Dali · Lijiang · 6 Days

The Celebration Climbs

Corporate incentive · nutrition group

Journey Design
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An incentive journey is remembered for one night. This one spends five days putting ground under it.
Snow peaks above a Yunnan valley, catching the first light of the day
Day by Day02/03
  1. 01Arrival

    Dali → Erhai · “Ideal Land”

    • Previous nightAn overnight departure from Kuala Lumpur and a dawn connection in southern China. The group reaches Dali mid-morning — which is the reason nothing demanding is scheduled before the afternoon.
    • MiddayLunch by the water, then check-in at the Hilton Dali Resort & Spa on the Erhai shore, with the Cangshan range behind it.
    • AfternoonA private jeep convoy out along the lake road to “Ideal Land” — open cars, photo stops, tea in the open air. Movement rather than a programme.
    • EveningAn optional Bai three-course tea on the hotel lawn: bitter, sweet, aftertaste. It is a hospitality ritual, and also — conveniently — the shape of the next five days.
    • NightRooms early. Nobody speaks from a stage tonight.
    Where you stayDeluxe room, Hilton Dali Resort & Spa · night 1 of 5
    Design Intent

    A red-eye and a connection is a hard way to begin a reward. So the first scheduled thing is an open car on a lake road, which asks nothing of anyone, and the first dinner is optional. Holding the welcome back one night costs an evening of stage time. It buys a room that is awake on day two.

  2. 02Lake level

    Hilton ballroom · Three Pagodas · Erhai

    • MorningThe half-day brand meeting in the hotel ballroom — leadership address, strategy, a themed coffee break, one working session. It finishes at one and it does not come back.
    • AfternoonChongsheng Temple and the Three Pagodas, the oldest skyline in Dali, with Cangshan standing directly behind them.
    • Late afternoonTwo chartered yachts on Erhai at golden hour — live jazz, a toast, and the lake open on both sides.
    • EveningDinner at Li Song Yan · Dali Palace Banquet. Yunnan cooking, served properly.
    • NightBack to the resort. Nothing after.
    Where you stayDeluxe room, Hilton Dali Resort & Spa · night 2 of 5
    Design Intent

    The working half-day sits on the morning of day two and nowhere else. Put it on day one and people are still on the aircraft; put it on day four and the journey has two separate halves. Placed here it is paid for the same afternoon, on the water, and the rest of the week owes the office nothing.

  3. 03Made by hand

    Xizhou · Erhai eco-corridor · Dali Old Town

    • MorningXizhou first — Bai courtyard houses that are still lived in, before the day-trip coaches arrive.
    • Late morningA private tie-dye workshop led by a master of the craft. Indigo, bindings, a dye vat, and a piece of cloth each that nobody else has.
    • MiddayLunch in a Xizhou courtyard.
    • AfternoonOpen-top music cars along the Erhai eco-corridor, a singer on board, stops at the S-curve. Loud, unserious, and the part everyone films.
    • EveningDali Old Town, then the evening is free with a dining allowance. No table plan, no speeches.
    Where you stayDeluxe room, Hilton Dali Resort & Spa · night 3 of 5
    Exclusive Highlight

    The keepsake is made on day three rather than handed out on day five. A gift bag is forgotten within a month; a badly dyed scarf you made yourself is not. The cost is two hours of a morning and an outcome nobody controls — some of the cloth comes out wrong, and that is the part people tell the story about.

  4. 04Over the pass

    Dali → Lijiang · Dongba Valley · Yuhu

    • MorningCheck-out, then two and a half hours north over the mountain roads to Lijiang.
    • MiddayLunch on arrival.
    • AfternoonThe group splits in two. One half to Dongba Valley for the pictographic script and the ritual ground; the other to a Naxi family courtyard at Yuhu, under the snow mountain — the firepit, grinding beans for tofu pudding, making Dongba paper by hand. Then they change over.
    • Early eveningCheck-in at the InterContinental Lijiang Ancient Town Resort, beside the old town.
    • EveningA short guided walk to Sifang Street, then dinner at leisure in the lanes.
    Where you stayClassic room, InterContinental Lijiang Ancient Town Resort · night 4 of 5
    Design Intent

    Splitting the group and running the rotation twice is the entire point of this day. A family courtyard can host half a group as a visit; it can only host the whole group as a performance. The price is one more shuttle and a tighter afternoon, and it is worth paying.

  5. 05Altitude

    Jade Dragon Snow Mountain · Sun Moon Lawn

    • MorningUp Jade Dragon Snow Mountain by eco-vehicle and cable car to the Glacier Park. A toast and the group photograph at the top, where the air is thin enough that nobody talks for long.
    • MiddayHighland hotpot below the mountain.
    • AfternoonThe flower valley on the way down, then back to the hotel with two hours in which nothing is asked of anyone.
    • DuskDongba Blessing Night on the Sun Moon Lawn. Drummers and a cedar walkway at the entrance, fire bowls lit by Dongba priests, a blessing scroll opened to begin.
    • EveningA three-course dinner with the performances set between the courses instead of after them — strings, candles, fire — then the awards and the draw. It closes with the whole group out on the lawn holding lights, filmed from above, under the mountain they stood on that morning.
    Where you stayClassic room, InterContinental Lijiang Ancient Town Resort · night 5 of 5
    Exclusive Highlight

    One idea runs twice on this day: cold and thin in the morning, warm and close at night. The awards come after dinner rather than before it, so that people eat as colleagues first and as a ranking second. And the last thing that happens is something the group does together, not something performed at them from a stage.

  6. 06Home

    Lijiang → Home

    • MorningNothing scheduled. A slow breakfast; the spa or the old town for anyone who wants either.
    • Late morningCheck-out, luggage handled, private transfer to Lijiang airport.
    • AfternoonOut through Guangzhou.
    • NightHome after midnight.
    Design Intent

    The last morning is left empty on purpose. Six days of programmed time ends in three unprogrammed hours — which is when people finally say the things they have been meaning to say to each other all week.

6Days
2Cities
8Exclusive Highlights
The Climax

The whole group out on the lawn holding lights, under the mountain they stood on that morning.

The Designer's Note

Three decisions hold this one together. The working half-day sits on the morning of day two and is paid for the same afternoon, on the water, so the office never comes back. The Naxi courtyard visit runs twice with half the group each time, because a family house can receive a visit but cannot receive an audience. And two of the five evenings are left unprogrammed with a dining allowance — a group entertained six nights running arrives at the gala already spent, and the gala is the one night that has to land.

Indigo cloth lifted from the dye vat at a Bai tie-dye workshop
Closing Act
Six days, two cities, and a reward that was made rather than handed over.

ZeL CuraTours operates in partnership with Boustead Travel Services Sdn Bhd, a licensed Malaysian travel agency · KPK/LN 10169

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