Shanghai/Suzhou/Hangzhou 5-Day Muslim Budget Tour

Key Details
• Tour Duration: 5 days
• Live Guide: English & Chinese
• Transportation: Air-conditioned car/van/coach with experienced driver
• Hotel accommodation: 3-star hotel accommodation in Shanghai, Suzhou & Hangzhou

What's Included
• Hotel accommodations with daily Buffet Breakfast at hotel
• Transportation in an air-conditioned coach
• Services of an English-speaking guide
• Entrance tickets to mentioned attractions
• Halal Meals as specified in the itinerary
• Prayer at local Masjid (Mosque)
• Personal accident travel insurance
• All government taxes

What's Not Included
• Optional activity costs
• Gratuities to guide & driver (optional)
• Any other personal expenses

Day by Day Itinerary

Day 1: Arrival in Shanghai
Meals Included: No meals
Hotel: 3-star Holiday Inn Express Putuo Shanghai or Similar
Activities: Pick up at Pudong or Hongqiao airport, transfer to hotel

Day 2: Shanghai, City Tour, Drive to Suzhou
Meals Included: Breakfast at hotel, lunch at local Halal restaurant
Salat: Prayer at local Masjid (Mosque)
Hotel: 3-star hotel in Suzhou
Activities: Pick up at hotel, Oriental Pearl TV Tower (second sphere, 263 meters high), the Bund & Nanjing Road, People's Square, Shanghai Museum, drive to Suzhou

The Oriental Pearl TV Tower
The Oriental Pearl TV Tower is located at the tip of Lujiazui in the Pudong district by the side of Huangpu River, opposite the Bund, makes it a distinct landmark in Shanghai. This 468 meters high (1,536 feet) tower is the world's third tallest TV and radio tower surpassed in height only by towers in Toronto and Moscow. However, even more alluring than its height is the tower's unique architectural design that makes the Oriental Pearl TV Tower one of the most attractive places anywhere. The base of the tower is supported by three seven-meter wide slanting stanchions. Surrounding the eleven steel spheres that are strung vertically through the center of the tower are three nine-meter wide columns. There are three large spheres including the top sphere, known as the space module. Then there are five smaller spheres and three decorative spheres on the tower base. The entire structure rests on rich green grassland and gives the appearance of pearls shining on a jade plate. Visitors travel up and down the tower in double-decker elevators at speed of seven meters per second. The pearl at the very top of the tower contains shops, Halal restaurants and a sightseeing floor. The view of Shanghai from this height fills you with wonder at the beauty that surrounds you. When viewed from the Bund at night, the tower's three-dimensional lighting makes it a delight of brilliant color.

The Bund
The Bund refers to Shanghai's famous waterfront stretching for 1.6km (1 mile) along the west shore of the Huangpu River. The original Bund runs from Suzhou Creek in the north to Jinling Lu in the south. On the west side of the main avenue that runs along the Bund are the colonial edifices of yore, while the eastern side is taken by the Bund Promenade, a newly widened and lengthened, raised embankment that acts as a dike against the Huangpu River. Once a muddy towpath for boats along the river, the Bund was where the foreign powers that entered Shanghai after the Opium War of 1842 erected their distinct Western-style banks and trading houses. From here, Shanghai grew into Asia's leading city in the 1920s and 1930s, a cosmopolitan and thriving commercial and financial center. Many of the awesome colonial structures you see today date from that prosperous time and have become an indelible part of Shanghai's cityscape. The colonial-era buildings that highlight the Bund include the former British Consulate, Customs House, former Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, former Shanghai Club (now the Waldorf Astoria Hotel), and the Peace Hotel.

Nanjing Road
Nanjing Road is the main shopping street of Shanghai and one of the busiest shopping streets in the world. The 3.4-mile-long Nanjing Road starts at the Bund in the east and ends in the west at the junction of Jingan Temple and Yan'an West Street. As a result of the Opium War (1839-1842), Shanghai was forced to open to the West as a port. Nanjing Road was first the British Concession, then the International Settlement. Importing large quantities of foreign goods, it became the earliest shopping street in Shanghai. Over time, Nanjing Road has been restructured, undergoing significant change. For shopping convenience, its eastern end has an all-weather pedestrian arcade. Big traditional stores no longer dominate the market since modern shopping malls, specialty stores, theatres, and international hotels have mushroomed on both sides of the street. Today over 600 businesses on Nanjing road offer countless famous brands, superior quality, and new fashions. Upscale stores include Tiffany, Mont Blanc, and Dunhill. In addition, approximately a hundred traditional stores and specialty shops still provide choice silk goods, jade, embroidery, wool, and clocks.

