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Day 0:   Depart from the USA. You cross the international dateline thus arriving in Beijing one date later than your departure from the USA.

Day 1: Arrival in Beijing. Check into the 4 star Peixin Hotel or the Golden Palace, Silver Street Hotel which is located near Tiananmen Square close to the heart of the City. Dinner will be an adventure all its own as we join together for our first meal in China! Because this is Beijing, Keith prefers to stay at hotels that have some real Chinese Character, so that we can become more quickly immersed in the Chinese culture.  You should try and schedule your flight to arrive by 3:30 PM Beijing time or you may miss our first group dinner, that is scheduled for 6:00 PM.

Day 2: We visit the Forbidden City today (We may visit the Summer Palace or the Buddhist Lhama Temple because they are less crowded and have better access to the buildings) and see some of the 9,999 buildings that make up this 600 year old complex. (Note: because our hotel is so close to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden Palace many of our guests visit these locales during their down time from group activities) Be sure and pack at least one pair of comfortable walking or sports shoes in your bags. There will also be opportunities for shopping and just wandering around the city this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon as well. Tonight we go to see the awesome Chinese Acrobats perform.   Don't miss this!   For dinner tonight we visit a Dai minority restaurant that features music and dancing from the interesting Southern Chinese Province.  This is a superior evening.

Day 3: We will tour the great wall .  There might be time this afternoon for some private exploration and shopping if you want. We visit the Great Wall at Mutianyu.   This location is the most photogenic and has less tourist traffic than those sections of the Great Wall that are located closer to Central Beijing.

Day 4: Today we fly to Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan Province. The hotel is in the Center of the Opera District and and surrounded by an interesting shopping area.   Tonight we attend a performance of the Sichuan Opera.   World famous for some the acts that you will see.  If you practice Tai Chai or other Asian exercise the park just down the street one block has been visited by some of our guests who have joined in with the locals during morning exercises.

Day 5: We will travel today, by van or bus to the Bifengxia Panda Preserve, where the Giant Panda Preserve is located. We will check into the 2 star Inn closest lodging to the Panda Preserve. We visit the Panda enclosure in the late afternoon while registering for our work with the Panda experience.

Day 6 & 7: We begin our working with the Giant Panda experience today. We cannot say for certain what our work chores will consist of. We will have an English speaking Chinese mentor (if available) to show us how to do our chores. Your mentor/teacher will actually be one of the panda animal keepers or trainers.  By working with them you help to ease their daily chore load.  This work can include bringing feed to the mature pandas, cleaning cages or any of the many other chores that need to be taken care of. In the course of this work we will come in close contact with the Pandas. Nobody will be required to do any work they don’t care to do. Actually working inside isn’t required to do this trip nor to experience an up close encounter, but it will greatly enhance the experience.  Normally mornings are taken up by cleaning cages, removing yesterday's bamboo and bringing new bamboo to the pandas.  One or two special hand feeding sessions usually take place.  Morning session runs 8:00 to 11:30.  Afternoon session begins at 2:00 PM and runs until 4:30 or 5:30 PM.  The afternoon session is usually broken into periods of hand feeding followed by 20 to 40 minute break periods.  Sometimes special training sessions or work sessions are scheduled for the afternoon

Day 8: In the morning we depart Bifengxia & drive back to the Chengdu Airport and continue on to Xian, arriving in the evening.  You will enjoy the location of our NEW 4 star Prince International Hotel, located in the heart of the City just one block from the Bell Tower.  

Day 9: We’ll visit the Terra cotta museum first thing this morning.  We also have the opportunity to visit a factory that makes replica terra cotta figures.  Tonight we eat at a busy dumpling restaurant and sample the many varieties of traditional Xian food.

Day 10: We fly back to Beijing arriving in the early afternoon. This evening will be our last chance for shopping.  I imagine that you will check out the shopping at the Wangfujing Walking street if you haven't already done so

Day #11: Following breakfast you will ride to the airport and fly home. Once more you cross the international date line, this time gaining a day back and arriving in the USA on the same date we leave Beijing.   Departures from the hotel are set according to your individual flight departures.   We don't normally leave the hotel as a group.  Room check out is 11:00 AM, but the hotel will gladly hold your bags while you do some last minute shopping or sightseeing, if you have a late departure.

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* Hotels may change due to availability or local conditions.  We always book into a 3 star or better hotel except for the Bifengxia area hotel which is two stars, but is undergoing remodeling in the winter of 2007.
** We reserve the right to change side trip and tour destinations to meet local conditions such as weather, renovation or overcrowding.
*** The work experience may vary considerably from month to month.  Work duties change with the seasons and with the individual health of each panda.  You will work with a panda keeper and your experience will be significantly related to the duties of that particular animal keeper