China holiday
Typically you will be sharing your experiences with between 4-20 like minded travellers (depending on the trip, operator and how many others are booked on the trip) and you'll have a group leader with you. Whether you are travelling alone or with friends its good value, and a great way to meet new people! While itineraries are pre-planned there is some flexibility and you'll have plenty of privacy. This trip will appeal to travellers of all ages who enjoy meeting new people as well as seeing new places.
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
On this trip: We take most of our meals in local restaurants whilst our monastery stay on Mt. Emei provides an important source of income for the monks. Local guides provide an historical framework for us and, although standards of guiding are sometimes not comparable with those one would expect in the West, it does provide vital employment and contact with foreigners. Our visit to see the pandas in Chengdu generates important revenue for the project as does many of the included / optional trips we offer. All this again ensures that our money is spread far and wide amongst the people who need it most - the locals. You may also have the opportunity to visit the Moon Bear Rescue Centre near Chengdu. Operated by Animals Asia, it provides a home for bears rescued from the cruel trade in bear bile extraction.
Our Responsible Travel Code: Being Responsible is at the heart of everything our company does. The local supplier for this trip will promote our responsible travel code throughout your adventure. You will also receive specific information on this trip’s responsibility in your trip notes.
Charity Partnerships: As a company we support The Travel Foundation, a UK charity that has been established to promote responsible travel practises throughout the whole of the travel industry. We also work with a number of charity partners who work in the destinations that we visit; including Friends of Conservation and Born Free Foundation. We partner with many small grassroots projects throughout the destinations that we visit - they all share our responsible vision.
Carbon Balancing: All of our customers are invited to offset their international flight emissions. Contributions go to the Blue Ventures Carbon Offset program, a non-profit organisation which provides solar stoves for subsistence communities in Madagascar, benefiting the people and protecting the environment. We also contribute £2 per person towards offsetting of your in-country travel. We fully offset all emissions from our staff travel and run an energy efficient office.
Our Foundation: We’ve highlighted a few of the ways in which we offer our support, financially or otherwise, and now you can, too. We have set up our own foundation, which will administer funds donated by you. A small donation of £1 per person will be taken when booking a holiday, which we then match, and that money will be put to good use by one of our carefully selected projects. If you don’t want to make the donation, just tell us when you book.
Community
We have developed a programme of school visits with our local agent in China. You will have the opportunity to visit a school during your stay in Yangshuo, which provides education for about 50 pupils aged from 6 – 11. These schools would benefit greatly from your support so if you would like to offer your assistance by taking a gift they would be delighted to receive the following; clothes (remember Chinese children are smaller than those in the UK), exercise books, schoolbags, pencils and crayons, erasers and similar stationary. Although you can take things out with you, goods are available cheaply locally and your Group Leader will be able to advise on where to buy things.
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