5-Day Guilin Cultural Exchange & Mandarin: Arts, Crafts & the Two Rivers

Morning — Gobi Trekking
Embark on a 25-kilometer trek from Guazhou to Dunhuang, the core of your Gobi experience, retracing Xuanzang's crossing of the Mobeiyan Desert. The route passes ancient beacon towers, Gobi oases, and yardang landforms — wind-eroded rock sculptures unique to this arid region. Accompanied by a professional guide sharing stories of Xuanzang and the Silk Road, this raw, unpaved trek offers a chance to disconnect and find clarity in the desert's vastness.

Afternoon — Desert Experience & Arrival
Travel light with only essentials — water, snacks, sunscreen, and a hat — and enjoy a simple Gobi lunch of local bread, dried fruit, and water under the open sky. Arrive in Dunhuang by evening, feeling the same relief and accomplishment Xuanzang described after crossing the desert; the harsh environment teaches patience and resilience.

Evening — Dunhuang Night Market
Relax at the Dunhuang Night Market, a lively bazaar of local snacks, handicrafts, and traditional performances. Try Dunhuang specialties such as mianpi (cold noodles with spicy sauce) and yangrou paomo (lamb soup with bread), then join an evening sharing session on 'Spiritual Practice Through Gobi Trekking.'

Morning — Mogao Grottoes
Visit the Mogao Grottoes, also known as the 'Caves of the Thousand Buddhas,' the most iconic Buddhist site on the Silk Road and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Carved into a cliff face over more than 1,000 years (from the 4th to the 14th century), the grottoes preserve over 492 caves, some 2,415 painted statues, and about 45,000 square meters of murals depicting scriptures, trade, and daily life. Xuanzang visited here, and the art deeply shaped his understanding of the faith.

Afternoon — Yumen Pass & Han Great Wall
Tour Yumen Pass and the Ruins of the Han Great Wall. Yumen Pass was the westernmost gate of the Han-dynasty empire and the point where Xuanzang secretly left China; immortalized in Chinese poetry, it once bustled with Silk Road caravans and now stands as a desolate ruin. The Han Great Wall, built over 2,000 years ago, stretches across the desert and marks the empire's ancient frontier.

Evening — At Your Leisure
The evening is yours to enjoy at your leisure. You may rest at your Dunhuang hotel or explore the town's cafes and night market at your own pace.

Morning — Dunhuang to Hami
Travel from Dunhuang to Hami by private car or chartered vehicle (about 4 hours, 380 km). This marks your first stop in Xinjiang, known in ancient times as the "Western Regions" and the point where Xuanzang entered the foreign lands he later described in Records of the Western Regions.

Afternoon — Hami Royal Palace & Hami Museum
Visit Hami Royal Palace, built in the 18th century as the residence of the Hami Khans who ruled under the Qing Dynasty, blending Chinese, Uyghur, and Central Asian architectural styles. Then explore Hami Museum, with exhibits on Silk Road trade, ancient artifacts, and traditional Uyghur art, and taste the famously sweet local Hami melon.

Evening — Overnight in Hami
Overnight in Hami as you adjust to the region's drier, cooler climate. Join a discussion on Hami's role on the Silk Road and read excerpts from Records of the Western Regions about Yiwu, the ancient name for Hami.

Morning — Kuqa to Aksu
Travel from Kuqa to Aksu by private car or chartered vehicle (about 2 hours, 180 km). Aksu, once known as Baluka, was a key crossroads on the Northern Silk Road, where the route split north over the Tianshan Mountains or south through the Tarim Basin.

Afternoon — Aksu Museum & Wensu Grand Canyon
Visit Aksu Museum, whose exhibits showcase the region's history, multi-ethnic heritage, Silk Road artifacts, and traditional Uyghur crafts. Later explore Wensu Grand Canyon, a dramatic landscape of red sandstone cliffs, gorges, and rock formations carved by erosion over millions of years.

Evening — Overnight in Aksu
Overnight in Aksu as you prepare for the crossing of the Tianshan Mountains. Join a themed sharing session on Xuanzang's decision to take the more dangerous northern route and what it reveals about his determination.

Morning — field notebook review and team presentations
The programme closes the way field courses should, with the students doing the talking. Each team has spent the week keeping a field notebook across three contrasting sites — the tower karst around Qifeng, the Longji rice terraces, and the Li River channel and its wetland margin. Teams now present one transect each: what they measured, what they saw change upstream to downstream or uphill to downhill, and where their observations met or contradicted the reading they were set beforehand.

The session is led by the accompanying teacher with the field guide present, and each team takes questions from the others. Notebooks, photographs and sketch maps are handed in as the programme record, and the best judged transect is written up on the final day for the school to keep.

Late morning — West Street and the last hour
Yangshuo's West Street has been the town's market street since the Qing dynasty and is now the place students spend a final hour: local snacks, printed cloth, and the kind of ordinary street life that does not appear in a textbook. It is also the practical last stop for anything the group wants to buy before the airport.

Farewell lunch
Lunch is taken in Yangshuo before the drive north. Beer fish, stuffed river snails and Guangxi rice noodles are the regional dishes to try; the guide orders around allergies and any dietary requirements the group registered at booking.

Afternoon — transfer to Guilin and departure
The drive from Yangshuo to Guilin takes about an hour and a half. Groups flying out are transferred to Guilin Liangjiang International Airport; groups continuing by rail are transferred to Guilin North Railway Station for the high-speed service toward Guangzhou, Guiyang or Changsha. Your guide assists with check-in and stays until the group has cleared.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch