A trip has been arranged with Dragon Expeditions to visit Wulong County in Chongqing Municipality. We will depart at 6pm on Wednesday 23rd July from the Foreign Students Dormitory at South West University for Minorities and returning 6am on Monday 28th July.

This trip is guaranteed to run for a minimum of three clients at an all inclusive price of 2450 RMB. Please express your interest to jeanhenrylv [at] gmail [dot] com at South West Minorities University, or directly to matt [at] dragonexpeditions [dot] com at Dragon Expeditions ((028) 8508 2770). Numbers are strictly limited and a deposit of 300 RMB is payable by Friday 18th July to secure your place.

Wulong County in Chongqing Municipality is a limestone karst area of China which has recently been granted UNESCO World Heritage protected status. It is geographically remote and as recently as five years ago there were no good rail or road links to the county which was rarely visited by outsiders. There is now a major road link to Chongqing and a railway with a motorway under construction. Local tourism based on extensive natural scenery is starting to develop and now accounts for a significant proportion of the county's income. Few foreigners have made the trip, although Wulong has just appeared as a destination in the most recent edition of Lonely Planet Southwest China so this is likely to change rapidly. It is a very popular area for exploratory caving in China and is the base of the international Hongmeigui Cave Exploration Society who have been exploring the caves here since 2001. The county is home to many of the deepest and longest caves in China.

More regular tourist attractions include the Three Natural Bridges National Park (Impressive karst landscape used in the filming of Zhang Yimao's "Curse of the Golden Flower"), Furong Dong (Show cave) and Longshui Gorge. It's also a good opportunity to see life in rural china with farming continuing much as it has done for many centuries.

Matt Ryan will guide the trip and knows the area and local people very well from numerous extended caving expeditions in the area and Dragon Expeditions have visited the area with groups on a couple of occasions now. It is not however an established area for trekking by any operator. If you expect a smooth, slickly oiled package tour then you will be disappointed. If you look forward to a genuine impression of rural China then you will not be. This is not a country where things happen smoothly or logically at the best of times but this is especially the case when we are taking part in an activity which the locals struggle to understand the purpose of! We can realistically expect to have some difficulties finding suitable accommodation or transport and may well end up waiting around more than would ordinarily be expected.

Proposed Timetable

D1 (23rd July): Travel to Wulong

We will meet at the Foreign Students Dormitory at the Southwest University for Minorities at 6pm before getting taxis to the North train station in time for the evening train to Wulong. Whilst we do not need to change trains, the way the ticketing system works it is often only possible to book tickets in advance for part of the journey. This may leave us without seats for the last couple of hours.

D2 (24th July): Arrival in Wulong, Longshui Gorge

We arrive in Wulong shortly after 3am which (for the keen) still gives us plenty of time for some beer and BBQ. An easy morning and then we will head up to the nearby town of Baiguo for lunch and a visit to Longshui Gorge, a deep narrow limestone gorge and cave which forms part of the core zone of the UNESCO World Heritage site - now easily accessible by elevator! From Baiguo we will head up into the hills spending the night in a local guesthouse in the small farming town of Tongzi. If time permits we will walk locally and visit some of the large cave entrances.

D3 (25th July): Free arrangement - Tongzi

Today is a free day and beyond some simple directions for interesting places to visit is largely unguided. (Your guide has other commitments locally this day). We will meet again in the evening for a meal and spend the night in the same guesthouse.

D4 (26th July): Three Natural Bridges

On our way back down the hill we will visit the Three Natural Bridges Scenic Area, a unique and impressive Karst landscape. No visit to Wulong would be complete without a trip here. Here we will look around the well thought out visitor centre with it's models and maps of the area before doing the usual tourist thing and take lots of photos before heading back down to Baiguo for the night.

D5 (27th July): Furong Dong, Return to Chengdu

Yet another World Heritage site, Furong Dong is a large very well decorated cave which has been developed and opened to the public. Following the cave we have a choice of "high speed sliding" across the nearby reservoir, or a more gentle trip up the reservoir and gorge by boat - two very different ways to admire the scenery. Tourism completed we'll head back into Wulong for an overnight train to Chengdu, arriving back around 6am Monday morning hopefully suitably refreshed for the week's work or study ahead.

Equipment

As you will be carrying everything on your back for a few days it is best to minimise what you are carrying. A bag of 10-15kgs is perfectly feasible. Anything heavier and you'll be regretting that extra stuff you carried "just in case"

We will be staying in cheap rural hotel accommodation with limited or no heating if the weather is cold or you are concerned about cleanliness then you might appreciate a thin sleeping bag to use in addition to the hotel blankets.

Food is pretty much a case of "whatever is available." Usually it's pretty tasty although it can often be quite greasy for city palates. Although food can be hot, non spicy dishes can usually be arranged. Strict vegetarians will struggle. Unless you are happy just picking the meat out of regular dishes you will be best off bringing supplementary food from Chengdu or overseas. Do not simply plan on missing meals if there is nothing suitable; we will be exercising hard and calories are essential for success. Please let us know as soon as possible if you have any special dietary requirements. A suggested equipment list is as follows:

• Waterproof jacket
• Two pairs of comfortable trousers (not cotton / denim)
• Two pairs of thick socks
• Change of underwear
• Comfortable boots for walking
• Plastic / enamel cup
• Head torch
• Toothbrush, toilet paper and a few other minimal toiletries
• Chocolate and other snack food
• Camera, MP3 player, book

Dragon Expeditions will bring a group first aid kit, gas powered stove and kettle, maps and a gps.