Yangtze River Cruises
Hi Reina,
We have been back for over a week, adjusting to the time difference.
Just thought I would give you some feedback on our trip, especially on our trip to Yangtze River as you requested. Overall : all in all a great experience. I will recommend this agency, guides met us at the airport almost all on time and were really nice and accommodating. Trip was well organised and at a good pace, we saw lots. Guides: We had very good guides in Beijing, Shanghai and Chongching and Yangtze River. . The cruise was also nice, relaxing. We really enjoyed China it was a great trip. Here is my record of the Yangtze Cruise.
Day 01 ( June 12,2006 ) Beijing flight for Chongqing
Our local guide picked us up at our hotel in Beijing - Tiantan Hotel and transferred us to Beijing Caiptal Airport and took flight CA4142 (17:10-19:40) for Chongqing. We like very much our guide in Beijing - Ms Linda Zhang. She was fantastic, very knowlegeable and helpful with excellent English.
We arrived in Chongqing Jiangbei Airport on time. Our new local guide in Chongqing, Ms. Wendy Liang, met at airport and transferred us to the dock for boarding Yantze River Cruise Ship - Victoria Cruise. The USA Victoria fleet are the only American managed cruise ships to ply the Yangtze River. There are 7 vessels of Victoria Cruises fleet: Victoria Empress, Victoia Katarina, Victoria Prince, Victoia Queen, Victoria Rose, Victoia Star and Victoria Anna. The newest is the Victoria Anna, and all the other ships were refurnished lately, which are very cozy and enjoyable.
Chongqing City
Victoria Cruise
22:00 Night Snack in the dining hall on the first floor.
Our cruise ticket included all the meals and shore excursion. At 22:00 we had a nice snack. Later we came to know that each evening we would had a good night snack. The ship departs Chongqing at 23:30. So our Yangtze River cruise started.
Day 02 ( June 13, 2006 )
We went to breakfast and met two of our countrymen. Our table had two other couples on it, who were both very kind and friendly. The breakfast was quite similar to that which we had had in the hotel. The day’s shore excursion was to Fengdu, the ghost city. It was easy to see why it had this name. Fengdu lies on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, about 170KM downstream from Chongqing. Fengdu is famous for its "Ghost City" well known in China. It is a must- shore excursion site on the Yangtze cruise. Fengdu got its fame as the "Ghost City" in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Fengdu’s ghost culture has attracted a large number of tourists, which has topped more than 1 million a year.
Fengdu as the "Ghost City"
Day 03 ( June 14,2006 )
The early morning began with a short lesson about Taijiquan on the forward deck. The lesson was taught by one of the tour guide on ship. The weather was not at its best and was windy and showery. The views of the Gorges were just as spectacular as we had expected and we were interested to see the effect of the river flooding, as we were told by the crew that the river level had risen over two metres overnight. The markers on the side of the river bank indicated the intended level of river rising and we were glad that we had had the opportunity to see the Gorges soon. Well, we passed through the first Gorge (Qutang) and we then went on an excursion up the river. Later that afternoon, we went through the Wu Gorge to Badong, where we changed boat to go up the Shennong Stream. The boat trip took us further inland where it is still too shallow for the larger boats. Along the route we saw hanging coffins, suspended hundreds of feet up the steep Gorge sides. No one knows exactly how they got them up there, whether it was from the top swinging them into position, or by building a platform up to the position and then destroying it when the coffin was in place. We disembarked and got into peapod boats, which were for a short distance pulled along the river by longmen, however the changes to the levels on the river means that this is no longer the spectacle it once was. Previously the river upstream here was much shallower and to get up stream the longmen pulling the boat was the only method of travel.
The first Gorge - Qutang Gorge
The Wu Gorge
Boat excursion to Shennong Stream
Day 04 (June 15,2006) Yangtze River Cruise - Yichang - Shanghai
Our final day on the Yangtze started very early in the morning with the view the final Gorge (Xiling), it was in fact so early that many other travellers on board missed the scene. After breakfast we got on coaches to the Three Gorges Dam project. We stopped alongside the dam and witnessed the greatness of the entire project. We were then arranged to visit an exhibition centre which overlooked the site. From the highland, we could see all the aspects of the project including the new lock for tourist cruise boats.
Final Gorge - Xiling Gorge
Three Gorges Dam project
From here we were met our Yichang local tour guide and had lunch there, and then transferred to to the airport for our flight to Shanghai.
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