15 Day Yangzi River Cruise & China Tour

CMEatSEA Exclusives

• Escorted by Sanjay Goel, President of CMEatSEA
• Escorted by Sam Xu – Official interpreter for Bill Clinton in 2005
• Prof. Wenxin Chou, Dean of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai University – Prof. Chou will be lecturing on TCM techniques for Pain Management
• Visit with Government officials on the state of Health Care in China
• Up to 24 CME Hours

Land Tour Highlights

• Shanghai: the Bund, Shanghai Museum, Chenghuang Temple market, guided shopping tour.
• Chongqing: the Mountain City
• Wuhan: Tower of Yellow Crane
• Xi'an: Terra-cotta Warriors & Horses
• Beijing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Full day tour to the Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, Chinese Opera
• Included:

• All meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner)
• Inter China flights, all transfers, Luxury 5 star accommodations and all tours as specified.

Cruise Highlights

• The last chance to see the Three Gorges before they are fully flooded in the summer of 2009
• Shore excursion to the three gorges project
• Unique Voyage – This custom itinerary is not offered to the general public.
• Chonqing – the largest city in the world
• Wushan night market tour
• Included: All meals (breakfast/lunch/dinner) / shore excursions

PORTS OF CALL

Chongqing

Nicknamed the “Capital of the Mist”, Chongqing, is the largest city in the world and is fast becoming the city of the future.

Fengdu

Fengdu is traditionally known as the town of ghosts. Upon the Mingshan Hill above the river is a temple with a number of halls and statues of ghosts and devils. Further upstream along the river valley is the Snow Jade Cave – an impressive karst formation cave, with a total length of 1,644 meters, containing a range of stalagmites and stalactites.

Shibaozhai

A towering wood red pavilion 11-storey high was built against a protruding 220-meter rectangular rock with sheer cliffs on the north bank, a marvel of Chinese architecture. Access to the top is by a spiral staircase in which to view the stunning landscape.

Shennong Stream

Starts at Mt Shennong Jia in Hubei Province north of the Yangzi. Sail through the Parrot Gorge and Dragon Boat Gorge amid breathtaking scenery of lush pine and crystalline waters, discovering the ancient plank roads, ancient cave coffins,aqueous caves, rainbow fountain and rare animals like macaques and mandarin ducks.

Yichang

Is the upriver gateway to the Three Gorges and has been a strategic water passage between Sichuan and Hubei provinces since ancient time.

Three Gorges

Qutang Gorge

It is the shortest, narrowest and rockiest of the three gorges. Qutang Gorge is abundant with historical relics and is home to one of the earliest human cultures ever discovered in Asia.

Wu Gorge

Passing through wondrous Wu Gorge, home of the twelve peaks of the Wu Mountains, experience a meandering landscape of dazzling peaks and rocks, forming a whimsical gallery of natural beauty. Shennong Stream is located in this gorge.

Xiling Gorge

Xiling Gorge is famous for its strangely-shaped cliff faces and rock formations and is the largest of the Three Gorges. It also used to be the most perilous part of the river journey before its large river rocks were removed in1950’s .One of the most memorable passages in the Xiling Gorge is through the Yellow Ox Gorge (Huangniu Xia) where the river widens and sweeps under the Huangling Temple.

Three Gorges Dam Project

Currently the largest dam construction project on earth. The Three Gorges Dam Project began in 1992 and will be completed and operational in 2009. The dam will be the largest dam on earth, generating 18,200 megawatts of hydroelectricity. The dam will be 1.2 miles in length and measure 600 feet (185 meters) in height. It will have 26 generators that, once in operation, will generate enough clean energy to reduce China’s reliance of highly polluting coal by up to 50 million tons annually. The dam will submerge 13 cities, 140 towns, 1,352 villages and over 600 industrial factories not to mention the more than 1,200 archeological projects and the 1.2 million people that will be resettled as a result of the flooding.