Short Stays are flexible stays with a program that can be arranged according to your schedule. Stay with us for as little as three nights, or for as long as you like. Short Stays are often booked as part of a broader China trip. Every day is truly unique at the Centre. Our deep connection to the communities in the Dali Valley allows us a great deal of flexibility in providing guests the best of what there is to experience in the region. The wealth of festivals and celebrations of the larger Chinese culture, coupled with the customs of ethnic tribes within Yunnan, make the Centre a quite dynamic place.
A day with us might include a morning Tai Chi session led by a local master, shopping for indigenous textiles from the village family who spun and dyed the cloth, or a facilitated discussion with local business owners on the evolving regional economy. We also make excursions outside the village to sites such as mountainside Taoist temple compounds and organic farming operations. We even offer 'voluntourism' activities such as teaching basic English and storytelling to village school children. Our team is always working to create more unique experiences for guests, and we've learned that some of the most rewarding encounters are quite impromptu and depend on the day-to-day happenings in the village. What is consistent is the genuine connection to the people and cultures we offer travelers each and every day.
Guests also enjoy a measure of down-time at the Centre reflecting in the Zen garden, perusing our extensive Chinese cultural library, and admiring the one-of-a-kind paintings, statues, and displays in our fine art gallery. The compound itself is a living museum, with stories of its ancestral families built into the property. Priceless artifacts from past dynasties are found throughout the grounds.
Due to the nature of time spent at The Linden Centre, we recommend a three night minimum stay for each guest on our Short Stay programs, though all guests are certainly welcome to book two days/two nights or less. We have found that three days or more allows enough time to acclimate to the pace of life in this open-air rural setting. This also provides sufficient opportunity for our Directors to put every guest in touch with the authentic aspects of the culture that make us an experience - not merely a place to stay. This policy also fosters a wonderful bonding between fellow travelers. We feel strongly that this adds greatly to the depth of each traveler's experience, and is in keeping with our philosophy of bringing diverse people together.
Please see our 'Activities' page to peruse the numerous and ever expanding pool of experiences into which travelers are immersed during their time in Xizhou Village. Our Directors utilize their regional and local expertise to take advantage of the best available adventures and encounters on any given day. While we hope to accommodate individual requests, typically there are one or two focuses on any given day for the entire group of guests.
