Our first full day on the Yangtzee River cruise, the boat does not even feel like it's moving, it’s such a smooth ride, we decided to miss Tai Chi to have a sleep in.

The Yangtzee River is the largest river in China, third largest in the world, after the Nile and Amazon.

A later breakfast, as the ship sails through the first of the Three Gorges, the Xiling Gorge, which is the longest of the three. Our first experience of steep walls and tight channels present an awesome spectacle.

At 10am we all get to watch an informative presentation about the River, the Gorges and the Dam Project.   In 2009, the largest Dam project in the world was completed, millions of people had to be relocated, several towns rebuilt above the new waterline some of the archaeological sites sadly drowned. There were buildings that were relocated, and where not possible, protective dikes were constructed.

The dam is 2335 metres long and consists of dam (flood control), powerhouse, the spillway, and navigation structures of twin 5 flight ship locks for larger boats (including ours) and one step vertical ship lift for the smaller boats. Bookings must be made to enter locks; it takes 4 hours to pass through the 5 locks.

At 11am Cherie and I make an effort to learn how to tie silk scarves, we loved the rose tie, whether we will remember the process to make the tie again, is another question.

After lunch at 1pm, we take the excursion to the Three Gorges Dam sightseeing terrace at Jar Hill, so we can see the dam, the locks and the model room, to get a better understanding of how it all pieces together, as later in the evening we’d be travelling through the 5 locks.

The afternoon on return was a relaxing one, just hanging out in the boat, a few postcards written, Dad read some of his books, and I even got in a cat nap.

Cherie and John joined the presentation of "Snuff Bottle Painting", in the Qing Dynasty, the art was born because a young monk saw an official with an empty bottle putting a slender bamboo stick in the bottle to scrap off a little of the left powder, the monk saw him leave lines on the inside, visible through the transparent wall.   Today the snuff bottles are painted on the interior surface of the wall, leaving a beautiful picture.

6pm, we meet for the Captain’s Welcome Cocktail, everyone gets a glass of champagne, and surprisingly it wasn’t bad. The Captain and the main crew is presented on the stage, he then goes around with a big grin on his face, ching ching’s everyone’s glass, welcoming us on the boat.

Dinner is at 7pm, it’s a feast fit for a King, both Western and Chinese food, buffet style, help your self.

After dinner, we venture outside to see our boat go through the first lock of five, it’s all very exciting, as the space just does not look large enough for us to fit, two boats go in before us, then we follow, the gate closes behind and up we go, as the water comes in from the bottom.   We are going up river, and have four more locks to get through.  

On the second lock, Dad and I go back to Level 5 to join our group to watch the Crew Talent Show, the Chinese don’t seem to have nerves, they love entertaining and getting up, dancing and having fun, nice atmosphere.   Dad got chosen for a stage game, who then chose me as his partner – interesting competition against two other couples, Dad was the Rooster, so they tied a box around Dad’s middle, which was full of ping pong balls, in the bottom of the box was a hole, that was blocked off, when the music started, Dad had to wiggle his box to release the ping pong balls, like laying eggs, whilst I had to make sure they went into the basket, it was so funny, and we won! We had the most balls in the basket and we got cheered the most.

The rest of the show was entertaining, with face mask changing, magician, more dancing and then for those watching were asked to get up and dance, so everyone did the likes of the chicken dance, YMCA etc.

It was a fun night. The wine is not the best, has anyone heard of the Great Wall – Red, interesting, beer not too bad, most of us ended up having cocktails, I liked the margaritas.