6 Days Urumqi Hemu Chengdu Dujiangyan Panda Volunteer and Food Tour

The beautiful scenery of Hemu Village
Dujiangyan Panda Base
Learn to make Sichuan Cuisine

Tour Outline: Urumqi - Kanas - Hemu Village - Urumqi - Chengdu - Dujiangyan Panda Base - Chengdu

Overview
Itinerary
Service Inclusion
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Trip Overview

Hemu Village, a rural village in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, all the cabins here are made of log, the taste of the primitives filling in the air here. The most famous view is the ravishing autumn. Smoke from kitchen chimneys arising, contrasting with the pure color scarlet of the sky, what a marvel! The emptiness, the tranquility, nature and the people, magically assemble, all become a harmonious view.

During this journey, you will experience the two very important things in Sichuan: Panda and Sichuan cuisine. Get very close to Pandas, clean dorms for them, make lunch for them and even feed them all by yourself and never forget this unique experience of intimate contact with Pandas!

You can also learn about the history and method of cooking Sichuan cuisine, you can try to cook by yourself, taste pure traditional Sichuan cuisine and view antiques of Sichuan cuisine, letting you get close to Sichuan cuisine from all perspective! After getting home, your family and friends will be surprised by your Sichuan cuisine cooking skills!

Visit the famous Hemu Village;
Interact with Pandas in a very close distance;
Take photos with pandas real close.

Best Time to Visit

All year round
Physical Demands

Very leisure tour; zero physical demand

Day by Day Itinerary

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Day 1: Urumqi Arrival

Our guide will pick you up at Urumqi Airport, transfer you to your hotel, prepare for the trip on the next day.

Stay overnight in Urumqi

Day 2: Urumqi Flight to Kanas, Transfer to Hemu Village

Today, you will take flight from Urumqi to Kanas, then take the SUV, transfer to Hemu Village.

Stay overnight in Hemu Village

Day 3: Hemu Village Sightseeing

Hemu Village sightseeing

Enjoy Hemu Village

Today you will have a full day sightseeing of Hemu Village. You can see women doing farm works, kids happily playing with each other, shouting sometimes. Cattles quietly eating grass, all of a sudden, the time stops, free you from noise of cities, it’s just you, and the snow is extremely white, cleansing your soul. Smoke from kitchen chimneys arising, contrasting with the pure color scarlet of the sky, what a marvel! The emptiness, the tranquility, the nature and the people, magically assemble, all become a harmonious view.

Stay overnight in Hemu Village

Day 4: Travel back to Urumqi and Fly to Chengdu

You will travel back to Urumqi and take the flight to Chengdu. Upon your arrival at Chengdu Shuangliu Airport, you'll be transfered to your hotel in Chengdu.

Stay overnight in Chengdu

Day 5: Chengdu to Dujiangyan Panda Base Volunteer Program

You may have a chance to feed the panda

Pandas in Dujiangyan Panda Base

7:00am Picked up by your tour guide
In the early morning, your tour guide & driver will pick you up from your hotel in Chengdu and then drive to the Dujiangyan Panda Base.

8:30am-09:00am Arrive at the Dujiangyan Panda Base and sign up
In the base, you will get a uniform, gloves, and a volunteer’s card with the assistance of your guide. Your guide will introduce you to the professional panda keepers. The panda keepers can speak simple English but your guide will be there for you at all times, helping to translate and taking memorable photos of you with the lovable pandas.

9:00am-10:00am Clean the panda enclosures
Panda keepers need to supply fresh bamboo to these national treasures three times each day. The pandas usually eat only 30% of the bamboo, wasting 70% of it. You will need to sweep out the leftovers, replace it with fresh bamboo, and clean out the feces.

10:00am-11:00am Take a break and tour around the panda base
Have a relaxing walk in the well-paved base and listen to the legendary stories of these pandas. You will also have a chance to meet four naughty red pandas.

11:00am-11:30am Feed a panda
Pandas are supplied with panda cakes, apples, and carrots four times a day. The panda keepers will show you how to feed a panda with your own hands at close proximity.

11:30am-1:00pm Have lunch and a rest in the base

1:00pm-2:00pm Watch a panda movie that lasts for about 40 minutes
You will see a special documentary about how the shy pandas mate, give birth, grow up, and are returned to the wild.

2:00pm-3:30pm More cleaning and feeding, and making panda’s cakes
The bamboo you supplied in the morning will have become dry by the afternoon. Remove it and replace it with fresh bamboo. Then feed the pandas with some more panda cakes and apples. Having fed the pandas with panda cakes, aren’t you curious as to how they are made? It is time to make some panda cakes with your own hands. The ingredients will be prepared in advance. Get creative about the shapes of the cakes.

