I hopped on an overnight train from Shanghai to Wuhan in the hopes of catching a boat up the Yangzi River. The most common boat trips for backpackers? starts in Chongqing and heads downriver towards Yichang and even onto Shanghai however I was going the reverse direction. After a 4 hour bus ride from Wuhan to Yichang, catching a 3-day river cruise boat was a snap. The cruises depart daily and there are several varieties to choose from.
The river itself and the Three River Georges have recently been at the front of much controversy. The Chinese government is currently building and expects to finish in 2009 the world?s largest damn which will effectively put much of the land (including the Three River Georges) upriver underwater. Environmentalists are going crazy but for the traveler its important see this world wonder before it becomes submerged.
I joined a traditional Chinese tour group mostly because I had few options. It was weird, not only because of the silly identical hats, flag waving, and mandarin-only tour guide but because its extremely unusual to see Chinese traveling solo (as I was at the time). I?m pretty certain I was the ONLY foreigner on this boat of like 300 people. I disliked the set tourist routine (which had us waking up at 5am in the morning!) but overall really enjoyed attempting to communicate with my shipmates and the gorgeous Three River Georges 
.