anyone else on the 8/6 Yangtze River cruise?

[mmaskaly]

Good info. What cities did you go to besides Hong Kong & Wuhuan? We leave in 2 weeks for Shang Hai, Three Gorges area, Chongging, Xi'an & Bejing. Do you have any information about these areas through your visit?

 

Thanks

 

Mike

[gardencat]

new_cruiser

 

Thank you for all that great information I hope I get a chance to make use of it . I'm trying to figure out if I can arrange my schedule to do it in April vs. March although it will cost a little more, my main concern is co-ordinating my travel with my schedule at work and various family obligations in April. Still its only 13 or 14 days so I hope I'll be able to manage.

 

How long before departure did you start with shots etc.?

[cmthomas]

Laura, in the overall experience, how did you rate the portion of the trip to Tibet? We are considering a Yangtze cruise trip next year and Tibet is intriguing but I wonder if it is worth the extra time and expense. Your observations in that regard would be most helpful. Clarence

[smeyer418]

new_cruiser

 

How long before departure did you start with shots etc.?

 

You should do it at least 60 days before. There are actually some shots that require two shoots over 6 months but 60 days before is enough time for most. Also the reason you want to do them early is that there are occassional reactions to some shots and you want them far out of the way before you travel..

 

Wuhan is part of what is called the furnace of China hot, hot hot in August...

[new_cruiser]

We had our shots way before. We were doing some other traveling in December so we told the travel clinic then about both and got most of it out of the way. I had gotten the Hep A shots years ago for business travel to China. I was told that the Hep A protection starts a few weeks after the first shot. This vaccination lasts a long time and you can get exposed to Hep A anywhere. You might as well go ahead and get it.

 

Our HMO travel department recommends coming in a month or two in advance. Recommendations change as conditions change and some things like Malaria are seasonal so even if you get most of it covered well ahead, you may want to check again as the trip gets close.

[gardencat]

Thanks everybody!:)

[janibananie]

I am looking at booking a Yangze cruisetour through Pacific Delights Tours. I would appreciate an info from anyone who has done a tour with this company.

I went on a Pacific Delights land tour in 1992 that was fine. For a good price they provided everything promised - the local tours were very good, I loved the food and lost 7 lbs in 2 weeks (it was lowfat and we walked alot), and for the most part the hotels were beautiful, some even had marble floors. Beijing is fabulous and do not miss the terra cotta warriors in Xian. Next time I would skip the part of the market in Gangzhou with the kind of live animals we keep for pets being sold for food - an animal lover, I just couldn't bear to look. I'm glad I have visited China though, had a great time, and you're making me want to go again and do the cruise now! Wish you'd let me know how the 3 gorges tour was when you get back, and if you thought it was worth the long flight: janibananie@yahoo.com.

[lindberg]

Laura, in the overall experience, how did you rate the portion of the trip to Tibet? We are considering a Yangtze cruise trip next year and Tibet is intriguing but I wonder if it is worth the extra time and expense. Your observations in that regard would be most helpful. Clarence

 

Clarence,

I thought Tibet was one of the high points of the trip. I'll tell you why. Tibet was uncrowded and cooler, much more primative and unchanged, beautiful scenery, rivers and mountains. People typically dressed in traditional Tibetan dress, where as in the rest of China they dressed in western clothes. People are very religious, mystical and spiritual in Tibet. Very interesting and different.

 

It wasn't an easy trip due to the high altitude. The planes always run late and it is a two hour drive from the Lhasa airport to Lhasa. But I'm glad I went because if you wait it will become more Chinese (instead of Tibetan) and more western. It's a once in a lifetime visit. If you have the option, I believe you will really enjoy it.

Laura

[cmthomas]

Thanks for the valuable insight. I was hoping that you would feel that way! Clarence

[gardencat]

janibananie

 

Thanks for the info. I am still trying to pull this together. Pacific Delight seems to have the best price for what I want to do but I would have to book it over the internet because I'm up here in Canada and I am a little more nervous about arrangements for this trip than usual as I would be travelling alone and in a country where I don't speak the language.

Now I may have someone else interested in going with me so I'm going to pursue that.

When/if I get to go I will be sure to post here. Everyone here has been such a help and the least I can do is to try to return the favour.

[new_cruiser]

Gardencat,

 

In our Intrepid Travel group of 7, we were the only couple and the only ones who knew each other in advance. The other 5 were either married people traveling alone or single. In our group, it worked out really well. There was almost always two or more people who wanted to do something so people didn't have to be on their own. Our group was quite international with people from Austrailia, Mexico, U.S, New Zealand and UK.

 

You might check out Intrepid Travel. On the premium trips like the one we went on, you have the choice of paying a single supplement to get your own room or of paying the regular price and they will pair you up with another traveler of the same gender in a twin share.

