We are back from our amazing trip to China. What a trip of a lifetime! It was fantastic, great places to see and best experience. Although the weather was a little bit cool but we enjoyed all the itinerary of this Yangtze River cruise. Thanks to our guide which were really informative and spoke great in English. All the experiences that we got are priceless and memorable.

View of Yangtze River from Deck

So that was not my first time visit China. I did visit China plenty times till now and last vacation, that was my chance for explore Yangtze River with my small family. In total of 5 people of us, we booked online tour reservation for this Yangtze River Cruise tour. Before the tour, trip advisor did send me email about everything that should be needed during the cruise. We asked some questions for clear then they gave us the details of it. Our tour becomes easier also because the accompanied of the tour guide.

On the ship, visitors could have a wide ranges of interesting activities depend on the ship, but generally the ships will have the most activities. You may wish to lounge on deck by the pool with a good book, take a Taichi or dance class, attend a lecture, take one or 2 shore excursions at day time and enjoy the evening performs at night. Do not worry too much about how we would spend on the ship because there are lots of options.

Shore Excursion

During the cruise, we did also could have some shore excursions to Fengdu Ghost city, cruise through Qutang, Wu, Xiling Gorges, Shibaozhai Pagoda, Shennong Stream, the Three Gorges, and cruise through the famous new dam and visit the museum there. Different from mostly cruises, there is no dress request on the cruise. Dress is casual and comfortable onboard and ashore, Jeans can be worn in the restaurant, but the captain's welcome dinner and/or farewell dinner provide an excuse for passengers to dress up a bit.

We did experience China stunning landscapes, with luxury cruise. It was a great vacation, very relaxing with beautiful sceneries in surroundings and rich recreation activities. The staffs were friendly and speak fluently in English. Absolutely no worries! At the end, thank you so much for all of your work to make it such a great experience for us. Really appreciate and very impressed with the experience that we got.

At the very beginning I did not imagine that I could visit Beijing this year. So many problems that I should deal if I want explore China. My first and biggest problems surely will be the language. Since I clearly did not understand about Chinese at all, so it would be hard I think. But, not long time ago, I just realized that my long best friend, she has her study in Beijing, she asked me to have a short trip there and here I am, just came back from my tour to China.

So many factors about China that doubt me to not come visit Beijing. Besides the language, I heard from my friend, the toilet in some tourist attractions seems horrible, so be prepare to bring your own toilet paper and just drink less when travelling. Flight from Indonesia to Beijing took about 8 hours without transit. The airport in Beijing is very modern and huge. It is really different with in Jakarta. Since I did visit Beijing in autumn, so the weather should be cool. For Indonesian people, this weather is cool enough. I almost could not bear it only with jacket that I wore that day. By the way, I did visit Beijing with my other 2 friends. Three of us finally met my long friend called Diana on the exit gate of Beijing airport.

Ancient Palace of Forbidden City

Speak of Beijing, this city is different with my capital, there almost no motorcycle. The traffic seems organized with clean and comfortable public bus or MRT. Less traffic jams, different from Jakarta. Of course, a visit to Beijing could not be complete without hiking the Great Wall. Although it was located outside Beijing downtown, we can visit it only about 2 hours driving. It can be said as the Wall is the longest object or building ever built on earth. I could not believe how the people built it in ancient times. The Wall itself is beautiful and magnificent.

Mutianyu Section of Great Wall

Besides Great Wall, I also visited other historical buildings such as Forbidden City, Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven. All of them were impressive, offer breathtaking views. And about the language, because I did explore Beijing with English travel agency so it would not be a problem. It was unforgettableBeijing trip, and I am glad that my first visit in China accompanied with my friends and this local travel agency. Could not believe if I visit Beijing by myself and could not speak Chinese at all.

This is my first time in China and fortunately we have couple of friends who can speak Chinese fluently so we can survive there. My first destination is Beijing, the capital of China. Since visit China, is a must for hike the Great Wall then that is my big dream and destination. Join a small group tour from local travel agency helped us a lot. They schedule our itinerary, arranged the transportation and tour guide within 2 days tour in Beijing.

Besides Great Wall which was very worth it to visit (especially Mutianyu section), we also visit other representative attractions called Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City. Both places are located close from each other. This huge square houses lots of historical sites such as Great Hall of the People and Chairman Mao Mausoleum. After that, we entered the huge gate of ancient palace Forbidden City. This palace has covered a huge area with hundreds of buildings, some important halls, with impressive architecture style. Adventure and see a lot in Beijing, we travelled to other modern city, Shanghai.

Forbidden City Main Hall

I think Beijing and Shanghai are not clearly the same. Both have its different sides. Shanghai more like a modern city, more metropolis than Beijing. From Beijing, we took the bullet train for about 5 hours. 4 days in Shanghai we spent 1 day accompanied with the local travel guide and the other 2 days we travel by ourselves. Actually, most of time we did spent with shopping and hanging out.

Huangpu River Night Cruise

1 day tour in Shanghai with local travel agency, our guide brought us to visit plenty of the city tourist attractions such as, Jade Buddha Temple, Yu Garden, The Bund, Nanjing Road, etc. Fortunately, we did visit those attractions on weekdays, so we only met little crowded on site. Great photos we could took in each attraction with friends. Apart from the tour, a cruise on Huangpu River should be on everyone list. The night view along both sides of the river was really impressive and beautiful. We did see lots skyscrapers of Shanghai along the river with its bright lights.

Here, I would like to thank all the staffs who design our trip in Beijing and Shanghai. I am really appreciates for the tour and incredible experience that we all got during this period of time. We saw a lot and enjoyed our tour in China, the whole experience was priceless.