Gay Travel China Cultural Tour

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

Upon arrival in Beijing, we will provide a complimentary transfer from the airport to our fine hotel near the heart of this international city. For those who arrive a day or two early, we will offer an optional half-day excursion. And since our hotel is just one block from Tiananmen Square, it’s a wonderful neighborhood to explore on your own as well.

Our official 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. Our unique lunch will include the favorite foods of the last emperor at the Fangshan Restaurant in Beihai Park. In the afternoon we will 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 visit to the Temple of Heaven, whose round tower with a bright blue roof is perhaps the most photographed single building in China. Next, we will take 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 have lunch with one of these families. This evening we close out the day with a cultural performance of kong-fu moves presented like a really energetic ballet.

One day we’ll drive north of Beijing to explore the Changling Tomb of the Ming Tombs. Then we continue on for a leisurely walk on the Great Wall! It was 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. At Mutianyu, you can take a cable car from the parking level to the Wall – or climb 1024 steps. Most people take the cable car down, but those steps are still there – or a toboggan sliding down a rounded metal chute.

Day 5-8: Cruising the Yangtze

From Beijing, we will take an early morning flight to the thriving river port city of Yichang. It is situated just below the 1980s Gezhouba Dam, which was the first to create a permanent barrier to the Yangtze River’s flow.

We will have a relaxing day seeing the highlights of Yichang, including lunch at the nearby Fangweng Restaurant. This restaurant is located in a cave in a bluff overlooking the Xiling Gorge, and has been included in a list of the 35 most scenic restaurants in the world!

We board our ship in time for dinner, then the next morning we set sail on our 400-mile journey up 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’re sailing, 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.

We start our cruise in the most downstream and longest gorge, called Xiling. Our first optional shore excursion offers a guided walk up a verdant tree-lined ravine where a member of the local Tujia minority community demonstrate a variety of their traditions, including a mock wedding ceremony.

Three Gorges Dam: After lunch back on board our ship, we will be able to get a close-up view of the face of the huge dam itself, over a decade in the making. During our shore excursion, we will visit a park from which we can see the entire dam and in the distance the massive five-stage ship lock that has been carved out of a mountain to lift ships up to the new lake.

We’ll return to our ship, then when we receive clearance, we will enter the lower chamber of the lock for our estimated three-hour passage to the reservoir above the dam. The reservoir behind the dam was filled to half of its full capacity in 2003, then raised to its permanent level in 2009. We’ll spend the next few hours sailing through the western half of the Xiling Gorge.

Just before entering the Wu Gorge, our ship docks and we take a smaller ship several miles up a small tributary, the Shennong Stream. Then we switch to small “peapod boats” for an unforgettable trip up an even smaller stream, pulled or rowed by strapping young men of the local Tujia minority group and accompanied by the singing of beautiful young women.

After returning to our ship we enter the Wu Gorge, known for unusual rock formations high on the bluffs. At the western end of the gorge, we pass the town of Wushan on the north bank. Until the old town was razed to prepare for the reservoir this gray, gritty river town saw no new building or even much maintenance for over a decade, but the site of the old city is now underwater, and the gleaming white city above has become the home for Wushan’s residents.

Later, be sure to be on deck for the Qutang Gorge, the shortest of the three gorges, but perhaps the most dramatic. The Chinese have such regard for this gorge that it is featured on their 5 yuan notes.

Our last shore excursion is scheduled at the city of Fengdu, one of the largest cities that was 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 on a bluff that remains above the new reservoir. The residents of Fengdu were moved across the river, so the old city of Fengdu itself is now a ghost city. Over several years, its buildings were taken apart brick by brick to avoid navigation hazards now that the old city is completely underwater.

Finally, we will see the steep hills of Chongqing, marking the upper end of the Three Gorges Reservoir, and enjoy one last night on our ship.

Day 9: Chongqing

We disembark in Chongqing (pronounced “Chong-ching”), where we get our last views of the mighty Yangtze River. We will spend one night in a high-rise hotel overlooking this rapidly developing city. Time permitting we’ll get to know Chongqing and its environs, including visiting a museum donated to the people of Chongqing by the family of General Joseph Stilwell, a Chinese-speaking American general who served in the city in World War II. You might try another local tradition in the evening – a foot massage. Chongqing has a special place for HE Travel President Phil Sheldon, who was IBMs only employee in Sichuan Province in 1985 when he lived at a hot springs park upriver from Chongqing and worked with Chinese colleagues at a research center near the park.

Day 10-12: Xian and the Terra Cotta Warriors

From Chongqing, we’ll 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 smaller Han Dynasty warrior figures 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 terracotta 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 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. Weather permitting, we’ll also leave some free time for an optional 14 km, a two-hour bike ride around the top of the wide ancient city walls. This evening we will attend the Tang Dynasty Dinner Show.

Day 13-15: Shanghai on the Bund

We will fly from Xian to Shanghai, where we will transfer to our centrally-located hotel which will be our home for three nights. Over the next two days, we will explore Shanghai, including the Yu Garden, the exceptional, modern Shanghai Museum, the authentic Longhua Temple (rarely visited by foreign guests), and 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.

Day 16: Departure Day or Begin Tongli Water Village & Suzhou Extension

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