China & Tibet with Uniworld

My husband, Buddy, and I, and our two nieces took one of our best tours ever, the 16-night “China, Tibet and the Yangtze River,” with Uniworld (17323 Ventura Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 91316; 800/733-7820), Aug. 19-Sept. 5, 2006.

Including fights New Orleans-Chicago-Beijing, with return from Shanghai, plus all meals, insurance and visa, the price was $5,600 per person. (2007 prices start at $4,888 from Los Angeles.)

Our international flights on United Airlines were smooth and uneventful, as flights should be. The domestic flights in China were excellent and always on time. All the hotels, food and amenities were more than expected.

Our guide, Gao, met us at the airport in Beijing. He was with us the entire trip and he was great!

Beijing, the political and cultural center of China, is undergoing a face-lift for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Old neighborhoods are being torn down to make way for new buildings. Many buildings in the Forbidden City were closed during our stay in Beijing, undergoing preparation for the Games.

After a hutong tour and trips to the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs (not recognizable to me from a visit we made 18 years ago; there have been many improvements), the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven, we left Beijing for Xi’an and the Terra Cotta Warriors.

Our last stop in China was Chengdu. We walked in the intense heat to the Giant Panda Reserve. The pandas were in their cages with blocks of ice to cool the air as they munched on bamboo shoots. A glimpse of a 3-week-old panda was a special treat.

Chengdu is the jumping-off place for flights to Tibet. Many in our group had begun the high-altitude medication Diamox two days before; this helps keep more oxygen in your blood to help you acclimatize. The flight to Lhasa was over mountains with puffy white clouds clinging to the peaks — a spectacular sight.

We spent three nights in Lhasa, completing our Tibet visit with a stop at the Yak Community, where we enjoyed seeing and photographing the huge, lumbering animals.

For our 3-day/3-night cruise on the Yangtze River aboard the Victoria Queen, a boat equipped for 200 passengers, there were only 37 passengers and over 150 staff and crew. The Queen had unbelievable buffets and excellent service. Each cabin had its own private balcony, where we sat, relaxed and watched China and life on the river as we drifted on by. What a restful three days!

The Three Gorges were breathtaking as we slowly passed through them. We saw many abandoned homes along the river. On smaller boats we visited the Lesser Three Gorges. In Qutang Gorge, the Hanging Coffins, in caves in the sheer rock, were interesting to see.

On our last morning on the river we saw the construction site of the Three Gorges Dam in San Douping. Scheduled to be completed in 2009, it will be the largest dam in the world, creating a 400-mile lake behind it that will cover the distance we traveled along the Yangtze. The immensity of it is hard to understand; a model on the site helped.

This cruise was the highlight of our trip.

We completed our tour in Shanghai, where we strolled along the Bund and stopped in Yu Yuan Gardens, a tranquil, serene place in the midst of a bustling city.

MOLLY LEMOINE
Simmesport, LA