Today, Raining, we will say goodbye to the Victoria Express. In the morning, we will be arranged to visit the Three Gorges Dam site at Sandonping, the largest project in the world. Then arrive Yichang at 1:30pm, and disembark after lunch. The whole itinerary is as below:
- 06:00 Complimentary Early Bird coffee & tea;
- 07:00 Last chance for Tai Chi practice with Dr. Wu;
- 07:30 Breakfast Buffet service;
- 08:30 Shore Excursion: we go ashore to visit the largest hydroelectric power project in the world, the THREE GORGES DAM;
- 10:30 Return and the ship continues sailing; It was raining and the ship seemed like sailing through a mist forest;
- 11:45 Lunch buffet is served;
- 13:00 Disembarkation: Arrive in the final destination port of Yichang
The Three Gorges Dam, the largest water conservancy project ever undertaken by man. It is 2,335 meters long, 185 meters high, 18 meters wide on top and 130 meters wide at the bottom. The Three Gorges Dam raises the river to a level of 175 meters above sea level, creating a 600 km long reservoir with a storage capacity of 39.9 billion cubic meters extending from the dam site all the way to Chongqing. The construction of the project cost 28 billion USD and for the purpose of flood control, electricity, navigation and irrigation.
Yichang is situated at the entrance to the Xiling gorge and closest major city to the new Three Gorges Dam. it is the economic and cultural center of the western Hubei province. My flight time was 21:00 pm to Guangzhou in Yichang airport. It was hevaily raining and I cannot wait for so long time and fortunately, some guests who hired a car to Wuhan airport and invited me to join them. Then we spent 4 hours to Wuhan airport by highway and changed flight to 18:30 from Wuhan to Guangzhou. How lucky I was!
Day 1: Boarding in Chongqing
Day 2: Fengdu Ghost City
Day 3: Wushan, Daning River Small Gorges, Lesser Lesser Gorges
Day 4: Three Gorges Dam
Day 3 Wushan, Daning River, Lesser Lesser Gorges – Yangtze River Cruise by Victoria Cruise
On the 3rd day, Our Victoria Express cruise entered the Three Gorges, one of nature’s most extraordinary sculptures. We passed through the first two-Qutang Gorge and Wu Gorge. Qutant Gorge is the shortest (5 miles), narrowest (500 feet), and most dramatic. The 25-mile long Wu Gorge is known for its quiet beauty, forest-covered mountains, and cliffs so sheer that the sun barely penetrates the precipices. We took an excursion through the Daning River Samll Gorges, which are narrower than the Three Gorges, but very impressive. Then we entered Xiling Gorge, the longest (41 mile), and the deepest of the Three Gorges. In the evening, we sailed through the Three Gorges Dam ship locks. Below is the itinerary for the 3rd day:
- 06:00 Complimentary Early Bird Coffee & Tea are served;
- 06:30 Practice Tai Chi with Dr. Wu;
- 07:00 Victoria Express enters the first Gorge, the Qutang Gorge. Passage through this 5-mile (8 Km) gorge takes only 20 to 30 minutes. Commentary starts at 6:45 by the river guide Curtis can be heard on Deck 4 and 5;
- 07:30 Breakfast Buffet service begins.
- 08:45 Shore Excursion: Passengers disembark for their shore excursion. A smaller motoized vessel carried us through the picturesque Lesser Gorges, along a tributary of the Yangtze, the Daning River. Later we changed to a smaller boat that took us to a part of the “Lesser Lesser Gorges”.
- 12:45 Passengers return to the ship and lunch is served;
- 13:30 ETA the Victoria Express approaches the entrance to the 2nd of the Three Gorge, the Wu Gorge.
- 14:30 Artist Presentations! The Artists onboard took turns talking about their crafts;
- 15:30 Tea Time! Complimentary tea is served;
- 17:15 ETA for entrance into the third gorge, the Xiling Gorge;
- 18:00 Movie Time on Yangtze Club, Deck 4;
- 18:30 ETA Victoria Express arrived at the 5-stage ship locks of the Three Gorges Dam Project. Entrance into the locks depends on the permission of the Three Gorges Dam authorities. The passage through this 5 step ship-lock took us about 3.5-4 hours time;
- 19:00 Victoria Cruises Farewell Banquet on Dynasty Dining Room, Deck 1;
- 20:00 Victoria Empress Cabaret. The show is very wonderful and even you could enjoy the incredible Face-changing performance which is performanced by the crew.
