China - Hong Kong, Summer 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010 to Saturday, July 24, 2010
Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Guilin, Yangshuo, Hong Kong

China International Forest Travel Service
Rm. 202, No.12, Hepingli East Street, Dongcheng District
Beijing, China, 100013
website: http://www.foresttravel.net/
 

Our Guides (tentative)
Jessica Liu Beijing	Gerard Shi Xi'an	Fran Mo Guilin, Yangshuo	Bill Lau Hong Kong
About this Tour - This will be my 7th trip to China and the 4th using China International Forest Travel Service. After my first trip to China friends and family began asking me if they could come along. It has evolved into an annual event, except I took this year off because of family obligations. I have taken as many as 18 people which is the maximum I want to bring with me. About 15 is the minimum. Here are some important things to note about my trips. I am not a professional travel agent or tour guide. China International Forest Travel Service is the official company that runs this tour. They are based in Beijing China. All three of the owners - Tony, Louie and Leonard are well known to me. We consider ourselves friends. They are all great guys, married to wonderful women, with a young child each. They run this as a business. I use them to help with all the logistics in China. They use the best local guides. I use a travel agent in New York City to arrange the international flights.   Tony Zhao Louie Niu Leonard Wang   These trips are called "delegations" since they are both educational and cultural. The main focus is education but the last time I went I had about half of the group who were physicians and other medical professional. We split the educational tours up between seeing schools and hospitals. We all saw the cultural places. At this point I am planning mainly education sites but may include some of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospitals since they are so fascinating. I am budgeting for just 15-18 people to go. This way we get around a lot easier, no waiting for 40 people to get on the big bus. We don't need to wait in line to get into attractions, no waiting for tables in restaurants.   What will see see and do? Go to the China2007 and China2008 web pages. Next year's tour will cover those areas but with some major changes. First, I wanted to add on a visit to Chengdu to see PANDAS!!!. The tour guides tell me it is a great place to visit. The second major change is a stop in Hong Kong - which has the most beautiful harbor in the world and is an exciting city. I have been there three times. It is an expensive city and added to the cost of the trip but since this will be a trip of a lifetime for many people, I think it was worth the extra cost. Of course, I have had people travel with me twice and planning to come a third time. I have added an extra day to the trip also. I have arranged to to do more local walking, eating and shopping in the neighborhood areas so we get to see how the real people live, not just the tourist sites. We are planning bike rides, hikes and rafting so we get into the countryside more away from the gaggle of tourists. In Beijing we are actually invited to have lunch with a local family to see how people live. The guides and I have moved away from staying in 5-star hotels. They are like Ritz-Carleton hotels but even nicer. But we actually just sleep and have breakfasts in them so it's not a good use of our money. We are moving to 4-star hotels which are like Hilton Hotels - still very posh, safe, clean, etc. It will save us about $300.   My role as Delegation Leader is to plan the educational tours and decide who will be coming with me. I will also be the main contact with the tour company so they do not get bombarded with questions. As such, you must first contact me at bill@billhowe.org so we can chat to see if this is the right trip for you. If you have problems, complaints, etc about the trip  you must work with the travel company (and they have had no complaints from people on my trips), not me. In fact, you cannot apply to go unless we have talked and you have signed and mailed a waiver to me indicating you understand that this tour is under the auspices of China International Forest Travel Service. Please - I do this for fun. All our tours have been great fun and we all became good friends.   I tell people to put away $10 a day to save up for the trip. There are some trip details and costs that are still being worked out but the only big variable is airfare which is estimated to be about $1,200 round trip from NYC. Tickets go on sale in January, 2010 so we will have a better idea by then. I have worked with the tour guides to keep costs so that the cost of this trip is actually $150 less than in 2008 and we added on Hong Kong! We have to get a visa to enter China. The Chinese visa fee is $130 per person for now. Our NYC travel agent can get the visa for us. They will charge $20 per person for handling and service fees above this visa fee. So the total is $150 per person plus the postal fees (you can attach a mail return envelope with paid postage if you like). All your meals are included except for one lunch in Hong Kong - which we have designed to be a free day or you can take a tour. Total estimated costs: China Travel Service - $2,450 per person based on double occupancy, Single Supplement Fee is USD $600. Airplane ticket - $1,200 estimated          Total - $3,650. (visa fee plus spending money are the extras to plan for). It is hard to estimate          spending money because some people are shoppers and some are not. I took $400 US on my          first trip, bought a ton of stuff, including jade, and came back with money still in my pocket.           Please see my travel blog at http://billhowe.org/BillBlog/ where I will be regularly posting details.           You can subscribe to my blog for free too in order to get updates. The important things that we            will discuss on the blog include what clothes to bring, electrical plugs, what medicines you            should bring, any immunizations, ATMs, credit cards, exchange rates, travel insurance,            cameras, gifts for school children, tipping, getting to and from JFK, visas and passports, and            more details. After 6 trips, this is still fun and exciting. You will have memories for a lifetime.            Email me at bill@billhowe.org with questions. >>>>>>>>>>>>  Bill The best-selling book 1,000 Places To See Before You Die lists these five places that we will see on our trip: 1. The Forbidden City 2. The Great Wall of China 3. The Li River 4. Victoria Harbor and Victoria Peak in Hong Kong 5. The Terra-Cotta Warriors of Xi'an The 10 Best of Everything: An Ultimate Guide for Travelers by National Geographic lists these sites: 1. Beijing - (part of Ten Best Historical Tours, the Silk Road) 2. Xi'an - (part of Ten Best Historical Tours, the Silk Road) 3. Hong Kong - (part of Ten Best Historical Tours, the Silk Road) 4. Li River, China - (one of Ten Best Lakes, Canals & Watery Wonders) 5. Hong Kong Harbor - (Ten Best Travel Vistas) This really is THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME!  We will be traveling by plane, train, bus, cruise ship, rickshaw, bicycle and raft!

