04/25/25

Yangtze River Cruise – Fengdu – Zhongzhou – 17-22°C overcast

From Chongqing, our tour had our group scheduled to travel via a cruise ship called the China Goddess 3 which was suppose to travel 170KM along the Yangtze River.

The rooms were pretty decent but the beds were hard. We had a balcony that connected with our neighbours – luckily all my family had rooms beside one another so we could connect our balcony spaces.

Cruise ship buffet breakfast. 750AM meet up with some of our group (minus my parents, Kevin and Tammy) & Lucky. We had a shore excursion at Fengdu Snow Jade Cave. Stunning rock formations with crystal-clear beauty.

The same amount of steep steps we barreled down with our luggage’s the night before welcomed us again as we had to climb back up (luggage free this time).

Bobby was our guide for the morning.

It was a 40min drive to the cave. The river looked yellow because there was a duststorm that happened the previous week in Szechuan. They said In a few weeks, it would turn back to green.

The Snow Jade Cave is a 4A tourist spot. It’s very young founded in 1997. Staglamites.

It’s roughly 400 steps (must return back down) in total. The caves are narrow and low bearing in areas due to its natural nature. At times, the air is thin & the ground is wet.

Lucky enough Lucky scheduled us as the 1st or 2nd group out so we had the cave relatively to ourselves. As we were exiting, at least 240 more people were entering making it so loud & crowded. Good to be one of the only English speaking groups on this Chinese Yangtze River Cruise. Our group for this boat cruise was known as the “Canada” group and they would pair other English speaking passengers with us.

40mins drive back to the boat in time for lunch. The cruise ship also departed after lunch to our next destination – Zhongzhou.

Now what do you do if you don’t want to be on your phone eating your data especially with the wifi connection being super weak while others take naps? You walk the ship. The ship didn’t have too much but on the rooftop deck, they have a track. I ended up walking for a good 30mins round and round. My family pooled in for the unlimited laundry deal (1 time price for unlimited pieces) for $60CAD (117 pieces 🥲).

Dinner at 530PM. My parents, Andrew & Gayaanan went off the boat to see the Three Kingdom show – additional option ¥290/pp after dinner. Jessica & myself took to the rooftop for a digestion walk then back to the room to clear our phones.

We debated if we wanted to get off the boat and explore Zhongzhou but ended up opted out of it. I ended up crashing around 930-10PM.

04/26/25

Day 19 Yangtze River Cruise – Zhongzhou – Fengjie – Wushan – Yichang – 16-20°C overcast & humid

Cruising through Qutang Gorge – known for dramatic cliffs

Smaller boats: explore Lesser Three Gorges

Cruise through Wu gorge

After the groups returned from the Three Kingdoms show the previous night, we set sail overnight.

Ported in Fengjie. We all skipped the White Emperor City tour.

We (Jess, Andrew & Gayaanan) decided to go on land. We were 4 cruise ships docked together so for us to leave the ship, we had to leave our room key at front desk in exchange for a boarding card & sign a paper saying we’re going out. We then had to walk through 2 other ships to get to the pier. Luckily there were escalators this time to go up.

We walked over to the pagoda and the city wall. Finally to a supermarket to grab snacks and back on the ship. ¥58 worth of snacks.

The 10RMB banknote has the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River – Qutong Gorge on it. We were able to see the view on the banknote in person on the top deck of our ship.

We deboarded in Wushan. At 230PM, everyone headed off for the Lesser Three Gorge cruise through Wu Gorge. There was an additional mini gorge tour option which we didn’t do.

Of course, all the English speaking people were grouped into our group. Michael was our tour guide. Somehow this was still so hectic. We were led to boat #5. 3hrs round trip.

Went through the 3 Gorges. The 2nd is the most gorgeous where there are hanging coffins off the side of mountains. I think this journey would have been so much nicer if the skies were actually blue.

We got to the end point where those who decided to go to the mini gorge left on smaller boats. We had to wait 40 min for their return before heading back. Luckily there are snacks for purchase on that dock.

Back to the cruise ship. Dinner and the staff had a cabaret show. Our cruise Guide Lucky was in the big dance numbers with many outfit changes.