The Wushan has a populcation of 30,000 and covers an area of 2958 square km. It is the starting point for the popluar boat trips through the Lesser Gorges on the Daning River. The river winds its way 33km (20 miles) through the beautiful Lesser Gorges.
The First and most dramatic Lesser Gorge is known as Dragon Gate Gorge. In this gorge, the river ragnes from only 10 to 30 meters wide while the cliffs on the either bank soar to an average of 800-1000 meters. Mysterious plants and Fungus of Longevity (Lingzhi) are said to grow high up on the cliff face. 2 rows of square holes extending the entire length of the gorges are all that remain of an ancient plank walkway.
In the Minsty Gorge, a 2,000 year old Hanging Coffin can be seen suspended on a precipice high up on the cliff-face. The coffin is a relic left over from the Ba people who inhabited the gorges region 3,500 to 1,800 years ago. At one time hundreds of these coffins could be seen throughout the Three Gorges and Daning River, suspended from seemingly inaccessible areas on the cliff-sides.
The Emerald Green Gorge, the farthest from Wushan, is covered with lush bamboo groves and foliage.
Day 1: Boarding in Chongqing
Day 2: Fengdu Ghost City
Day 3: Wushan, Daning River Small Gorges, Lesser Lesser Gorges
Day 4: Three Gorges Dam
On the 2nd Day, we were told that the crusie would be docked at Fengdu, a plethora of demon-decorated temples, buildings and statues in this river town earned it the moniker “Ghost City” – the carved facades are truly fascinating. and a shore excursion could be arranged in the afternoon. I was a little bit nervous because I has never met ghost but was also eager to see it. The itinerary for the whole day is as below:
- 06:00 Early bird coffee & tea service on Yangtze Club, Deck 4;
- 07:30 Dr.Wu teaches the art of Tai Chi-Shadow Boxing on Yangtze Club, Deck 4;
- 08:00 Breakfast Buffet service begins on Dynasty Dining Room, Deck 1;
- 09:15 “Ancient Waters, the Timeless Yangtze” – An information introduction to the Yangtze RIver and the Three Gorges by river guide Curtis on Yangtze Club, Deck 4;
- 10:15 CHINESE MEDICINE- Dr.Wu provides an insight into the theory and practice of traditional healing therapies on Yangtze Club, Deck 4;
- 12:00 Lunch Buffet is served;
- 13:15 Shore Excursion: Victoria Express is docked at Fengdu. Passengers go ashore to the “City of Ghosts” and visit the Ghost City Temple. The temple area on top of Ming Mountain pays tribute to the “King of the Underword”. (This is a walking excursion, there are some stairs and inclines to climb. Be sure to wear good walking shoes, watch your step and beware of ghosts. But you also can take a chair-lift to the entrance for 20 Yuan roundtrip)
- 16:00 Passengers return to the ship
- 18:15 Captain’s Welcome Reception: Captain Yang cordially invites all passengers for appetizers and refreshments on Yangtze Club, Deck 4;
- 19:00 Dinner (Set Dinner Service) on Dynasty Dining Room, Deck 1;
- 20:00 Victoria Cruise Fashion Show: The crew models a variety of Chinese traditional costumes from all regions and periods of Chinese history.
- After the show: Happy Hour in the Yangtze Club.
The Fengdu Ghost City has a populcation of 760,000 and covers an area of 2901 square km. To Chinese people, the social structure in the hell is exactly like that in the real world. In hell, a spirit goes through the whole bureaucracy to the finally judges. Those pure of spirit will be rewarded and those sinful of spirit will be subject to severe punishments. Different punishment would be given to different kind of sins. The temples built on Mt. Minshan in Fengdu Ghost City displays punishing instruments and wild demon images, which vividly depict the Chinese people’s imagination of Hell. Landmarks on the hill, bear horrible names- Ghost Torturing Pass, Tower of Last Glance to Home, No Way Out Bridge and River of Blood.
All the passengers in the ship had a good time for the Victoria Cruise Fashion Show started from 20:00 after dinner. The actress and actors showed us variety of Chinese traditional costumes from all regions and periods of Chinese history, amazing and impressive. Must see on the Yangtze River Cruise.