[new_cruiser]

Good info. What cities did you go to besides Hong Kong & Wuhuan? We leave in 2 weeks for Shang Hai, Three Gorges area, Chongging, Xi'an & Bejing. Do you have any information about these areas through your visit?

 

Thanks

 

Mike

I haven't forgotten your question, but it takes a lot of information to reply.

 

This should take you to a page where you can see our itinerary:

http://intrepidtravel.com/trip.php?region=china&code=CPL

More details are in the dossier you can download from that page.

 

We went to all the cities you are visiting plus Yangshou (near Guilin) and Chengdu. I've been to Wuhan on business but not on this trip. Wuhan is really an industrial city and a port rather than a tourist place. The Hubei Provincial Museum which has musical instruments unearthed from a tomb including a massive bell set (I think about 60 from fairly small ones to ones bigger than people). They have music performances on a replica of the bell set and you can buy a CD of the real bells being played. The other interesting thing is to wander around the port on the river where you can see all the commerce going on.

 

I used mainly the Lonely Planet guide to prepare and it was very good. If I don't have time to cover the sights at length before you go, I suggest you look at it. I copied the maps from the book for the cities blowing them up to 200% for easier reference without my reading glasses.

 

By the way, Yangshou was my favorite part of the trip - the air was clear, the scenery is unbelievable - a flat plane with karst hills/mountains popping out of it all over. We had a bike ride through the contry side followed by a lunch at our guide's farm house. We divided into two groups of 4 for this. There was a chance to climb moon hill which my husband and the rest of our party did while I went to the farm house with our guide to learn how to make beer fish. The meal produced on two propane burners in a very simple kitchen was amazing.

 

Some of my best memories aren't of the big tourist sites. They are of the interactions with people and being in another culture. For instance, in Xian, I wanted to buy a brush or two on the calligraphy street. Our first day in Xian, I had a little time and went there. The first brushes that caught my eye were being sold by an old man who had set up a card table on the sidewalk. I saw a nice little brush at a very low price, but he wouldn't sell me just that one. He kept insisting (with sign language) that the brush was too small for me. He was probably right. He demonstrated a bigger brush with water on a slate board (a common way to do it without having to clean up or waste paper). We spent about 15 minutes with him showing me how to use the brush and me giving it a try. He was impressed that I knew some characters and was very encouraging. It was an interesting and fun lesson but my time was running out so I started to bargain for some brushes. He pointed to his sign which I assume said he had fixed prices. Not having seen the other prices and with time running out I left after trying to indicate that I intended to come back. (I wanted to buy at least one brush from him right away because of the lesson but he still wouldn't sell me just the small one.)

 

The next day on our way back from the terra cotta warriers, our minivan was passing the other end of calligraphy street so several of us hopped off. I checked out brushes and their prices at quite a few stores and they were way higher than the old man's fixed prices. Even after negotiation I didn't think I would get that price. One of my companions is an artist who also wanted to buy brushes so we made our way to the table. She got a bit of a drawing lesson and we settled down to making our selection. For 61 RMB (less than $8 US), I got a nice variety of brushes, an ink stick and an ink stone. My friend got a couple of brushes and a brush rack.

[gardencat]

mmaskalay

You must be just about on your way. Best wishes for a really great trip. Can't wait to hear what you have to say when you return!

[mmaskaly]

Found your message today, sorry for the delay. Presently docked in the resorvoir behind 3 gorges dam. Great trip!!! First class service on both the land and sea portion. What this ship lacks in size is made up for in service. Focus is the destination, and the scenary and dam is unbieveable.

 

This is definitely one of the best values we have taken. Small tour group of 6, the number of ship passengers is 50 out of a capacity of ~ 225.

 

Will get a report when we get back.

 

mike

[chatisfaction]

mmaskaly

This sounds like a wonderful trip. I'm looking forward to reading your full report. I saw they had some flooding in Beijing about a week ago. Did that affect you at all?

[mmaskaly]

Well we finally got home after the "pond" flight. The trip was outstanding.

The Victoria Queen is one if not the best on the river. There were many more out there that were lacking.

 

Positive Points: Attentive Staff, reasonable charges, adequate rooms, variety of educational talks and events. One of the neat points was flying a kite on the back of the ship while in the Gorges. The views are breathtaking, even with the higher water levels the vertical scale cannot be described.

 

Drawbacks: Extremely boisterous longshoreman and passengers who tied up beside or near the ship at night. The food was good, but you will really like breakfast as the Chinese Menu seems to become the same. (This is due to the 2 days before and 5 days post where Chinese meals begin to look the same at different resturants) Internet connections slow but at $6.00 for unlimited (provided no waiting line) access a good bargin.

 

Tours: Trip one is Three Gorges Dam ground tour which is preceeded by passage thru the first dam. After the tour the ship will pass thru 4 locks in the three gorges dam. 2.5 hours.

