China & Tibet

Stroll the most impressive street in Shanghai. The Bund, the center of colonial Shanghai, now offers an array of elegant embassies, banks, tea houses, and five-star hotels. Even more impressive is the mansion housing the Children's Palace. Once a private residence, the marbled and chandeliered building now offers after-school education for gifted children. Find your own gifts on Nanjing Road, the city's premiere shopping street.

Shanghai combines European elegance with Asian flair, transforming its colonial history with a unique modern outlook. See the highlights with a local licensed guide. Surrounded by a busy bazaar, the Yu Yuan Garden offers an amazingly peaceful escape into a sixteenth-century garden with fountains, bridges, and tile dragons undulating along the walls. More peace reigns at the temple of the Jade Buddha, where two exquisitely carved Buddha statues, each carved from a single piece of jade, keep watch over a community of monks.

Step out of the commercial craziness of Shanghai and into its quieter residential areas -- though with over 15 million people living in the city, its residential quarters are not necessarily all that quiet. Get a sense of how the locals live with a visit to a Shanghainese family (if the season permits).

Forget Cirque de Soleil -- Shanghai's Acrobatic Troupe has been performing for more than 50 years, and their combination of superb acrobatics, juggling, magic, and more has made them the world's best acrobatic ensemble.

Travel to the historic city of Hangzhou, known for its ancient relics and natural beauty. Take a cruise on Hangzhou’s famous West Lake, to see its picturesque mountain backdrop and the Pagoda of Six Harmonies that has been an iconic structure in Hangzhou since its construction in 1121 AD. Next, visit the Long Jing tea plantation where you will see where the tea grows, learn how the leaves are picked and then hand-baked. Finally, take a trip to one of the oldest pedestrian streets in the city, Hefang Street, also known as Snack Street because of its huge collection of street food, tea houses and restaurants. Explore the street, try some local specialties and then take seat and watch as the world goes by.

Explore the administrative capital of Tibet and the birthplace of Tibetan Buddhism. See the expansive 1,000 room Potala Palace that, before his exile, was the home of the Dalai Lama and then visit what is considered to be the most sacred temple in Tibet, Jokhang Temple. The ancient road that encircles the temple, Barkhor Street, is part of the Buddhist pilgrimage route and is filled with old Tibetan houses on narrow lanes and a bustling marketplace selling Tibetan Sutras, prayer wheels, jewelry, food and more.

Walk through the museum’s colorful state-of-the-art exhibits chronicling Tibet’s history and highlighting Tibetan religion, folk custom, arts and crafts. See examples of ancient cultural and religious relics including numerous Buddha statues, Tibetan scriptures, gold albums and imperial jade seals.

Visit this opulent palace and its surrounding temples, parks and gardens that once served as a summer residence for Tibet’s Dalai Lamas since 1755.

Sera Monastery is one of just three Tibetan Monastic education institutions and, at one point, was home to over 5,000 monks. Today, the number of monks currently living at the Monastery has dropped dramatically, but the monastery itself, its temples, chapels, statues and artwork are all still there and make for an impressive sight.