Day 1: Boarding in Chongqing
Day 2: Fengdu Ghost City
Day 3: Wushan, Daning River Small Gorges, Lesser Lesser Gorges
Day 4: Three Gorges Dam
– Day 1 Boarding in Chongqing
On 26th June, Fridany. I was boarding Victoria Express to start my 4-day/3-night yangtze cruise trip. Below is the itinerary for the 1st day:
- 18:00 Boarding Begins at Victorial Express on Chaotianmen Dock, Chongqing, the “Mountain City”. After check-in and putting luggages in our room and we were invited to the Yangtze Club on Deck 4 and met staff on the cruise. We tried the Evening Specials:” Victorial Hi” and “Yangtze Dream”, 25 RMB a glass!
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- 21:00 Victoria Cruises left Chongqing. We were invited to go up to the Observation Deck to enjoy the night scenery and lights of Chongqing. Beautiful!
- 21:15 Victorial Cruises Welcome Briefing Party starting on Yangtze Club, Deck 4. All passengers were be required to attend for important safety features. The Cruise Director, Monika Pichler, who is a elegant lady from Austria introduced the staff, ship and services to us.
- 22:00 All darkness on the Yangtze River and very quiet on the Victorial Cruise. Only watch on In-house channel 14, “The Last Emperor”.
Victorial Cruises Passenger Health and Safety:
- Electricity 220V-750 Wartts max
Please check first with the Front Desk if you can use your personal appliances. Hairdryers available at the Front Desk.
Video and digital cameras and other electrical appliances can and should be recharged at the Front Desk due to the unstable voltage in guest cabin. - Front Desk Services: Foreign Currency Exchange, Wake-up calls, Appointments fro the Doctor, Massage, Beauty Salon, Int.Calls and Internet.
- There is no cash flow on Victoria Cruises. For any purchase, somply tell the cabin number and it will be added to your bill. The final bill may be settled on your last night or day on Board. Payment may be made in any major currency, Visa Card, AE or travler’s checks.
- Smoking allowed only on outer decks.
Day 1: Boarding in Chongqing
Day 2: Fengdu Ghost City
Day 3: Wushan, Daning River Small Gorges, Lesser Lesser Gorges
Day 4: Three Gorges Dam
My trip to Shanghai
I was in a business trip in Shanghai one month ago. Except for the Expo, I was looking for sth more local and enjoyable. Then I came across a Shanghai local experience tour in a website (4 days Shanghai Local Life Experience Tour from www.chinatourguide.com) and find find it quite interesting.
And I gave it a try. It turned out to be a exclusive and unforgettable exprience for my Shanghai Trip!
This tour is designed for enjoyment of the whole family. It features one-day experience of being Shanghainese: to visit Shanghai’s old alleys and vegetable market, enjoy a meal with a local family and learn some Shanghai dialect. Kids will have fun meeting pandas in Shanghai Zoo and cruising in the Zhujiajiao Water Town.
Since I don’t know local Shanghainess, this tour is well-planned and made me really enjoy the local life.
O, fotos. I forget. I will paste them here next time.
I like Shanghai as a modern and local-taste city. What about you?
On June, 21, I visit the Chengdu Panda Base (Official Name: Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding) and the short trip is very impressive and funny.
I spend the whole day in the base from morning to the afternoon and was very lucky to see the Pandas in the outside garden twice a day. At the beginning, I was just wondering why I cannot see even one panda in the large base and suddenly heard ”Look at the Panda, so cute”, 4 pandas came out from their house. The feeder told me that Pandas are afraid of hot weather. If the temperature is higher than 25 centigrade, they will prefer to stay at cool house.
The pandas in the Base look very lively and wild, mostly different compared with other pandas in the zoos. They are running, fighting, eating, climbing, playing. Amazing! Wo! Wa! The visitors were also becoming very exciting.
After playing for half an hour, the pandas came back to their air-conditioning apartment because the weather became hot. And the tourists surged forward to the cool apartment.
The temperature was still higher and the feeders are not sure whether the Pandas would go outside again in the late afternoon. I have decided to wait. Then I found Red Panda. It was my first time to understand the difference between “Red Panda” and “Giant Panda”. Red Panda names “Little Panda” in Chinese and I thought it might be infant panda but I was wrong. In the Panda Base, there are many red pandas but completely different with Giant Panda.
