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Yangtze River Travel Blogs

Background: For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.

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By jonjonm
September 27th 2009

ON TOUR Asia » China » Yunnan » Yangtze River

TO SHANGRI LA

We booked in with a tour company out of Lijiang to see a whole bunch of canyons, mountains, temples and more. I was a little apprehensive over whether we would get value, see cool things and be on some Contiki thing. BUt it was excellent. We all pilled into a twenty seater bus and headed off into the hills. Going was slow as we were on secondary road with lots of traffic going both ways on both sides of the road while looking over the edge of incredible high mountains. We made plenty of photo stops and one was interesting. it [View Full Entry]

By MickyStav
July 2nd 2007

Yangtse River Cruise Final Day Asia » China » Yunnan » Yangtze River

RECOVERED

The last day of the cruise started from the three gorges dam where we had mored up for the night after passing through the lock gates last night. Done an excursion to visit this massive project costing in the region of 25 billion US to complete. Already the dam produces electricity but is due for completion in 2009. We left the boat in Yichang where we spent the afternoon taking it easy and having lunch before the 17 hour over night train to Xi'an. This proved to be the best night of the tour as we started off with a [View Full Entry]

By MickyStav
July 1st 2007

Yangtse River Cruise Day 2 Asia » China » Yunnan » Yangtze River

RECOVERED

Here we began to visit the three gorges Picturesque views all around. The first around 20 mins long but breath taking. Todays excursion was to the lesser three gorges here the evidence of the dam is so present as entire towns are completely under water due to the resevior completion and river height rising some 80 meteres. Again the heat got the better here and we had to retire to the bottom of a glass boat not a good idea before returning to the Yangtse Angels to complete the nexst part of the cruise. A bit of kip and a [View Full Entry]

By ADog
July 1st 2007

Things are big here Asia » China » Yunnan » Yangtze River

RECOVERED

[url='/Videos/4129.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/4129.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'] Rising water in the Yangtze's Boat Locks[url='/Videos/4130.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/4130.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'] Dancers on the Yangtze River After another 14 hour sojourn across the Chinese countryside, we pulled into the city of Yichang, on the Yangtze river. We dropped most of our stuff off at a hotel, as we'd be hopping around the river for the next few days with different accomodations each night. Following a great lunch which we were told [View Full Entry]

By MickyStav
June 30th 2007

Yangtse River Cruise Day 1 Asia » China » Yunnan » Yangtze River

RECOVERED

This blog will encompass the three days of the cruise. The Yangtse is nicknamed the furnace for a reason after 5 minutes on deck it got so hot to even breath properly so sight seeing for the first day was restricted. We set sail early in the morning and had a welcome cocktail party in the afternoon before visiting the Ghost Fengdu. This place is rather strange all set up around the Chinese supperstitions of afterlife and the gates to Hell. This temple complex compossed of many structures with their own stories to tell including the tourture chambers for those [View Full Entry]

By LesTiPapoutesEnAsie
June 7th 2007

Countryside chinois! Asia » China » Yunnan » Yangtze River

Gros toutous!

Ni hao! Apres avoir visiter des temples et des gros bouddha, il etait temps de voir du vivant! Nous avons donc decider d'aller voir les pandas, quelle adorable creature! La Chine est vraiment tres fiere de ses pandas, meme s'il n'en reste que 1000 en vie dans la nature sur tout le territore. Ils ont donc etabli un centre de recherche et de 'multiplication' de pandas pres de Chengdu. L'an passe, 14 bebes pandas y sont nes, remarquable pour des animaux en captivite. Nous avons vu des pandas de 1 an a 4 ans... trop cute! Cette fois, nous prenons un [View Full Entry]

By mrandmrssimmonds
May 4th 2007

Day 306 - What do you do with 8 hours in Wazou? Asia » China » Yunnan » Yangtze River

Our latest addition to our different modes of transport

The morning started with no one manning the front desk of the hotel, so we were not able to get the deposit back for the key. Not the start we wanted. Our taxi ride then took us to the Hydrofoil port, which was nowhere near the water. This did not bode well, and we were ushered onto a bus and driven an hour up the river, driving past the dam, the very dam we were assured we would go through by our guidebook (the repeatedly poor Rough Guide) and by the ticket office. Finding a seat on the hydrofoil, we [View Full Entry]

By mrandmrssimmonds
May 3rd 2007

Day 305 - Three Gorges Dam Asia » China » Yunnan » Yangtze River

Three Gorges Dam

The morning was taken up with trying to find out if A) a hydrofoil travelled from Yi Chang to Chongqing B) if it went through the 3 Gorges Dam C) where it left from. These questions may appear simple but we had a tough time of it with our limited Mandarin (an incorrectly pronounced ‘thank you’ and that’s it). In the end we bought some tickets still unsure what they entitled us to, but when we pointed to a hydrofoil picture they smiled and said yes which was encouraging. In the afternoon we visited the 3 Gorges Dam. This is [View Full Entry]

By Shanghai Sheri
May 2nd 2007

A River Runs Through It Asia » China » Yunnan » Yangtze River

Cruisin

There are several “must sees” on our China travel list, so we decided to use our May holiday break to visit one of them: the mighty Yangtze River. Spanning the distance from Tibet to Shanghai, the Yangtze is wide, rugged, polluted, and flanked by spectacular scenery and a cross section of many Chinese lifestyles. Our cruise vessel: the Victoria Katarina. A comfie little river cruiser complete with such unexpected amenities as private stateroom balconies for primo viewing, great food (a real perk for Sheri), HBO (Uggg - a real perk for the kids), a wonderful top viewing deck, lots [View Full Entry]

By mark and chrissie
May 1st 2007

Taken up the Yangtze Asia » China » Yunnan » Yangtze River

Boat in the gorge!

Day 33 (...cont) We arrived at the port for the Yangtze Cruise and were disappointed to find that the Alaskan couple, Ben and Faye, that we'd met in the tour office would be on a different boat. We boarded the boat and were shown to our first class cabin - check us out! We had decided to go 'luxury' having taken various pieces of advice. However, you should remember that first class only means better than the other cabins on the boat and not what we might normally consider to be first class! We explored the boat, met a couple [View Full Entry]

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