I have had an email from Professor Tan Ken who will be the liaison person for our visit. Here is the body of my reply which is probably the easiest way of giving everyone an update of where we're at.
You will see it contains a link to the website for our proposed accommodation so you can take a look. A friend of mine has been to check it out, so I'll aim to include his comments and photos.
Please post any comments, suggestions or questions using the comments facility or by email, phone or post to me
In the photo of my previous entry, Tan Ken is on my left (your right!) and He Shaoyu, the Director of the Research Institute, is on the other side of me.
My email to Tan Ken said . . . .
We shall arrive around April 16 and are planning to stay in Yunnan for one week, including up to 5 days focussed on apiculture.
Some of the group will then visit other tourist attractions in China (for example Beijing, Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors)
The group are keen to:
Would it more convenient for you to arrange a programme from Monday to Friday or would it be better to include a weekend in our 5 days?
The group are naturally asking about the total cost. Our travel agent will tell us the cost of air travel to Kunming. We are planning to stay in the Nissi Holiday Hotel which is in the north of Kunming. www.nissisuiteshotel.com will give us the accommodation cost.
In addition there will be the cost of food and of road travel. It would be helpful to have your ideas on that. Will you be able to arrange a suitable minibus, 面包车 or larger, depending on numbers? If so, what will that cost?
Unless you are able to accompany us yourself personally, we shall need an interpreter who is familiar with beekeeping terms in Chinese and English.
When I was at the conference in Hangzhou (which Professor He Shaoyu also attended), we were helped by student volunteers who were keen to improve their English. Maybe two of your students would like to do the same for us?
I am not yet able to give final names and numbers for our group. I estimate 6 to 8 beekeepers.
In addition there may be one or two wives/husbands who are not beekeepers and who will not take part in the beekeeping activities, but who would probably like to be invited to the opening ceremony and/or meal. These non-beekeepers will do other things in and around Kunming.
Some of our group will be older but all have assured me that they are in good health and will have no problem visiting the mountainous areas.
As advised by our travel agent, I shall be asking for firm bookings by early January. After that, I can give you a list of names so that you can send us a letter of invitation and we can obtain visas. (If that is a problem, it should be easy for us to obtain 30 day tourist visas.)
You will see it contains a link to the website for our proposed accommodation so you can take a look. A friend of mine has been to check it out, so I'll aim to include his comments and photos.
Please post any comments, suggestions or questions using the comments facility or by email, phone or post to me
In the photo of my previous entry, Tan Ken is on my left (your right!) and He Shaoyu, the Director of the Research Institute, is on the other side of me.
My email to Tan Ken said . . . .
We shall arrive around April 16 and are planning to stay in Yunnan for one week, including up to 5 days focussed on apiculture.
Some of the group will then visit other tourist attractions in China (for example Beijing, Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors)
The group are keen to:
- See the work of your Institute in both research and training.
- Get an overview of beekeeping in Yunnan Province and in China as a whole.
- Learn about Apis cerana, including both modern and traditional methods of keeping them.
- Visit beekeepers in villages and to see how they keep their bees in logs, walls, hives, etc.
- Learn about Chinese methods of keeping Apis mellifera and to compare these with British methods.
- Learn about the use and production of bee products such as royal jelly, propolis, pollen, etc. which seem to be more popular in China than in Britain.
- Visit a commercial bee farm.
- Learn about Chinese methods of treating bee diseases.
- See or do anything else you can recommend to us.
Would it more convenient for you to arrange a programme from Monday to Friday or would it be better to include a weekend in our 5 days?
The group are naturally asking about the total cost. Our travel agent will tell us the cost of air travel to Kunming. We are planning to stay in the Nissi Holiday Hotel which is in the north of Kunming. www.nissisuiteshotel.com will give us the accommodation cost.
In addition there will be the cost of food and of road travel. It would be helpful to have your ideas on that. Will you be able to arrange a suitable minibus, 面包车 or larger, depending on numbers? If so, what will that cost?
Unless you are able to accompany us yourself personally, we shall need an interpreter who is familiar with beekeeping terms in Chinese and English.
When I was at the conference in Hangzhou (which Professor He Shaoyu also attended), we were helped by student volunteers who were keen to improve their English. Maybe two of your students would like to do the same for us?
I am not yet able to give final names and numbers for our group. I estimate 6 to 8 beekeepers.
In addition there may be one or two wives/husbands who are not beekeepers and who will not take part in the beekeeping activities, but who would probably like to be invited to the opening ceremony and/or meal. These non-beekeepers will do other things in and around Kunming.
Some of our group will be older but all have assured me that they are in good health and will have no problem visiting the mountainous areas.
As advised by our travel agent, I shall be asking for firm bookings by early January. After that, I can give you a list of names so that you can send us a letter of invitation and we can obtain visas. (If that is a problem, it should be easy for us to obtain 30 day tourist visas.)
RSS Feed