I have waited for about 5 hours until 16:00 pm. The feeders checked the thermometer and finally let the pandas go outside. They were looking much happy more than morning time.
One of the philosophies of our Chinatourguide.com group is that we always offer elaborately designed itineraries to our customers. Therefore, we visit the attractions, hotels and dining places on our itineraries and may go there several times to update our information. Again, we went to Guilin and Yangshuo to make a filed survey on itineraries and hotels in this early November. The Li River in Guilin and Yangshuo is among the most popular destinations in China, and they are on the promotion lists for many years. How can we provide new experience to our clients beyond these beaten paths? That is the question.
We made a detailed investigation for the hotels in the downtown of Guilin and Yangshuo – learning about the hotel locations, the sizes of rooms, services and amenities. After several times’ comparison, we picked out some from so many hotels in downtown Guilin, and took plenty of photos of them and even VR panoramas. ONLY 3 hotels distinguished themselves among many competitors to become our final recommendation for our customers, namely, Sheraton Hotel Guilin (5 star), Guilin Bravo Hotel (4 star) and Hotel Universal Guilin (3 star). We approved these hotels according to our strict standards – good location, satisfying service, reasonable price, comfortable rooms and fine breakfast. Any hotels once on our recommended list failed to live up to the standards above, would be replaced when we came back.
We also visited the hotels over 3-star in downtown Yangshuo and we made our recommendation on Li River Hotel, Dragon River Retreat and Yangshuo Resort Hotel. Yangshuo Resort Hotel is a newly opened 5-star deluxe hotel for vacation. We made an overall check-out for the services and amenities to make sure the hotel is qualified for our standards.
As for the attractions along the Li River, we made our focus on the Xingping River section, 27 kilometers from Yangshuo downtown. And it is among the most beautiful of Li River. Most of the travel arrangement for this section is to take a river cruise. To make a difference, we targeted this part into the photography travel and hiking route. Photography travelers are always picky for the sites of shooting, avoiding the common composition taken in “I-am-here” photos.
Guilin is world-famous for its picturesque waters and mountains. In searching for the unique site for its unparalleled beauty of waters and mountains under both sunrise and sunset, we struggled to get up at 4 a.m. and climb for 40 minutes on a mountain for the best position and timing. In the afternoon, we also tried hard looking for a perfect sunset shooting place. In one day, we climbed several mountains, up and down and up and down, only with a hope that we can offer unique angles for photography and soul-touching experience for our customers.
This is just the way we do our work – striving to check out every itinerary that we recommend to our clients, in order to ensure the quality and standard of our services!
–My trip to Xi’an China Part 5
Shaanxi History Musuem is a must-see site in Xian China. If you miss it, you will miss the whole civilization of China.
China has a history of more than 5000 years. If you would like to experience the brilliant civilization from its origin but be pressed for time, Shaanxi History Museum located in the south of Xi’an city is the best site to show you all the history over 1 million years of China, from the remained simple stone tools of long ago to the daily use until the year of 1840 AD.
Shaanxi History Museum is first-class museum in China and vividly show you the ritual hierarchy of the Western Zhou Dynasty(1046BC-771BC), the illustrious military might by warriors of the Qin Dynasty(221BC-207BC), the boundless Silk Road of the Han Dynasty(202BC-220AD), the great merger of nationalities of the Wei and Jin Periods(220AD-581AD), as well as the prosperity and power of the Tang dynasty(618AD-907AD).
Shaanxi History Museum occupies an area of 70,000 sq.meters and collects over 375,000 pieces of historical relics. Among the innumerable exquisite relics, the bronzes of the Shang & Zhou dynasties(1600 B.C.-206 B.C.), the pottery figures of successive dynasties, the gold & silver wares of Tang Dynasty (618AD-907AD) and the mural paintings of the Tang Dynasty are with distinguishing features. Do not forget to Feast your eyes on 18 pieces of the National Treasures and the 1709 pieces of the first-grade relics.
A speical “White Glove Discovery Program” in the Shaanxi History Museum could be arranged as exceptional. In this program, visitors will be allowed to put on white gloves to handle and examine some of the ancient relics recently unearthed, while the archaeologists explaining the story behind them. It will bring you a breath-taking moment. Can you image the feeling that one ancient treasure having a worth of million dollars or more was in your hand?
