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The Great Wall and beyond

An illustrated itinerary of one of our many gay travel adventures. This information supplements our
shorter Overview of China and the Yangtze.

Discover China's history, culture, art, food and fascinating countryside with a great group of gay and lesbian and adventurers and our friends. Walk the Great Wall. Cruise the Yangtze River and see theThree Gorges. See Shanghai, Beijing and Xian. Meet locals and relax in style. China is an exotic delight for the senses and we take in both the most well-kown sites and some unknown gems as well.

1-4: Beijing: The Wall, the Square, the Duck

Upon arrival in Beijing, transfer to our fine hotel near the heart of the city, for our introduction to this international city, host to the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Our tour of China begins at the spiritual, emotional and patriotic heart of China, Tiananmen Square. We'll take a morning tour of the Forbidden City, home to emperors for centuries, then head off to the beautiful Summer Palace for a walk down the intricately painted Long Corridor. We return to Beijing for our Welcome Dinner, featuring Peking Duck.

We'll start the next day with a rickshaw tour of an old neighborhood just north of the Forbidden City. Once home to workers at the palace, these small alleys called “hutongs” are lined by the walls of courtyards shared by several families. We will be privileged to share tea with one of these families. Our unique lunch will include the favorite foods of the last emperor at the Fangshan Restaurant in Beihai Park. This evening we close out the day with a performance of the acrobatic Peking Opera.

One day we'll drive north of Beijing to step foot on the Great Wall, built to protect China from Mongolian nomads – only sometimes successfully, as Genghis Khan proved. When weather conditions permit, we visit the Mutianyu section of the Wall, often the destination for visiting presidents and royalty, but with very few other tourists, Chinese or foreign.

5-7: Xian and the giant warriors

Fly to Xian (pronounced “shee-an”), our home for the next three nights. Depending on arrival time, we may stop at the new museum of Han Dynasty warriors en-route to our hotel.

We'll have a full day tour to explore Xian’s 2200-year imperial history, and observe the excavation of a 6000-year-old matriarchal civilization at the Banpo Museum. The day’s highlight will be an in-depth exploration of the three huge pits containing 6000 terra cotta warriors unearthed after a farmer digging a well uncovered the first one in the 1970s.

The next day we'll take a city tour of Xian, including the South Gate of the well-preserved Tang and Ming Dynasty City Walls and the picturesque Small Goose Pagoda with a fascinating array of contemporary Chinese art on display. We also visit the Chinese-style 8th century mosque of Xian’s 100,000 strong Moslem community. This evening we will attend the Tang Dynasty Dinner Show.

8: Chongqing

We fly to Chongqing (pronounced “Chong-ching”) and get our first view of the mighty Yangtze River. We will be spending one night in a high-rise hotel overlooking this rapidly developing city.

After a restful night, we get to know Chongqing and its environs. Depending on weather and road conditions, we may take a unique tour into the Chongqing countryside to North Hot Springs Park where Hanns Ebensten Travel President Phil Sheldon lived for much of 1985. We may also visit the pandas and Tibetan bears at the Chongqing Zoo, or pause for a Chinese foot and body massage. We board our ship in the evening and spend our first night onboard in Chongqing Harbor.

9-11: Cruising the Yangtze

This morning we set sail on our 400-mile journey down the magnificent Chang Jiang (Long River), as the Chinese call the Yangtze. Each day’s schedule is subject to change based on river and weather conditions. While we sail the ship’s staff offers a variety of cultural activities such as tai chi exercises, Chinese music, traditional Chinese medicine, and local arts and crafts.

The first afternoon we are scheduled to disembark in the city of Fengdu, one of the largest cities that will be completely inundated by the waters of the Three Gorges reservoir. Fengdu’s most famous feature is the Ghost Temple, featuring numerous gaudy (and scary!) figures of devils and torturers, and now the old city itself is a ghost city as buildings have been taken apart brick by brick to avoid navigation hazards when the old city is completely under water in 2009.

The next morning we awake to view the Qutang Gorge. This is the shortest of the three gorges, but perhaps the most dramatic. An hour or two later we pass Wushan’s twin cities on the left bank. The old, gray, gritty town by the river saw no new building or even much maintenance for over a decade and is now leveled, but the gleaming white city above has become the home for Wushan’s residents. After traversing the Wu Gorge, our ship docks and we take a smaller ship several miles up a small tributary, then switch to small “peapod boats” for an unforgettable trip up an even smaller stream, pulled or rowed by strapping young men of the local minority group and accompanied by the singing of beautiful young women.

We return to the ship for our passage of the third and longest gorge, called Xiling. The reservoir behind the dam was filled to half of his full level in 2003, and as we approach the dam itself, we will see how the riverside has been cleared of all buildings and vegetation up the final lake level of 2009.

Three Gorges Dam: Having traversed the entire length of the ultimate Three Gorges Reservoir from its upper end below the steep hills of Chongqing, we now get a close-up view of the huge dam itself, over a decade in the making. From an overlook, we can not only see the entire dam, but also the massive five-stage ship lock that has been carved out of a mountain to lift ships up to the new lake. When our ship receives clearance, we will enter the upper chamber of the lock for our estimated three-hour passage to the free-flowing river below the dam.

12-14: Wuhan & Shanghai

After traversing the locks of the dam, we sail between the levees of a flat agricultural region to Wuhan. Depending on the time of our flight to Shanghai, we may visit the Hubei Provincial Museum with its collection of 2500-year-old bells. Upon arrival in Shanghai we will transfer to our centrally-located hotel, our home for three nights.

The next day we will enjoy a city tour of Shanghai, including the Jade Buddha Temple, the Yu Garden, the exceptional, modern Shanghai Museum, and (weather permitting) a short boat ride to experience the magnificent harbor of this world-class port city. There will also be time for you to explore Shanghai on your own. On one of our evenings in Shanghai we will be treated to a spirited acrobatic show, and we will enjoy a farewell dinner as we fondly remember our two weeks in China.

15: Departure Day

Transfer to Shanghai’s new Pudong Airport to return home. Immigration formalities for U.S. residents will occur at your first port of entry in North America.

NOTE: for those who are interested, we will offer an additional night in Shanghai at the end of the trip, including a full day tour to the nearby city of Suzhou, known for its silk, classical gardens, and the Grand Canal. Please contact us for details if you are interested.

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