The next stage of the journey: Kunming, Yunnan

On June 21, after breakfast at the hotel, the group will fly from Beijing to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province. This is a distance of about 1300 miles (2090 kilometers), and the length of the flight is 2hours 36 minutes (for comparison, it's about as far as some East Coast cities from Minneapolis, but not as far as California from MN). If flying inside China is anything like in the US, it may take longer to get to the airport and on the plane than it will to actually fly this distance.

Kunming has been a center of trade routes from south and west for thousands of years, and has played important strategic roles in many conflicts. Currently it is a major industrial center as well a a hub of communications with Southeast Asia. About 25 of the 55 officially recognized  ethnic groups of China (the largest being the Han who make up 92% of the population of China and roughly 20% of the global human population) live in this area. Because the city is in the mountains, it will be cooler than Beijing.

During their day there, the group will visit Xi Shan (aka West Mountain or the Western Hills) taking the cable car up and the battery car down, the peaceful park of Green Lake (Cui Hu), the Golden Horse and Green Phoenix Archways in the historic centery of the city, and the East and West Pagodas.
Here's a video clip with some highlights of Kunming:


The hotel I have listed in my itinerary is the Kunming Jiaxin Pearl ("or similar"). After dinner, adventure! The group will take an overnight train to Lijiang. What I don't know yet is what class they will travel in? I have traveled in just about every type of train you can imagine (including the Canadian equivalent of overnight in "hard seat" from Toronto to Montreal).
Chinese trains have 5 classes:
1. Soft sleeper
2. Hard Sleeper
3. Soft Seat
4. Hard Seat
5. Standing