tenative travel plans
Tickets are bought and paid for !!!
Leave Calgary June 5th. Arrive Beijing June 6th Meet Melanie who will have been there 2months before I arrive.
In Beijing See the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square.
Melanie and I will be traveling with her school mate Nicole through China on to Nepal where we will go our separate ways.
6hr on bullet train to Shanghai (1318km) Go up the tower, walk the Bund
23hr48min train ride from Shanghai to Huaihua (1801km)
(4hr 19min train from Huaihua to Zhangjiajie (228km) Go see the "Floating Mountains" from the movie Avatar. There we do the glass walkway over cliff sides, glass elevator and gondola rides. There is the Tianmen Mountain which is a huge natural bridge formation so big that has had jet planes fly through it. Go see Fenghuang Ancient Town (Fenghuang means Bird reborn in Fire)
17hr 45min train from Zhangjiajie to Luoyang (1084km) Go see to Longman Grotto where giant buddhas carved out of cliff faces. Go see Shaolin Temple, which is birthplace of Kung Fu. Go see White Horse Temple, first Buddhist temple in China.
5hr 15min train from Luoyang to Xi'an (387km) Go see Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses, the old city wall, Famen Temple, Wild Goose Pagoda, and the Huaqing Hot Spring
32hr 45min train from Xi'an to Lhasa (2864km) up over a pass 5000m in elevation, through muskeg bogs etc. Lhasa will conclude 7454km of train travel costing $441pp in train tickets.
Arrive Lhasa June 22. Lhasa is in Tibet which is a province under siege so we will be "escorted" by a travel guide the entire time we are there. We had to book a guide through a Tibet tour group costing $1045 pp. This is the most expensive part of our trip. The tour spends two days in Lhasa normally but we've asked to arrive a day early so we can travel 80km north to Yabajing Hot Springs.
The group tour start June 24 will take us to the former Tibet capital building, the Dahli Llama's formal residence, a carpet factory, etc. Then we go south and west through Gyantse visiting yet more temples, some lakes, and eventually Mt Everest base camp where the highest temple in the world is.
On June 29 we cross the friendship Bridge into Tibet. I have youtubed this part of the road many times now. It's all downhill to Kathmandu on switchbacks, no tunnels.
In Kathmandu see Monkey Temple (with real monkeys every where!!!) and whatever else we find. Probably leave Nicole at this point.
Onwards to Pokhara by bus or taxi. I have been in contact with Hearts and Tears Motorcycle Club that rents bikes. We will rent Royal Enfield or Yamaha motorcycles to see the sights.
Sights like spending a few days at Royal Chitwan Park which we expect to stay nearby town. This park has wild elephants, rhinos, crocodiles, monkeys, tigers, guars, pangolins, leopards, slothbears, etc.
We should be entering India on July 5th or so. We need to be in New Delhi by July 15th for our flight to London UK. In the 10days inbetween we hope to go see Taj Mahal, Agra, the Pink City, the Blue City, and whatever else. We're more or less going to play this out by ear.
Leave Calgary June 5th. Arrive Beijing June 6th Meet Melanie who will have been there 2months before I arrive.
In Beijing See the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square.
Melanie and I will be traveling with her school mate Nicole through China on to Nepal where we will go our separate ways.
6hr on bullet train to Shanghai (1318km) Go up the tower, walk the Bund
23hr48min train ride from Shanghai to Huaihua (1801km)
(4hr 19min train from Huaihua to Zhangjiajie (228km) Go see the "Floating Mountains" from the movie Avatar. There we do the glass walkway over cliff sides, glass elevator and gondola rides. There is the Tianmen Mountain which is a huge natural bridge formation so big that has had jet planes fly through it. Go see Fenghuang Ancient Town (Fenghuang means Bird reborn in Fire)
17hr 45min train from Zhangjiajie to Luoyang (1084km) Go see to Longman Grotto where giant buddhas carved out of cliff faces. Go see Shaolin Temple, which is birthplace of Kung Fu. Go see White Horse Temple, first Buddhist temple in China.
5hr 15min train from Luoyang to Xi'an (387km) Go see Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses, the old city wall, Famen Temple, Wild Goose Pagoda, and the Huaqing Hot Spring
32hr 45min train from Xi'an to Lhasa (2864km) up over a pass 5000m in elevation, through muskeg bogs etc. Lhasa will conclude 7454km of train travel costing $441pp in train tickets.
Arrive Lhasa June 22. Lhasa is in Tibet which is a province under siege so we will be "escorted" by a travel guide the entire time we are there. We had to book a guide through a Tibet tour group costing $1045 pp. This is the most expensive part of our trip. The tour spends two days in Lhasa normally but we've asked to arrive a day early so we can travel 80km north to Yabajing Hot Springs.
The group tour start June 24 will take us to the former Tibet capital building, the Dahli Llama's formal residence, a carpet factory, etc. Then we go south and west through Gyantse visiting yet more temples, some lakes, and eventually Mt Everest base camp where the highest temple in the world is.
On June 29 we cross the friendship Bridge into Tibet. I have youtubed this part of the road many times now. It's all downhill to Kathmandu on switchbacks, no tunnels.
In Kathmandu see Monkey Temple (with real monkeys every where!!!) and whatever else we find. Probably leave Nicole at this point.
Onwards to Pokhara by bus or taxi. I have been in contact with Hearts and Tears Motorcycle Club that rents bikes. We will rent Royal Enfield or Yamaha motorcycles to see the sights.
Sights like spending a few days at Royal Chitwan Park which we expect to stay nearby town. This park has wild elephants, rhinos, crocodiles, monkeys, tigers, guars, pangolins, leopards, slothbears, etc.
We should be entering India on July 5th or so. We need to be in New Delhi by July 15th for our flight to London UK. In the 10days inbetween we hope to go see Taj Mahal, Agra, the Pink City, the Blue City, and whatever else. We're more or less going to play this out by ear.