Trip of a Lifetime - Day 8

We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast this morning and then went to a lecture on the Yangtze River which lasted about an hour. After the lecture, we stayed there, had a cup of coffee and then had a Chinese lesson. I spent a great deal of the morning taking photographs around the boat and decided that I would not go ashore today.

We had a delicious lunch, and at 2:30 Frank had to ascend a staircase which had 262 steps just to get to the shore. He did not do this without help. He hired two Chinese men with a sedan chair to take him up all these uneven steps. After they reached the first landing, they called for help and it took four of them to get him to the top. There was a crowd of Chinese at the top cheering them on. He said that it was the highlight of the day.
We were told that the teams were made up of two men .. one short and one tall, so they could carry the seat on a level basis. If they had been the same height, the chair would tilt and the passenger would fall out!

Once he finally got to the top of the steps, he took a bus to New City which is near Fengdu and is known as the City of Ghosts. Fengdu is modelled after the Chinese Hell in Taoist mythology and was built over 1800 years ago. The famous ghost town will become an island after Three Gorges Dam project is complete. Specifically, part of the ghost town of Fengdu will be submerged, but scenery above the "Door of Hell" will remain. It now has a population of 800,000.

While everyone had gone ashore, it seemed like a good time to visit the tailor who was on board the boat and order some clothes to be made.

Frank suggested that I get some silk lounging pajamas and a jacket made, so the tailor measured me. He spoke almost NO English so it was a real challenge. He kept saying what sounded like "Lo Lady" over and over again no matter what I asked him, so I had no idea what we were doing but hoped that he did!

Then a delightful young man named Ben came to my rescue. He worked on the boat and spoke very good English.

He helped me with my order and told me that even though the name Ben was not a good name in China as it meant stupid in Chinese, he decided to use this Western name on the boat since he thought that Americans would relate it to Benjamin Franklin who he knew to be an American hero. He also said that I reminded him of his Grandmother. I'm not sure if that was a compliment or not ;-)

All of the employees have Western names so we can be able to pronounce and spell them. Sometimes they change their names, depending on which cruise they're on. I found this to be very interesting.

A lot of our group went to the Snow Jade Caves. There are over 800 steps down into the caves and since there are no elevators, you have to walk those steps both ways. I think that Frank was very smart to take the City Tour instead!

Fengdu is famous for the Xueyu Cave, where the stalactites in the caves are as white as snow and keep growing at about 33 millimeters every 100 years. Now the cave has been listed as the first State Key Cave Research Base.

When in New City,Frank visited a market whidh he said was wonderful and also watched a local musicians perform.
I stayed on board and watched the sampans and freighters go by. I also watched the movie, "The Last Emperor" which I would highly recommend to anyone who is interested in Chinese history. It was especially meaningful to me since we have been visiting many of the places where the movie was filmed.
Frank came back on board sooner than I expected and he said that he took some great photographs for me. He didn't know that I had been watching him being "carried" up to the shore, so these photos are a real surprise for him (he's the one in the blue sedan chair on the left). I must add that he walked down those steps to get back to the boat and I am very proud of him. I couldn't have done it.

At 6:00 p.m. we attended a welcome reception that our Captain held for us. We had our share of the "bubbly" and then proceeded to the dining room for dinner. We had duck with plum sauce and it was plum good :-) They served us chocolate mousse for dessert which is not one of my favorites, but this particular dessert was delicious, so I couldn't possibly be rude and pass it up.

Today has been a peaceful one for me. I even worked in a short nap, but tomorrow will be very busy as we will go through the Three Gorges starting at 7:00 a.m. We will cruise the Yangtze all night to get there. The motion of the boat will rock me to sleep and I'll love that.

Pcasso