Page 38 - 23 Day China Sample

DAY 20 YANGZI EXPLORER CRUISE If you are interested you can attend a Tai Chi exercise class. Tai Chi is an ancient form of exercise that uses slow, controlled and continuously flowing movements to re-energize the body. These graceful movements increase strength, flexibility and improve the balance and circulation. It also reduces stress and enhances total being to live in harmony with yourself & nature. The splendors of the Yangtze River are as mythic as its history. To the Chinese, The Yangtze is simply "Chang Jiang" or "Long River", the central bronze thread of centuries of life. In fact, the Yangtze is the world's third longest river (after the Amazon and the Nile); the third largest in water volume (after the Amazon and the Congo); and the world's deepest river in spots, dropping to remarkable depths. At its mouth the river is so broad that early navigators believed they were on the ocean-they couldn't see either side! As the Yangtze, or Golden River of China, conducts you deep into the Chinese heartland, think of the river as a friendly dragon, ever changing its personality. Beguiling the senses as its big cities give way to tiny old port towns and remote villages where the ancient rhythms of life are reflected in the inimitable singsong of Chinese. As you sail up its most scenic sector, see pastoral terraced fields still worked with oxen, water buffalo and the bent backs of bare-foot peasants give way to magnificent gorges, historic temples, and scenes of ancient Chinese life virtually unchanged over the centuries. Overnight: Yangzi Explorer