People's Square
People's Square is a vast public square surrounded by government buildings. Truly an urban park, it features manicured greenery and, at its heart, the architecturally impressive Shanghai Museum. Other features include a 320-square-meter water fountain, subway station and an underground shopping mall. Prior to 1949, People's Square was a part of the horseracing course of Shanghai. After gambling and horseracing were banned by the the Communist government, a part of the race course became the People's Square, which included a large avenue and spectator stands for use during parades. Other parts of the race course still remain today. The clubhouse buildings became the Shanghai Art Museum, while part of the race track became People's Park, a public park. In the 1990s, major changes were made to the square. The Shanghai Municipal Government was moved from the former HSBC Building, and the Shanghai Museum was also moved away from its previous site in a former office building. More recent additions include the Shanghai Grand Theatre and the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall.

Shanghai Museum
Located in the center of Shanghai in People's Square, Shanghai Museum is a large museum of ancient Chinese art. Its rich and high-quality collection of 120,000 precious works of art including ancient Chinese bronze, ceramics, painting and calligraphy is specially celebrated in the world. The museum is a distinguished architectural combination of traditional culture and modern spirit, making it unique among many museums in the world. Covering a total area of 39,200 square meters, with a height of 29.5m, the round celestial dome and the square earth base which symbolize the philosophy of a spherical heaven and a square earth, form an extraordinary visual effect. The Shanghai Museum is divided into eleven galleries and three exhibition halls. The eleven Galleries cover most of the major categories of Chinese art: ancient bronze, ancient veramics, paintings, calligraphy, ancient sculpture, ancient jade, coins, Ming and Qing furniture, seals and Minority Nationalities.

Day 3: Suzhou, City Tour, Drive to Hangzhou
Meals Included: Breakfast at hotel, lunch at local Halal restaurant
Salat: Prayer at local Masjid (Mosque)
Hotel: 3-star hotel in Hangzhou
Activities: Pick up at hotel, Humble Adminstrator's Garden, Silk Factory, Grand Canal Cruise, Panmen Gate, Drive to Hangzhou.

Humble Administrator's Garden
Humble Administrator's Garden is a renowned Chinese garden in Suzhou. It is the largest garden in Suzhou and is considered to be the finest garden in all of southern China. Humble Administrator's Garden was first built during the Shaoxing period (1131-1162) of the Southern Song Dynasty. Rebuilt by an imperial official in 1509 during the Ming dynasty, the garden is unique for its water features, which form the main backdrop to a surrounding landscape of miniature forests and hill-like rock formations. The garden is also home to several pavilions and halls, of which the Hall of Distant Fragrance (Yuanxiang Tang) is the main structure. The building is named after the nearby lotus pool, which perfumes the air with a soft fragrance during the summer. In 1997, Humble Administrator's Garden, along with other classical gardens of Suzhou was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Silk Factory
Silk has a history of some 4,500 years in China, so they have become adept at producing many different types of silk, as well as dyeing it and weaving different patterns into the fabric. Suzhou is famous for its silk production. In the Suzhou Silk Factory you can see a display of the life-cycle of the silk worm and demonstrations of how the silk is harvested from the cocoons and eventually woven into fabric. Suzhou's silk has been an imperial tribute and gained a worldwide reputation from as early as the Tang and Song dynasties. Suzhou is the best place to learn Chinese traditional silk culture.

Grand Canal Cruise
The Grand Canal is one of the greatest projects constructed in ancient China. With a total length of 1,795 Km (1,114 miles), the ancient Grand Canal was constructed in the Sui Dynasty (AD581-AD618) as a waterway to ship the produce of Southeast China to the capital of China located in the north. The part of Grand Canal in Suzhou is 96km in length crossing the city center of Suzhou. This cruise tirp on the city moat which is part of the Grand Canal will allow us to see how residents once lived and traveled. Houses and shops back up to the canals and business is carried out directly with those on the canals. Over 20 historical attractions of Suzhou are united by the grand canal. Tranquil, peaceful and historical, this grand canal cruise is just like a time machine to bring you back to the old era. In 2014, the Grand Canal was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Panmen Gate
Suzhou was once surrounded by a moat, and its first city walls and tower were erected to defend this water passage. The Panmen Gate is the original entrance to the city and is said to boast a history spanning 2,400 years. It was the only gate in those ancient times to be equipped with both a water entrance and a higher land entrance. The present gate structure was rebuilt in 1986, but the original structure could be traced back to the Yuan dynasty during the peak of the Mongol empire. The Panmen Gate is part of a larger scenic area that houses two other main attractions. Wumen Bridge was the highest bridge in Suzhou in those early days, and was the central passageway leading to the land entrance. Ruiguang Pagoda was the ancient city’s first such structure, and its present form has been reconstructed from bricks supported by wooden platforms.

