May 23, 2013 - Stage 3, Yueyang to Wuhan.

Well, if we thought the taxi drive from the train station to Yueyang was bad, then the taxi drive back to the train station was even worse. It must be something in the air here because we haven't experienced this level of aggressive, impatient driving anywhere else in China (yet!). Anyway, we took a punt (we hadn't booked train tickets) and just fronted up to the train station late morning. Our logic was that, as Yueyang was on the main line to Wuhan, it should not be a problem getting tickets. It worked, the first train through was fully...

May 4, 2013 - Wǔdāng Shān (Wudang Mountains)

After re-injuring my back doing break falls, I decided to travel south to Wudang with one of my friends from the Academy here in the North. Wudang shan is the birthplace of internal martial arts and daoism as well as the home to many temples. Unfortunately many of the temples are very touristy, but we got to go off the beaten path alot. We stayed at an academy there which specializes in tai chi, daoist sword, and wudang shan style wushu. We went hiking, visited temples and meditated in the mountains.

Oct 18, 2012 - Tuesday 16th October

Early breakfast then a 1 hour cruise up the Shennong stream where we transferred to local sampans for a further hour trip. The boatmen who manned the sampans live a two hour hike up the side and over the top of the gorge to their village. Lots of reconstructed towns/villages to replace those buried by the rise of the water level. During the afternoon we passed through the WU and QUTANG gorges. A pleasant relaxing day.

Oct 15, 2012 - Monday 15 October

A lazy morning on the boat. Lunch and then a trip to the Three Gorges Dam Site. An impressive engineering feat that is in its final stages of construction which is scheduled to end in 2015. The site has excellent tourist facilities which include elevators to move you upwards! The entrance and general area appear to be controlled by the military. back to the boat for the rest of the day. We left the dock in the evening and headed into the first of five docks we were to go through that night.

Oct 15, 2012 - Sunday 14th October - leaving Beijing for our Yanjgtze cruise

Up at 4.30am. Breakfast at 5am then out of the hotel to the airport. A two hour flight to Wuhan where it was even more polluted that Beijing. According to our guide the pollution was due to the heavy industry in the area including a number of major car manufaturers. At one point you could not even see a quarter of a mile across the fields. On arrival in Jinzhou we had lunch then went to the Jinzhou museum which was built in 1957 to house local ecavated finds. Jinzhou is a 5th level city compared to Beijing (which would be a level 1). Many...

Jul 9, 2012 - The Three Gorges Dam

We arrived early at the top of the dam band disembarked to amity but warm morning. There was not a lot to see until we reached the far side of the dam but then w could appreciate the sheer scale of the construction. The tiered lock for ships was also on view which takes approximately 5 hours to get to. After a few hour on the bus we boarded our third night train of the trip for a 17 hour journey to Guilin

May 6, 2012 - The Dam & On to Wuhan

We had to have our bag out by 7 a.m. for collection and loading to the bus for our trip to Wuhan. Then, we had our last breakfast on board. I have to say I won’t miss this food at all; it was adequate but not great. Finally, we were ready to disembark and board the bus for the trip to Three Gorges Dam. It was so terribly cloudy and overcast, it was difficult to see anything. The Dam Project is the largest water conservancy project ever built and is located in the middle of the longest Gorge, the Xiling Gorge, at a site called Sandouping....

May 5, 2012 - Three Gorges of Yangtze River

Dawn broke again to another cloudy and hazy day. Today, we transit the gorges. Fred joked it would be a gorgeous (gorges) day; there are some little patches of blue and wispy white clouds but not a day for photography. We enjoyed our buffet breakfast although all the food is starting to taste the same on the riverboat. We started our transit through the first of the Three Gorges, Qutang Xia. At just 5 miles, this is the shortest of the three. Steep walls rise up from the river and create the narrow 330-foot opening. Next, we would get off...

Apr 10, 2012 - Yangtze River-Shennong Stream

Our second day on the river takes us to the Wu Gorge, Shennong Stream and Qutan Gorge. ............................................................................................................................. 10Apr – Yangtze; Shennong Stream; Wu Gorge; Qutang Gorge Our experience on the Yangtze has been quite fabulous. Our guides local and today’s guide, Kitty, is charmingly sweet. From our river cruise boat, we board a smaller boat to take us up a tributary of the Yangtze, Shennong Stream. Before the dam was built, this stream was very...

Apr 9, 2012 - Yangtze River-Three Gorges Dam Site

Today we'll see the Three Gorges Dam and enter the Xiling Gorge while we're on the Yangtze River. Tonight is the Captain's welcome reception. ............................................................................................................................. 09Apr – Yangtze; 3 Gorges; Xiling Gorge; Captain’s Welcome On the Yangtze cruise, we have a daily included shore excursion. This year, with the new ship, we are also offered an option tour each day. Many of us chose to take advantage of the optional tours while others need...

Apr 8, 2012 - Beijing - Wuhan - Yichang

We'll board Air China #1475 at 11:30 for Wuhan, then coach to Yichang. In the afternoon, we board the MS Yangtze Two. There's a great You Tube video about the ship at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8mK0iFMI1M. ............................................................................................................................. 08Apr – Beijing flt to Wuhan; coach to Yichang; board ms Yangtze 2 Today was a travel day with a 2-hr flight from Beijing to Wuhan. Much to our surprise, we got a hot meal for lunch on the aircraft (rice,...

Aug 12, 2011 - ** Yunnan and Chongqing - Blog **

Yunnan province, south of China – set aside the Tibetan Himalayas on one side, Vietnam to the south and Sichuan to the East– we visited Kunming (briefly), en-route to Dali then Lijiang before heading to the highlight – Tiger Leaping Gorge. Turns out this was quite a popular route and it was the first time in China we really felt we were on the ‘backpacker trail’ - we saw the same 30 western tourists everywhere we went. Dali is touted as chilled-out travellers’ paradise and it’s obviously been that way for a while with lots of forty-plus...