Through the Three Gorges on the Yangtze

Saturday August 22 - A Day Aboard Century Voyage

Our ship finally left Chongqing around 5 a.m. Because the low water had changed the itinerary, the excursion to Fengdu was canceled. Honestly, I was relieved. I really, really needed the sleep, but I know I would have worried about missing something if the excursion had still been offered. This way, no FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) for me or for quite a few others.

The Century Voyage offered several morning activities, including a Chinese mixology class, learning mahjong, traditional medicine and acupuncture, and a tea ceremony. Alyx had scheduled a massage - the prices were very good, although we had been warned that a Chinese massage might hurt while it was happening and feel wonderful afterward. I passed on that one.

I went to a presentation about the Three Gorges area we were sailing through. I remembered hearing about the towns and temples that were flooded when the dam was built, and the communities whose residents had to move. It was interesting to hear more about the place while we were actually on the river.

We also heard a few more things about Chongqing. Some of its monorails go right through apartment buildings. In the 1980s, the train journey to Chengdu took about 24 hours. Now it takes about an hour and a half on a high-speed train.

The afternoon was partly business. Ensemble held a general session with leaders from Century Cruises and a panel of destination management companies that work in Asia. Then we had a briefing about getting off the ship and flying to Shanghai on Monday. The first group would leave at 6:10 a.m.; thankfully, Alyx and I were in the group leaving at 8.

I also had one-on-one appointments with Regent Seven Seas, AmaWaterways, Explora and Royal Caribbean. These meetings had been requested in advance by the advisors and suppliers.

At the late-afternoon Cocktails and Conversation, I found a moment to thank Kristina and Michael from Ensemble. The invitation to China had fulfilled a dream I had for decades. It had also given me something wonderful to focus on in the weeks before this trip, when I had received my breast cancer diagnosis and testing and so many medical appointments. They reminded me that we are a family and that they are there if I need anything.

We ate dinner in Le Voyage on deck 4, a dining room that is usually reserved for guests in suites. Most of the meal was a buffet, but we ordered our main courses from the servers. I had asked for fish with no pepper because I cannot eat spicy food. It arrived covered in pepper, and the replacement came after everyone else had finished. So dinner did not go quite as planned.

There was karaoke again after dinner, but we had been told we would enter the first gorge at 6:30 the next morning. We went to bed.

Sunday August 23 Three Gorges Day

We were up on deck at 6:30 a.m. as the Century Voyage sailed through the Qutang Gorge. By 8, we were through it. We went down to shower and eat breakfast, then returned to the top deck before leaving the ship for our next excursion.

At 9 a.m., we boarded much smaller boats to travel through the Wu Gorge. This was absolutely breathtaking. Rock walls surrounded us, and each bend revealed another mountain. The water was still. At one point, we heard music that sounded almost like the wind. We looked up and saw a man sitting on the rocks, playing a wind instrument as the boats passed.

Farther along, a man and woman sang for us. When the boats reached a cove and circled around, we spotted familiar faces on other boats going the opposite way. Everyone was taking pictures of everyone else.

As we sailed back, the guide on our boat told us about marriage ceremonies in their local culture, then she sang the songs a bride would sing. Just beautiful.

Back aboard Century Voyage, we noticed the ship was not moving. Our schedule had shown us sailing through the Xiling Gorge at lunchtime, with more networking in the afternoon. We wondered if we would now pass through while in meetings. We asked and found out that we now would enter Xiling during dinner, which was to be a White Night BBQ dinner party on the top deck.

After lunch, Alyx and I wandered around the ship and found Princess Sissi's Lounge, a space normally reserved for suite guests but open to our group. The views from the front of the ship were wonderful. We were sorry we had not discovered it sooner. If the weather had been cooler, I would have spent a lot more time outside there.

Alyx joined me for the afternoon networking appointments with Delta, Collette, Uniworld, Avalon and Khiri Travel. Steve from Century Cruises also arranged for us to peek into the Hello Kitty family suite Alyx had asked about. So cute! They also have panda themed family suites (but these were occupied).

We attended the traditional tea ceremony later in the afternoon. It was interesting, although our teachers were, um, still working on the teaching part. Then there was a Chinese Carnival spread across different decks, with trivia, charades and other games. Each game earned us certificates. Once we discovered that twenty certificates could be exchanged for a small prize, we repeated a few games, collected twenty-one and claimed ours - a small Chinese bookmark.

We changed into white for the party and went up to the top deck for the barbecue. The ship began entering the Xiling Gorge around sunset. By the time we were sailing through much of it, it was dark. So sad. That meant we actually saw two gorges on our Three Gorges cruise.

It was windy on deck, which at least gave us some fun pictures with our hair blowing everywhere. The food was not our favorite. When we saw someone with a piece of fruit, several of us asked where she had found it and headed straight for the fruit display and many of us enjoyed the fruit from the display.

Then it was time for another late-night round of packing. Alyx left behind the orange umbrellas and the decorative umbrella. We rearranged the packaging for the two clay tea sets so both would fit in one box. Our bags needed to go out by 10 p.m. Tomorrow we would leave the river and fly to Shanghai.