questions ???about gorge and tours
 

I need to know haw much longer we will be able to see the towns before they are flooded in the gorges___I am planning a trip in April next year--also Im having trouble finding a tour (ground tour) as I will be flying from Australia and return by way of paris Help --thanks

This web site give some info. about the dam and when the water will rise. http://www.lotustours.net/index.html<BR>If the address doens't work-- then try:<BR>Lotus tours -- And click on home--there is a section for dam information. <BR>We cruised the river last year and it was a memorable trip--beautiful.

I don't know which towns you have in mind specifically, but some of them such as Fengjie are not particularly interesting themselves. eg. The White Emperor City at Fengjie will still be above water as it's on the hill, but the actual old city of Fengjie will be submerged---- it's kind of depressing already because most residents will have moved out of the old city. Same situation for Fengdu (for the ghost city).

You might look at China Focus (out of San Francisco) to see if you could book just the ground portion. I traveled with them about 4 years ago and they had great tour guides and nice hotels. My friends followed up the next year with the 3 Gorges trip also covering the same cities I did and loved it. Their website is chinafocustravel.com I'm sure you could e-mail and ask. You sure can't beat their prices and I hope to travel with them again. I noticed on their website that they mentioned the river starting to fill in 2003 but can't remember exactly when.

Try www.intrepidtravel.com. The do ground only tours. I'm trying them for the first time this year.