EDUCATION DELEGATION

To PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Led by Dr. William Howe

July 10-24, 2010

Day by Day Program

Beijing-Xi’an-Chengdu-Guilin-Yangshuo-Hong Kong

 

Enjoy your stay in China!

USD $2450/Per person based on double occupancy, Single Supplement Fee is USD $600 

Quotation includes:

1.    The economy-class air (or soft sleeper train) charges of the domestic flights between cities as specified in the itinerary.

2.     Hotel accommodations in all cities are based on two persons sharing one standard twin room with Daily breakfast. 

3.      All school based activities listed in the program. (this is a cultural/education trip. Most schools are closed but there are some open)   

4.      All meals as specified in the program with free flow of local soft drinks in all cities. (Except in Hong Kong)

5.      All sightseeing tours specified in the program in all cities

6.      Private transfers for you and your party as a group between airports, hotels and all sightseeing spots.

7.     Best available English-speaking guide and driver will accompany you on all normal sightseeing tours in each city.

8.     Chinese government taxes and the city construction fees applicable to your travel.

Travel Agencies' Liability Insurance with the tour inside China.

9.     Tips for local tour guides and drivers in all cities.

10.   The above rate is based on US Dollar; currently exchange rate 1 US dollar equals 6.7 Yuan (Chinese currency). Since July 21.2005, China carries out the flexible exchange rate system rather than the fixed exchange rate system pegged against US dollar Therefore we would like us to agree on the below articles:

       a)  We will keep the price unchanged if the exchange rate fluctuates within the range of +/-3%.

b)   We would like to keep the price renegotiable if exchange rate’s fluctuation is over +/-3%.

 Quotation excludes:

1.      The international air charge of arrival and departure. (To Beijing and from Hong Kong)

2.      Optional tour on July 23 in Hong Kong.

3.      Expenses of a personal nature such as laundry, drink, telex, telephone calls in the hotels or overweight baggage charges.