3:30pm-4:00pm Get a certificate, and drive back to Chengdu
The volunteer work ends here and you will receive a certificate for this unforgettable day. Say goodbye to the pandas you take care of.

Your guide and driver will escort you back to your hotel in Chengdu.

Stay overnight in Chengdu

Day 6: Visit Sichuan Cuisine Museum and Learn How to Make Sichuan Cuisine

Pixian chili bean paste in the courtyard

The Famous Pixian Chili Bean Paste Ferments in the Courtyard

Sichuan Cuisine Cooking Class in the Cuisine Museum

After breakfast, your guide and driver will pick you up from your hotel in and drive to the Sichuan Cuisine Museum, which is located in Pixian County in western Chengdu. As the first museum with a theme of regional cooking culture in the world, Sichuan Cuisine Museum is the best place to learn the history of the famous Sichuan cuisine, as well as experience how to make an authentic Sichuan dish.

When you arrive in Sichuan Cuisine Museum, you could visit the main hall houses, where thousands of relics of cooking utensils hold. You could learn the history of Sichuan cuisine that dating back to about 2,500 years ago, in the Hall of Classical-collection Exhibition. There are great collection of books and records that vividly show the portrait of the rich culture of Sichuan cuisine, one of the most popular regional cuisines in China, even among the world.

Keeping on visiting the museum, you will see many antique treasure of the ancient Sichuan. And in the small farm in the courtyard, you could see how the famous Pixian Chili Bean Paste ferments in clay jars.

The most fantastic part of this foodie tour is to take a cooking class there and learn the authentic Sichuan dishes from local chefs. There is an English menu for you to choose, once you decided which to learn, the chef will teach you hand by hand. When you fished, you could sit down and enjoy the dish you just made. What a wonderful experience!

After the tour, our guide will take you back to Chengdu and end the gourmet tour in Chengdu.

Price Details & Guide

Price Inclusions

Private transportationto the destinations and sites listed in the itinerary; ranging from 4WD land cruiser to bus depending on the group size and trip route; car gasoline, road toll and in-transport refreshments (free bottles of water, air pillow and headscarf) are included(4WD in Kanas Village, sedan car in Urumqi);
Private experienced English-speaking trip leader(Only Chinese guide in Kanas Village);
Airport/railway station pick-upand send-off services at the beginning/end of the tour;
Entrance ticket feesfor all the sight spots listed in the itinerary;
First aid kit;
A coverage of 300,000RMB Chartis travel insurance;
Volunteer fees in Dujiangyan Panda Base;
Lunch at Panda Base;

Price Exclusions

International and domestic flight/train to Urumuqi/Kanas/Chengdu(Note: we accept the domestic flight/train tickets booking to Chengdu from other cities in advance, check the updated ticket availibility and cost with your travel consultant);
Meals that are not specifiedin the itinerary (Averagely a meal in the 3rdpole region cost 3~10USD per person);
Tips and gratuities for the trip leader and driver;
The expense of a personal naturelike alcoholic beverages, laundry, phone call, etc;
Optionalactivities and excursions not specified in the itinerary;
China Entry visafees;
All other collateral optional services except for entrance tickets;

Itinerary Alteration

Once we receive your tour deposit, which is followed by signing the contract, your reservation is secured with legitimacy. Our staff will reserve the accommodation, vehicle, site tickets, meals and more, and pay the deposit for our suppliers. So if you want to alter to another itinerary, you need to cover the deposit we've paid, while no service charge is needed if you make some changes on the itinerary you booked.

Cancellation and Refund Policy

If you cancel the tour beacuse of your personal issues, you will be liable to pay cancellation charges that are bounded by 3rdpoletour.com cancellation policy as follows:

1.) If you cancel the tour more than 30 days before the trip starts, you will forfeit 10% of the total land cost per person;
2.) If you cancel the tour 15-30 days prior to your trip start date, 20% of your total land tour cost will be forfeited as a cancellation fee.
3.) If you cancel the tour 7-15 days before the trip starts, you will forfeit 30% of land cost.
4.) If you cancel the tour 7 days prior to your tour start date, you will forfeit 50% of land cost.
5.) If you fail to show up or cancel at your scheduled arrival time without prior notice or later than that, you will forfeit 100% of the land cost.

If the tour has to be cancelled because of the natural disaster or the government restrictions that is beyond both parties control, we will charge only USD50 per person, this is just the service fee and larbor fee during the preparation. This is a rare occurrence!