Day 4: Hangzhou, City Tour, Drive to Shanghai
Meals Included: Breakfast at hotel, lunch at local Halal restaurant
Salat: Prayer at local Masjid (Mosque)
Hotel: 3-star Holiday Inn Express Putuo Shanghai or Similar
Activities: Pick up at hotel, cruise on West Lake, Meijiawu Longjing Tea Plantation, Six Harmonies Pagoda, Qinghefang Ancient Street, drive to Shanghai.

West Lake
West Lake is surrounded on three sides by cloud-capped hills and on the fourth by the city of Hangzhou. Its beauty has been celebrated by writers and artists since the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907). There are numerous temples, pagodas, gardens, and artificial islands which merge with farmed landscape within the lake. West Lake has influenced poets and painters throughout Chinese history for its natural beauty and historic relics, and it has also been among the most important sources of inspiration for Chinese garden designers. West Lake is an outstanding example of a cultural landscape that display with great clarity the ideals of Chinese landscape aesthetics, as expounded by writers and scholars in Tang and Song Dynasties. The landscape of West Lake had a profound impact on the design of gardens not only in China but further afield, where lakes and causeways imitated the harmony and beauty of West Lake. The visual parameters of this vast landscape garden are clearly defined, rising to the ridges of the surrounding hills as viewed from Hangzhou. West Lake was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011.

Meijiawu Longjing Tea Village
Meijiawu Tea Village is one of the largest tea plantations in Hangzhou and noted for the world-famous Longjing (Dragon Well) tea. It is called Meijiawu because most villagers have the same family name, Mei, which means plum blossom in Chinese. Meijiawu village is tucked inside the greenery of the mountains and water near West Lake and it is reputed for its history of serving exquisite green tea. Neatly planted rows of tea bushes line up the hillside; meandering soil paths, like brown threads, sew the pieces of green together. This picturesque village offers a great chance to experience the pleasure of tasting tea, watching tea ceremonies (very elaborate, very sophisticated) and most interestingly selecting tea under professional supervision. Known as the best green tea in China. Longjing (Dragon Well) tea is produced pan fried by hand to stop the fermentation process, which refers to drying of the freshly picked leaves, resulting in enzymatic oxidation. This means Longjing tea leaves are unfermented and has the highest concentration of catechins among teas.

Six Harmonies Pagoda
Six Harmonies Pagoda was originally built in 970 and was destroyed in 1121 in a war during the Northern Song Dynasty. The brick exterior was rebuilt in 1156 and the restoration was completed in 1165 during the Southern Song. The seventh story and the spire were added during the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368). The external eaves were added in 1900 during the Qing Dynasty. The pagoda is octagonal in shape and has a height of 59.89 meters (196 feet). The interior has seven stories but the external eaves makes the structure appear to have thirteen stories. The six harmonies refer to the Six Harmonies of the Sangha which are six rules stipulated by the Buddha to promote unity among his followers. These include corporal harmony (same work), verbal harmony (same silence), mental harmony (same tolerance), ethical harmony (same practice), ideological harmony (same understanding), and material harmony (same benefits). This pagoda was built not only to honor the Buddha but also to serve as a navigational aid and lighthouse. Dating back to the time of its original construction, bright lamps were installed at the top of the pagoda at night to help guide ships sailing on the Qiantang river.

Qinghefang Ancient Street
Qinghefang Ancient Street is one of the oldest streets and is the only well persevered antique historic street in Hangzhou. It derived from the Southern Song Dynasty and became prosperous in the Qing Dynasty. The buildings in the street were mostly constructed during the Ming and Qing dynasties. After Hangzhou had been chosen as the capital of Southern Song Dynasty, Qinghefang witness many luxurious residence and prosperous Halal restaurants, teahouse and stores. Qinghefang provides a glimpse into what city life in China must have been like in the old days. In addition to its many traditional Halal restaurants and teahouses, Qinghefang is a hotbed of creative culture with countless street artists demonstrating ancient writing skills and art techniques, along with boutique stores and market stalls selling everything from silk products to tea. Be sure to take a peek into some of the many unchanged side alleys leading off Qinghefang for a look at how Chinese tradesmen and craftsmen have lived through the centuries.

Day 5: Departure from Shanghai
Meals Included: Breakfast at hotel
Activities: Transfer to Shanghai Pudong or Hongqiao airport.