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Experiencing Yangtze River Cruise:
For who interested in a leisure tour, the Yangtaz
River Cruse is a best choice. Taking 3nigths/4days from Chongqing to Yichang,
most of time you just stay on boat enjoying all the offers both from the
staff on ship and the nature in sight. As the sights pointed out by the
river, the English-speaking Guide will be on
the observation deck and tell you some interesting stories
about them, while you are tasting your café and music. Nowhere you
are, on the deck, in your cabin, or in café bar, you may hear the guide
via loudspeaker. If the ship you take is 4 star or 5star standard, your
experience no doubt will be very excellent!
The Yangtze River Cruise is not available at the Low
Water period from November to next March when all tour cruises will stop.
The best season to make the cruise is April, May, September and October.
Log of my Yangtze Cruise in 2007.
The first day:
We left Beijing for Chongqing on 29th,
April,07 by flight CA1419 (07:45/10:10)
and
met our guide Ms Deng, at Chongqing airport, she guided us making a full
day tour to Baigongguan, Zhazidong and Hongyadong. Baigongguan and Zhazidong
were two prisons in the period time of Jangjieshi government, where many
Communist Party members had imprisoned and killed. After the foundation
of the Republic of China, one of the prisoners wrote a novel named Hongyan
based on the life there and was familiar by Chinese people. For oversea
tourists to tour Chongqing, they will be suggested to tour the Dazu County
reputed as Land of Stone
Sculptures and E-ling park.
After dinner, we were transferred to Chaotianmen pier.
Confusing with the Bund of Shanghai, the night view of Chaotianmen Pier
was very beautiful. We checked in the boat, named the Sunshine,
a 5 star boat. It launched in 1994 and refurbished in 2003,
it is said the World leaders choose this ship for
their Yangtze cruise. Comparatively, the Sunshine
is not as luxury as the Victoria inside and out.
The Sunshine has 73
Cabins and can serve 136 passengers. Among 73 cabins, there
are 6 deluxe suites, 8 deluxe single rooms, 58 staterooms and one presidential suite. The
facilities
on the ship include Central Air-condition, Closed- circuit Television,
Acoustics, Chinese Specialties, Western-style delights, Tea Corner, Movie
Screen Hall, Bar, Dancing Hall, Karioke, Business Center, Beauty Parlor,
Sauna, Massage Service, Spa, Laundry and Sightseeing Platform.
The second day:
Our ship departed at 8:30 am, on 30th,
April and sailed forward by the speed of 20 km/ per hour. In the early
morning, we had to dress a Jacket to keep worm from the strong wind. It's
getting hot from 10am till 7 pm, the highest temperature was more then
30 C degree.
Our meals here on each day were satisfying with buffet
in west taste mainly and a little Sichuan local food.
At this noon, the captain, a young man in white uniform
held a Greeting Party at the dancing ball, despite only short time, all
passengers were very enjoyable with the those free offers: wine and noshes.
They were singing, dancing and took pictures with our handsome Captain.
Our ship stopped at foot of Fengdu Ghost
City, 171km away from Chongqing, where is imagined to be the capital of
another world. Due to the Three Gorge Sluice Engineering, the old Ghost City had been submerged,
and the City we seen now was a copied compound, our guide told us most
of the original constructions had been moved here. Now the Fengdu City
with beautiful landscape looks like a peninsula of the Yangtze River.
In this evening, the stuff performed us a Fashion Show
for an amusement and for sale their Chinese dressing.
The third day:
To see the sun rising in the early morning is one of
the things you cannot miss. It is a wonderful picture, of cause if the
sun won't be hidden from the cloud. We got up early in the first two mornings,
but could not see the sun until it rose up from the behind of mountain
at 9:00 am.
Qutang Gorge, the first Gorge
is 8km in length. It is the shortest, the narrowest and the
majesties Gorge of the Three Gorges. Sailing in the Qutang Gorge for one
hour, we arrived The Three Little Gorges (the
Longmen Gorge , the Bawu Gorge and the Dicui Gorge.),
at pier, we changed a smaller size boat to cruise the narrower river,
from that famous scenic spots there you can have a opportunity
to examine rock formations and other scenic features up close. The attractive
view during this side trip was the Xunguan, a Suspended Coffin upon the
precipice, a historic site where the ancient inhabitants of eastern Sichuan
from approximately 2,000 years ago, placed an iron coffin. It was actually
a wooden one in ages past, and placed in a rectangular cave 400-500 meter
above the river. According to the records, descendants placed the body
of their ancestor into a coffin and then slung it from the top of the
hill by ropes. Therefore, the higher the coffin sits the more senior the
person was.
Cruising through the Little Three Gorge, we passed
the Three Less Gorges, the river there is much narrower, only the small
boat available.
In the afternoon of the second day, we entered the
Wuxia Gorge, the second biggest Gorge of and the famous area of rain and
thunder in China. With 45 km long, it
is flanked by high peaks that are often capped by fog
or clouds and long known to be as dangerous as it is beautiful. Further
down the Yangtze River, we saw a few high peaks of 12 peaks Wushan mountain,
which are described by legend as being 12 fairy spirits. The best known
is Shennu Feng (Goddess) Peak, it is said
that this rock resembling the figure of a beautiful maiden is actually
the embodiment of Yao Ji, the youngest daughter of the Heavenly Mother.
Yao Ji became a protector of the people, guiding sailing boats through
the gorge and easing the Yangtze's infamous floods.
In this evening, the captain held a banquet for all customers and good-bye party.
The Fourth day:
Lucky in the fourth morning when sailing through the
Qutang Gorge, 2nd,May when our boat went through the Xiling Gorge, Mr Sun was rising up at the right time, how beautiful the view
was! It was really very impressed and unforgettable.
The Xiling Gorge with 126km in length is the longest
one of the Three Gorges, for me, it is the best beautiful Gorge of the
three Gorges, just like a picture from the fairy tale world. Comprising
many dangerous rapids and currents, the Gorge zigzags for 76 kilometers (47 miles) down to the Nanjin Pass in Yichang Hubei
province, those
bigger gorges mouths the
smaller ones, gorge in gorge, the Xitang Gorge is known as the most dangerous of the Three
Gorges. Many Chinese famous writers had given their paean to this Gorge.
At about 1:35 pm, we got off the boat and took one-hour bus drive to The
Three Gorge Dam.
The Three Gorge Dam, the
largest construction project ever undertaken by mankind is located
in Santouping town, Yichang, Hubei Province. It is
said the first proposed idea was from Dr. Sun Yet-Sen, a pioneer of the
Chinese democratic revolution some seventy years ago, and has been a dream
for generations of Chinese people. With many discussions about
advantages and disadvantages to construct the Dam, it was in
1992 that the Chinese Government finally gave the go ahead for the scheme.
Now, this great dam, the largest of its kind in the world with 15 square
km, provides China with tremendous power generation and flood control
services, however, many questions by now, such as the climate influenced,
the flood-prevent，environment prevent and
so on still worry experts.
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