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...

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...

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....

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,...

Apr 14, 2011 - Wuhan and Shanghai

Overnight, the Viking Emerald docked in Wuhan. Disembarkation from the ship went smoothly as we managed to drag ourselves out of bed at 0 Dark 30 and set our luggage outside the door. Had our final breakfast on board, settled our outstanding charges (to be truthful, mainly our bar tab), tipped the staff (they were so good), and that was that. We now had to leave the ship – our home away from home. No, no, we don’t want to go! Especially since we have to give up our great stateroom. But, saving grace, the trip is far from over. Let’s board...

Apr 4, 2011 - Three Gorges - Yichang - Wuhan - A dam good view

We need to be up early this morning to visit the Three Gorges Dam Project, a massive dam across the Yangtze River. There are currently 26 700mw turbines, with a further 6 under construction inside the mountain. Our bus takes us to a viewing platform where we can see the docks we came through the night before. We also see the construction of a “ship lift” that will take vessels up to 3,000 tonnes from the top of the dam to the bottom in just 30 minutes, that is moving one hell of a lot of water in one hell of a hurry! The inevitable hawkers...

Apr 20, 2010 - Wuhan

20th April Got up late. After saying bye to Tom (sob) we decided we should stop moaping and go and see what the Wuhan hype was about. Afrer navigating a bus and a ferry (would be so cool to have to cath the ferry to work) we realised that it was for nightlife, was full of bars and ropey looking clubs (one of which was just called 'club') The air was full of moisture and made us feel sticky and horrible, he fog was actually unreal  but i get the impression thats normal. There was also a building which said beach conservation, we jad a walk...

Apr 17, 2010 - Need for Speed - Wuhan to Shanghai

Before I will continue to give a depiction of our stay in Wuhan, just one little culinary experience we made in Yichang waiting on the bus to Wuhan to depart. Actually we were only looking for a decent toilette and thought the best place to find one would be in one of the restaurants. So we walked around the streets near the bus station to find a place to have lunch. Not knowing that the staff could not speak English we ended up in a hot pot-restaurant, confronted with an Excel sheet full of ingredients to choose for our hot pot. Of course...

Mar 7, 2010 - Three Gorges Dam, then on to Yichang, and to Wuhan.

We had another early breakfast today, to give us time to get to the Three Gorges Dam. And today was still misty, but not nearly as bad as the last time I was here. So, yes, I actually got to see the dam!! It is a pretty awesome sight, as it is so big, and such an engineering feat. We did learn such a lot about the dam, the costing, and the benefits to the people down stream, which is what we were told, is the primary reason for the dam in the first place. When we got back to the ship, it was time to pack, and to get our suitcases out into...

Oct 23, 2009 - Report from Wuhan

Hi everyone Well a brief email from me to add to John's below. Today we visited the Wuhan Provincial museum and were totally bowled over by the a series of rooms displaying the contents from the tomb of the Marquis of Ji, a lord from around this area who was buried with all the goods he needed for his travels to the next world including a panoply of cauldrons, musical instruments, tables, weapons, armour, chariots, AND... 13 women and one dog. Fantastic display model of the tomb looking down on it. This was from around 700-400BC. I think...