Source: My China Tour Guide Blog
To see more about my Xi’an trip, you can go to my China Tour Guide Blog to see my new post about Fabulous Tang Dynasty Show.
My trip to Xi’an China Part 4
Xian itself is a scroll painting describes thousand years of China. The glory and disgrace of a period, the fall and rise of a dynasty, the peace and war of a history are all on the painting. The Tang Dynasty Show guides you the scroll painting by ancient music and dancing.
Before the Tang Dynasty Show, the guests will be invited to attend Jiaozi Banquet (Chinese Dumpling), which may follow the ancient customs of their people that the show always begins after attendee eating and drinking to repletion.
I watched the show in Sunshine Lido Grand Theatre next to the Xian Ancient City Wall. At the beginning, as usual, I degusted different kinds of Jiaozi as dinner, then rose of the curtain with a martial music by a royal drum:
The Tang Dynasty Show lasts for 1 hour and different kinds of music drama, dancing and musical instrument are presented. Some of them I recorded as below:
White Sleeve Dance:
An ancient folk dance show with 1700 years history and became very popular at the imperial palace in Tang Dynasty. Ramie was the main material to make long sleeves for dancing in ancient China. The background song of the Tang Dynasty Show, “On the white ramie” was written by Li Bai, a very famous poet in Tang Dynasty.
Monk Xuanzang:
Xuanzang, a Buddhist pilgrim in Tang Dynasty, made a 16-year historic pilgrimage to India along the Silk Road. This show describes how Xuanzang traveled about 10,000 miles on the Silk Road and climbed three of the highest mountain ranges of Asia.
Spring Outing:
Spring Outing Show pictures a ritual ceremony in Tang Dynasty. A group of young girls just return from a spring outing and express the feeling or happiness by dancing and singing.
Emperor Meeting His Army:Emperor Taizong (598-649AD, 2nd Emperor of Tang Dynasty) is one of the most famous strategists, statesmen and emperors in Chinese history. This show pictures how the Emperor trained his army and won a victory in a war.
A Beautiful Dream:This show is based on a love story about Emperor Xuanzong (685-762AD, the 6th Emperor of Tang Dynasty) and his favorite concubine Yang Yuhuan, which is the most popular show in the Tang Dynasty. One day, the emperor dreamed that he was touring the fairyland in the places under the moon. He saw many fairy ladies in rosy cloud like costumes dancing and singing in the sky. After he woke up, he composed a music drama describing his dream and asked his concubine Yang Yuhuan to arrange and rehearse the beautiful dance and light music that we are going to enjoy now.
Grand Dynasty:This is the final program of the Tang Dynasty Show and reflects the prosperous of Tang Dynasty and the wise reign of the Emperor by musice and dancing.
–My Trip to Xi’an China Part 3
My first impression about Xi’an is the majestic Ancient City Wall surrounds the Xian city.
The City Wall can be traced back to 1400 years ago but the current remains has a history of more than 600 years and rebuilt in Ming Dynasty (1374 AD-1378 AD) as military defense system based on the city wall of Tang Dynasty structures. The Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (1st Emperor of Ming Dynasty) took the strategy of “Build High Defense Wall and Store sufficient Subsistence before taking power” and aimed on defender strategy by building the city wall in Xi’an. With this strategy, the City Wall of Xian features heavily THICK. You can see that the thickness of the ancient city wall is much thicker than the height of it, even it allows the drill of cavalvy on the wall roof.
As one of the biggest ancient integrated close-knit Military Defense System remained in current China, the City Wall of Xian boasts 12 meters in height, 18 meters in width at bottom, 15 meters in width on the top and 7.39 miles (11.9 km) in length. The whole wall system consists of moat, drawbridge, ramparts, embrasure towers, the main tower, turrets, watchtowers, parapets and crenels.
There are 4 City Gates of the wall located in the east, west, north and south of the city and each gate has a structure of Embrasure Tower for defense, Ramparts for hanging drawbridge and the Main Tower for the final entrance of the city.
Stepping on the city wall is not only the way to find out the relic. You may rent a tandem bicycle and take about 1 hour to ride around the Xian inner city along the ancient city wall. Alternatively, you could hire a traditional rickshaw for half an hour tour along the city wall.
Originally posted at My China Tour Guide Blog.
To see more about my Xi’an trip, go to my China Tour Guide Blog to see my new post about the Great Mosque in Xi’an.
