We decided on the next best thing and signed up for a guided tour into central China. This was in Zhangjiajie and includes a Yangtze river cruise. Yuanjiajie was the place that James Cameron used as a scenic backdrop to create the mystic floating fantasy island world of Pandora in his 2009 Avatar hit movie. Then we will be hopping onto a cruise ship for a few days to have an idyllic cruise upstream, starting from the 3 Gorges dam, the biggest man-made dam in the world, to the city of Chongqing.
The 9 days vacation started on 11 Apr. We gathered at the airport in the early morning after a trip briefing session a week earlier. In total, there were 36 of us and a quick observation made us realized that most participants were around our age group or older. The youngest was a newly married couple in their 30s and another lady in her 20s travelling in a group of 10 with her relatives.
The first 5 days were mainly walking tours are the many scenic sights there. The intensity increases day by day until the last day before the boat cruise, where we had to climb 1,300+ steps to see the underground caves of Shuirao Simen. By then, doing nothing and lazing in the cruise ship for 4 nights was a welcomed idea.
The weather at the beginning was cloudy with occasional rain, ranging between 12 to 18 degrees Celsius. We layered ourselves with at least 3 levels of clothing to keep warm and also have the ease of removing one layer when the physical exertion causes us to sweat.
Landed at Changsha on day 1, visited the Phoenix Ancient town on Day 2. It was a quaint little town that looks like a journey back a hundred years ago to a small village where life was simple amongst the indigenous tribe there.
We visited the Tianmen mountain on day 3, taking the longest cable car ride in the world (7km) up to the mountains. There was a huge hole craved out on the mountain cliff by nature and it was indeed awesome to be standing below it after taking a while to reach the top. The engineering prowess of China was admirable. They build a world’s longest 7 stage escalator ride down the mountain by craving into the mountain walls and completed this in 1 year 10 months!!
Day 4 was the highlight of the Zhangjiajie trip as we visited the Tianzi mountain where Avatar was filmed. The scenic Yuanjiajie area was wonderful but it was a bit cloudy and wet that day. Unfortunately, I had a misstep and fell down the slippery steps. Only my pride was hurt though. Then we took the Bailong lift, the highest one in the world, to the base of the mountain. It was a vertical drop of 1.5 minutes. It was cultural night today where we ended the night with a 10 pm local musical production.
Day 5 was the longest day so far as we were out the whole day till 10 pm before we could board the ship. The coach travel time was almost 5 hours just to get to the harbour in Yichang. We had a 1.5 hours visit in the late morning to the Shuirao Simen caves. Some of the older folks in the group opted for a shorter route as the usual one had 1,3000+ steps to conquer.
After the first night onboard the cruise ship, which had a capacity of about 300 guests, we decided to chill in the morning on Day 6 before going to the 3 Gorges dam excursion in the afternoon. It was indeed a modern wonder of the world that spanning 2.3 km long and took more than 10 years to complete.
Finally, it managed to tame the annual flood waters of the Yangtze while providing clean hydroelectricity as a by-product. The main concern is the 500 million tonnes of the slit that accumulates each year which could add pressure to the dam. Also, it is located in an earthquake zone which could spell disaster if a big one hits. Night activities were filled with song and dance. Our 78 years old aunty in the group sportingly grooved along into the night with everyone.
The ship set sail at 930 pm and moved along the river before anchoring at the next spot on Day 7. We decided to join the morning Taichi class on the open area of the upper deck at 0645. The fresh morning air was refreshing and the simple stretching exercises were relaxing. After breakfast, we had a boat excursion to the Goddess Stream, cruising in a smaller boat to the narrower parts of the river that was surrounded by mountains. We alighted at a floating platform to watch a tribal show before heading back. The wife did her second medical treatment for her shoulder and I joined in for an acupuncture session on my weak lower back. A talent show at night by the staff members followed by more drinks with a smaller group of people from our tour whom we were getting to know better every day.
Day 8 was a casual shore excursion at another stopping point to visit the Shibaozhai Pagoda. In the afternoon, it was a tea ceremony lesson followed by a documentary on the 3 Gorges dam. The final night was a guest talent show and more drinks and dancing till 11+.
We reach Chongqing on the morning of Day 9 to disembark the ship for a short visit to the Bashu Art and Cultural Exhibition before we headed to the airport for our flight home.
Overall a pleasant and surprisingly compact trip. We did so much walking at the beginning. I would not have believed it if we were told at the start that we had to travel so much on foot. The cruise at the later part helped us to chill and get to know the other likeminded members of the group via drinks and dance. No regrets for signing up for this tour as we managed to see quite a number of natural and manmade wonders of the world in one compact 9 days package.
