Yet Yunnan is still unique in all of China, with old and new backroads to explore and fascinating remote cultures to discover.

Leaving Kunming, we will travel toward the Himalayas, Dali, and remote Lijiang and stay in comfortable accommodations normally reserved for privileged Chinese travelers. We will be totally off the western hotel circuit. In Lijiang, we will discover the Naxi, descendants of Tibetan Buddhists, who have developed a distinctive cultural tradition centered on life in the isolated, visually Lijiang Valley.

We will then travel to remote Zhongdian at the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, recently opened to the outside world, for unforgettable cultural experiences. Zhongdian is a spectacular mountain landscape with lamaseries and yak herding culture.

$3,695 + air.

Brochure (Requires an Adobe pdf reader to view)