Today I started my Private Tour to China's Yangtze River with China Odyssey Tours. My guide was waiting for me when I arrived at the airport. She took me to my own car and driver. She took me to Chongqing Holiday Inn, a four-star hotel. Everyone here speaks very good English, which is a great relief. I was very concerned about the language barrier. After a break, I went to Chongqing hot pot is famous. Hot pot is a kind of fondue. It consists of a split pot. The largest section of the pot is filled with hot oil and the other side is filled with broth. The food was so good, and is wonderfully spicy. Then Violet led me to the house of Chongqing Guild. A Guild house is like a mix between a lounge to introduce, and a union headquarters. This is a huge complex of courtyards, parlors, temples and opera stages. It's really a cool place. After the tour of the Guild room, she took me to a tea house. It is conveniently located on the street Guild of the hall, and was built in a traditional Chinese style. Inside, showed me different types of tea. Girls wearing traditional clothing style, showed me the Chinese tea ceremony. For dinner they took me to another restaurant specializing in local cuisine Chongqing. We sat in a large balcony on the third floor overlooking the Yangtze River. The weather was beautiful. After dinner, I returned to my hotel. Tomorrow, I will visit some places in Chongqing until I made for my boat from my Yangtze River Cruise. Day 2 I woke up early and went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast buffet. At 9:00 Violet met with me and took me to CiQi Kou ancient city streets. It is an area in the city of Chongqing still has its Ming and Qing Dynasty houses and shops. We walked by the ancient cobblestone streets. There were many shops that sell everything from local snacks, candy and clothing and silk scarves. The old stores are very beautiful. After we visited the ancient city streets, went to Eling Park. This is a really nice park. The highest point in the park is actually the highest point in the city of Chongqing,. The park is filled with trees, flowers, beautiful rocks. At the top of the parks peak sits a pagoda built in the 1980's. After the park, we went to lunch. We stopped at a local restaurant and had a wide variety of spicy dishes wonderfully. I really love the food here! It then headed toward the Chongqing Zoo. This is a great zoo. It then headed to another restaurant for dinner. Again, this is an amazing variety of foods. I never had the same dish twice. Each of them was really wonderful. I think I will lose more food from China when I return home. Then, on board my ship. My Regal China Cruise ship is the Princess Sheena. It is enormous. It can hold more than 300 people. I was welcomed aboard a banda live, and then took me to my cabin. After resolving in my room, and a quick shower, I went to the bar of music. The bar has a number of Westerners. I met a couple of Americans, and a pair of Wales. It was very nice. Day 3: This morning I was awakened by the music being piped into my room. This morning the ship had a kind of Taiji. It's really interesting. Then I went to breakfast. It is quite widespread. It's buffet. It is a combination of Western food and china. After breakfast, there was a traditional medicine china demonstration of the ship's doctor. After that, a woman came out to speak Chinese Herbal Facial Demonstration. I listened to a bit and thought if I was considering obtaining a facial would have been very interesting. Then I went to lunch. I was surprised at the variety and quality. In the afternoon, we went to Fengdu "ghost town". It's really interesting. Each temple on the mountain was devoted to China's Ghost Culture. At night, the vessels had a show called "Sheena Follies. " It consisted of songs and dances performed by the ship's crew members. After the performance, went to the bar. Then go back to my room, where I am now, and took a shower. Day 4 I woke up early this morning because we were going to go through the first of the three gorges. All gathered at the observation platform, and our guide told us what we saw. The creeks are very beautiful, as it was lifted on both sides of the boat. The rock formations and patterns of rock were surprising. After breakfast passes through the second ravine known as the Wu Gorge. Then we went to our second outing. We went to a place called Shennong Stream. Our boat docked and transferred to a smaller boat. When we arrived at a crossroads in the river, which docked, and were transferred to small boats wooden boats called pea pods. They are formed by a crew of 5. Our guide talked about the local minority groups, and different streams, and trees we saw. She was really brilliant and told great stories. When you return to your head back, the guide told us about local people Tuziang love for singing. To express their love for each other, sing to each other. After our return to the ship, said the ship set and entered the Three Gorges Dam Ship Lock,. Is enormous! While we were in the locks, the crew had another game for us. This is a lot of fun. After the boat came through the locks, which docked near the Three Gorges Dam. After it docked, I called my wife that I miss terribly. Day 5 early today I woke up and went down to breakfast. After breakfast, we disembarked to visit the Three Gorges Dam. We went to an area with a view to the back of the dam. I took a lot of photos. It's a little fog around the dam, and some cool pictures. It then headed to the area with a view to the front of the dam. It's so high! From there, I could see not only the dam, but the surrounding areas. He then went up to our boat, and passes through the Xiling Gorge. This was the most beautiful gorge, because the water level had not been raised since it is located opposite the barrier. We saw many small villages and farms along the riverbanks. After riding through the Xiling throat, and then went to the Gezhou Dam, which is another large dam across the Yangtze River. It then headed to the city of Yichang, where it docked. Tomorrow, we will board a bus to Wuhan. I went to another performance by some of the crew members. This is an introduction to Chinese Folk Dances. The crew introduces us to different minority groups, and the clothing that carried it. In the afternoon, I went to eat dinner. They pulled out all the stops for this last supper. It's fantastic! After dinner, we had a farewell show. This is an action of the crew members, and guests. Later headed to dinner. After dinner I went back to my cabin to get some sleep. Day 6 This morning we had a wonderful breakfast. After breakfast, we disembarked at the forefront of our bus to Wuhan. My personal guide Harry was waiting for me outside the bus with my own private car. I was then driven to the Holiday Inn Tian An Wuhan. This is a very pleasant place with a large lobby. After a break, went to the yellow crane, a symbol of the city. Our driver took us to the entrance. The Yellow Crane Tower is the centerpiece of a huge park located in mountainous area Snake. The park is really big and really beautiful! The park has a number of little flags, and buildings located in the mountains. Each building seems to have its own pond or stream, and is full of flowering trees, beautiful and bamboos. I really liked. After the Yellow Crane Tower went to dinner with Harry. We had local food. After dinner, I returned to my room to go to sleep. Day 7 This morning I went to the hotel breakfast buffet. It's really fantastic! After breakfast, I met Harry in the hall to go to the Hubei Provincial Museum. The museum opened in November 2007, so it was new. The museum itself is very modern in design, but has elements in Chinese. Each floor of the main building of four to six permanent exhibition halls. The presentations were incredible, and the provision of them was one of the best I've seen anywhere in the world. The sample is very well lit, and each artifact was marked in Chinese, English and Korean. The most impressive museum is shown in several graves were found in Hubei Province. Then we went to the museum, we went to lunch at a local restaurant, and headed to the airport for my flight to Beijing, and then back to Chicago.