Viking Imperial Jewels of China

[rahrah50]

I am booked for October of 2013 with a group of 10 friends. It appears from the descriptions of each day that there is very little free time. Purchasing silk fabric in China is on my list of must do activities. Is there much free time????

[pacmom]

Take a look at the Other Cruises board. There is a wonderful thread called Viking China. If you post there you should get the info you need. We go this Oct, but on the Cultural Delights. If you don't get an answer, post again in Sept. and I'll try to find an answer. Pat

[no fuss travel]

They will take you to a silk factory and you should be able to buy silk material there. They had ready made clothing as well as some material when we were taken to the silk factory. If you skip the Chinese Opera, you could go shopping then and find your silk material. Ask your guide where a good spot is to shop. They are very knowledgeable.

[lahlah57]

We were on this agenda last summer with Viking and it could be grueling and our tours were high impact and exhausting because it was very HUMID in July. I do not remember the silk factory but I did love the chinese opera. We had gone to the artworks where silk stitched portraits and pictures were hand done and we could have gone wild there. We bought a large framed piece with the lions head looking to the heavens and this portrait was gorgeous!!! This gallery shipped it to us in about 10 days after we got home....in perfect shape. Many (75%) of the fellow passengers bought like items in this gallery and had them shipped

Very little time for going out on your own because Viking made sure we saw everything in the amount of time we did have!

This is not a complaint because if we were left to our own devices it would not have been as memorable!!!

I am sure there was a silk factory tour but it was not something that stood out to me. They do have everyone on a very tight schedule so be prepared. To go out on your own is questionable unless you speak the language. Very little to no english is spoke there so do not think you will be going out on your own and expect a conversation for directions.

We will always remember our river cruise to China....HUMID.....but memorable!!!;)