 

Trip 2: Lesser Three Gorges. Small mail boat takes you up the smaller channel for about 40 minutes. Beatiful scenary. Take pictures going in, as field burning smoke gets trapped latter in the day in the gorge. Then tranfer into small boats to be oared and pulled up rocky gorge river banks. Then white water back down & return.

 

Trip 3: 12 story pagoda. Really a snapshot of early chinese life.

 

Hints: If the owners suites are empty, you can negoiate a lower price for an upgrade. member of our tour did and we all had a front deck to ourselves to go through the gorges.

 

Dress: Leave suits and jackets at home. dress shirt and slacks were fine . Shorts were the main thing during the day. We lucked out with the temps (low 80s and overcast) as it is normally in the 90s with high humidity..

 

Luggage: Stow a duffle bag for return luggage home. Though prices for luggage (quality unknown) were dirt cheap. The 44 lb rule is repeated with every airline check in, but our group did not get dinked. Luggage was picked up by tour operators and delivered to the airport seperate of the passengers.

The carry on is a wild card. All the inter china flights we had were on 757 and 737 and could take a full size US carry on with no trouble. Bejing to Tokyo was a DC10 which could not accomidate that size.

 

Money: Lots of small bills if you want leverage in negioating with free market vendors. No credit cards here and US money seemed a solid 10-20% bargaining chip verse the same Chinese Ren. Hotels will cash travelers checks and US money into Chinese with no service fee for guests. They will not break US money into smaller US bills. Credit cards only really worked for upscale markets (Jade,Silk, Art) and Chinese government stores.

 

Bottom Line is go. The trip was a bargain, people friendly and the sights are of a scale that is hard to describe.

[chatisfaction]

mmaskaly

 

Hi there! Looks like a great trip. We are hoping to book this in the next week or so to go early next year.

Would you be willing to e-mail me at 6t8@mailcity.com. I have a few small detail questions I'd like to ask you.

Did you go through Tokyo as part of your air connection or was that an add on tour?

 

Once again thank you. Having your input right now is really making it easier for us to go ahead and book this trip. :)

[chatisfaction]

mmaskaly

 

There seems to be some problem with that e-mail address right now, so you could try stplmstr@hotmail.com instead. If not, I will try to ask the questions here but they seem like small little details for the message board.

[calexand]

Were shampoo and soap etc. provided? What was the quality? Would love not to have to pack those items.

[chatisfaction]

Calexand

Are you booked on this cruise already and is it part of a longer land tour?

I haven't gone yet and so cannot answer your questions but if you are going would be interested in anything you have found out.

[mmaskaly]

Soap, shampoo and hand lotion was available in the cabin. The hotels had a larger selection. No shaving cream or tooth paste. There was a small store on the ship and in each hotel.

 

Mike

[new_cruiser]

Our ship also provided shampoo and soap. I can't recall if it provided anything else. Almost all the hotels we stayed in provided a typical Asian hotel setup of shampoo (sometimes conditioner/shampoo and sometimes separate shampoo and conditioner), comb, lotion and toothbrush with itty-bitty tube of toothpaste. Sometimes also a razor.

[new_cruiser]

The food was good, but you will really like breakfast as the Chinese Menu seems to become the same. (This is due to the 2 days before and 5 days post where Chinese meals begin to look the same at different resturants)

Your review is the second one with that opinion. We were in China for 21 days and I never got tired of the food. I wonder whether the difference is because our trip leader did such a great job of picking the eating establishments and menus or because I like Chinese food more.

 

I have a feeling a great part of it was have been the menu selection. We ate a wide variety of regional cuisines and our trip leader, Mark, did a great job of menu selection when he was picking. The only thing I didn't care for was the dumpling dinner in Xian - the dumplings look different and have different fillings but except for a couple of types they all tasted about the same. We did eat mostly in smaller restaurants. The only time we ate in one of the huge tourist places near some of the sites was after the terracotta warriors because it is apparently hard to find an alternative there.

 

There is a typical tourist banquet type menu that is similar to the food on the ship and if all meals were like that it would get monotonous.

[calexand]

We are booked on the Regal Cruise line 4 day ChongQuing to Wuhun - October 27, 2004. Just 4 days out of a 32 adventure to China/Asia. Will need to rest up floating down the Yangtze after our all day hike on the Great Wall and quick visit to Xian and visit with the Panda's. When we return I hope to share my experiences like so many have done on these boards for us.

 

Carol

Toronto

[mmaskaly]

I think the main problem was a different resturant for each meal. The food was quality and tasty, but the same dishes. This may have been a result of no menu coordination between resturants. The last 3 days our guide was able to amend the menus to trade a couple of the fish dishes. The menu choices were apparently agreed to in advance by the tour group and the guide had only limited sway with the decisions. Our best meal was in Xi'an at a lunch buffet at the Terra Cotta Museum. The noodle dishes there are prepared as you watch (including the noodles). One of the best meals of the trip off the ship.

 

Mike