The Radisson Hotel opened the
buffet line for breakfast early Wednesday morning so that we would be able
to eat breakfast and still make it to the bus by 7:00 am to get to the
Beijing airport in time to catch our "Wuhan Airlines" plane at
8:00 am to the inland city of WUHAN where we would enjoy a tour of the city
before boarding our cruise ship the Victoria Cruise Lines - VICTORIA II and
begin our 5 day journey upstream on the Yangtze River through the Three
Gorges to Chongquing.
The flight to Wuhan from Beijing took about an
hour and a half so by the time we retrieved our luggage and boarded the bus
it was close to 10:30. Thank goodness we had an air conditioned bus as the smog
was so thick in Wuhan that we could hardly breath.
The ride into the city from the airport which
is located to the northeast took about 30 minutes and gave us a chance to
see the farm land of the delta area of the Yangtze River. The prime crops
being grown were rice and fish with some vegetables. We did get a
great look at a small herd of Water Buffalo.
Once into the city, our first stop was at the
Hubei Provincial Museum. Here we saw many local historical artifacts
and were treated to a Bell Orchestra Concert.
We all elected to skip lunch and upgrade the
evening meal as we had enjoyed breakfast at the hotel in Beijing before
leaving and then had been served another full breakfast on the plane which
was excellent for airplane food.
From the Hubei Museum, we were taken to East
Lake Park where we enjoyed the gardens and the various views of the lake as
well as a Dancing Waters Display.
From the East Lake Gardens we crossed the
Yangtze River on a bridge from where we got a good look at our River Cruise
Ship, THE VICTORIA II which we would board about 5:30 pm for a 6:00 o'clock
sailing.
Our last stop before we went to a restaurant
located near the ship was to a Bonsai Garden where we were given an
education in the art of Bonsai by the Owner/Guide of the Garden Museum.
After dinner we were driven to the ships
mooring, or at least to the top of the levee which was some 70 meters above
the water level. To reach the ship we all walked down a fairly steep
metal ramp assisted by various members of the ships crew.
At the bottom of the gangway we were treated to
welcoming Chinese Music by a group of young ladies of the ships crew who
had formed an orchestra for the purpose.
We had not been aboard long before we heard the
ships horn blow and we were underway on our 5 day 6 night journey of some
1000 miles up stream on the second longest navigable river in the
world The Yangtze, through one of the greatest natural sights in the world
The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River..