http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Yangtze-River/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , China , Yunnan , Yangtze River en-us Sun, 03 Jan 2010 09:20:24 +0000 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 09:20:24 +0000 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 si http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Yangtze-River/blog-440921.html 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 havin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Yangtze-River/blog-178746.html 30th September Our final day on the Yangtze began early in order to see the final Gorge Xiling it was in fact so early the several members of the party viewed the Gorge in their pyjamas but from the comfort of the Presidential Deck once again. We packed up our belongings and at this point Mum jettisoned excess luggage leaving an old jacket behind to make way for all Dads backscratchers Af http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Yangtze-River/blog-178555.html 29th September 2006 The day began with a brief lesson in Tai Chi on the forward deck from one of our dinner guests. One of the couples had the ldquoPresidential Suitesrdquo at the front of the boat which was a slightly larger room and a private deck. They had kindly invited our table to view the Gorges from the privacy of their deck and had ordered coffee and biscuits for us to enjoy. The http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Yangtze-River/blog-178523.html Rising water in the Yangtze's Boat LocksDancers 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 would likely be our las http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Yangtze-River/blog-177167.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Yangtze-River/blog-177101.html 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 supper http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Yangtze-River/blog-177092.html 28th September 2006We were woken on the first full day of the cruise by music at 7am. We could have gone to exercise classes on deck but we passed. We went to breakfast and met our fellow passengers. Our table had two other couples on it who were both very nice and friendly. The breakfast was similar to that which we had had in the hotel. The dayrsquos excursion was to Fengdu the ghost ci http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Yangtze-River/blog-176502.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Yangtze-River/blog-166571.html There are several ldquomust seesrdquo 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Yangtze-River/blog-156042.html 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 o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Yangtze-River/blog-155393.html 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 lsquothank yoursquo and thatrsquos it. In the end we bought some tickets still unsure what they entitled us http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Yangtze-River/blog-155392.html 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 b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Yangtze-River/blog-154094.html Shanghai to Yichang Fendu and ChongqingMatt and EdMatt doing the Time Warp Ed Irsquom turning 30 this year. So you would think in that time I would have learnt a thing or two about responsible drinking. Alas our last night in Shanghai proved me wrong. By the time we had bonded with some expats over a few and I donrsquot use the term lightly vodka lime and sodas over five hours into the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Yangtze-River/blog-147150.html Abends um 23 Uhr ging es also los ab auf den Yangtze.Das Boot bestand aus vier Stockwerken wobei sich wie auf einem Kreuzfahrtschiff die gehobenen Klassen in den oberen Stockwerken befanden whrend die Passagiere der dritten Klasse ihre Kabinen ganz unten ber dem Motor bezogen so wie ich.Auf der Homepage werden folgende Hinweise gegeben1 Only CHINESE SPEAKING guide in this boat.2 The rates http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Yangtze-River/blog-120009.html