Trip of a Lifetime - Day 9

We were up bright and early this morning as were were going through the Three Lesser Gorges. I have neglected to mention that when we travel, I always take my family with me. Even though they are not there physically, I have their photographs where I can see them when I first wake up, and I say a little prayer for each of them for their safety and blessings for the coming day. This always makes me feel as though they are on the trip with us. After breakfast, we went upstairs and watched the people do their morning Tai Chi on the deck. It was then that we discovered that it was raining. It was the first inclimate weather that we have had so far where we are to be outside. We then attended a lecture on the Three Lesser Gorges so we would know what to expect.

After the lecture, we boarded smaller boats which probably held about 75 people. It was a foggy day as well as drizzly, and we had to wait on board our Riverboat to board our tour boats. I took advantage of the wait, stood on our balcony, and got what I consider to be some nice photographs of people boarding one of the them.

As I've said before, the Chinese are a very clean and neat race of people. They even wash their boats in the rain

and eat a bowl of rice while waiting to start to work and help us on our Gorge cruise boat. Once on board the smaller vessels, we were on our way to the Qutang Gorge, the Wushan (The Lesser of the Three Gorges) and the Wu Gorge.

The Three Gorges region is located along the Yangtze River between the cities of Fengjie and Yichang in Chongqing municipality and Hubei province. The Three Gorges region attracted attention globally due to the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, which is changing the scenery of the region. The water will be up to these marks soon.
These Gorges were absolutely spectacular. I was afraid that my photographs might not be good since the day was dreary and foggy, but that only added to the mystery of this wonderful place. This is a highly populated farming region and two of the main crops are rice and sesame seeds. They stack the sesame stalks up like the frame of a tee-pee for them to dry out in order to get the seeds. I'm learning SOOO many new things. I always thought sesame seeds came in a bottle at the grocery store. Never really thought about their real source. We cruised for about two and a half hours before lunch and saw many local sights including the nets that the fishermen used. They would hang lights over these huge nets at night and the light would draw the fish into the lowered net so they would have a good catch the next morning. They had water "taxi's" for the local people to go from town to town as you can see here. They would walk to their small villages up the hill which were out of our view after they had been in another village doing shopping, business and visiting. If you weren't outside photographing, it was like sitting in your living room watching a wonderful, storybook world float by. We also cruised by the "Hanging Coffins" which I had never heard of until now. We were told that they first appeared during the Spring and Autumn Period in 722-481BC. A hanging coffin is a unique funeral and sacrifice custom of the minority groups in southern China. People put the bodies of their ancestors into wooden coffins that were later placed in caves of precipitous cliff sides. Most coffins were made with one whole piece of wood into various shapes. It was said that the hanging coffins could prevent bodies from being taken by beasts and also bless the soul eternally. If you look closely you can see one of them in the cave. It was over 100 feet above the river. Our destination for a picnic lunch was perched high on a hill (but was not a hanging coffin!) and we had more dratted steps to climb. I should be used to this by now.

The steps were steep and slick due to the weather and we had to make our our way through the "Hello, Hello" people to get to the place where our lunch was to be served to us. Once we were UP at our destination, we were served a very strange lunch. There were ribs like I had never eaten before and decided not to ask what animal they had come from! Luckily we didn't have to take advantage of the hanging coffins after we had eaten our Mystery Lunch. When we were on a barge trip in France several years ago, one of the passengers said that she had spent the past month in Morocco eating "Mystery Food". Now I understand what she meant :-) Some of the crew from our boat, the Century Sun, had cruised along with us in their own little boat and served us our meal. In fact, one of our table waiters was there so it was good to see a familiar face. He's the one in the red coat on the right. We then retraced our steps through the gorges to get back home and then attended a lecture on the Three Gorges Dam where we will be going tomorrow. We continued to see sights that we had not seen before on the way up and enjoyed them all.

After dinner, there was a Country-Western dance but we opted out since we were pretty tired. It's been another long, wonderful day.

I forgot to mention that I wore my Canvas by Canvas T-shirt yesterday with the photographs of my painting group on the front and it was the hit of the boat. Everyone asked me about it! It pays to advertise ;-)

Pcasso

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

Trip of a Lifetime - Day 7

This is the big day. We not only start out in Xian where we will see the Terracotta Warriors, we will also get to finally see our boat! After breakfast we boarded yet another bus for an hour ride so we could get to the place of discovery for the Warriors. Xian only has 7,000,000 people, so by Chinese standards, it is not considered to be a large city!

The Terracotta Army was buried with the Emperor of Qin (Qin Shi Huangdi) in 210-209 BC. Their purpose was to help rule another empire with Shi Huangdi in the afterlife.

Consequently, they are also sometimes referred to as "Qin's Armies".
The Terracotta Army was discovered in March 1974 by local farmers drilling a water well to the east of Mount Lishan. Mount Lishan is also where the material to make the terracotta warriors originated. In addition to the warriors, an entire man-made necropolis for the emperor has been excavated.

The figures vary in height according to their rank; the tallest being the Generals. The heights range is 184-197cm (6ft - 6ft 5in), or more than a full foot taller than the average soldier of the period. The figures were discovered in 1974 near Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China.

It was a rainy day but that didn't bother us since we were going to be inside.I had a wheelchair and "driver" (finally!) and was very thankful for that as it was a big area to cover (2 large buildings) and he could get me right up front to see everything. I honestly don't know if I could have done it on my own walking.The warriors were absolutely amazing! There was an exhibition at the Kimball Museum in Fort Worth several years ago with some of the soldiers and I thought I knew what to expect, but I was certainly mistaken. The vastness of this archaeological dig, which is still going on and probably will be long after I'm gone,was indescribable. It was well worth the trip to China just to see this wonder of the ancient world.When we left there, we rushed to the airport so we could catch our flight to Chongquing, the largest city in China where we would board our boat. The city has nearly 31,000,000 people and in area is as large as Austria! The other amazing this is that it is made up mainly of 30-50 story high rises. We flew there in Deer Airlines and they really pack you in. If your flight in China is over 45 minutes long, they always feed you and serve drinks. I don't know how they get it all done, but somehow they do. The Chinese are very efficient people.

Perched on steep hills at the confluence of the Yangtze and it's major tributary, the Jialing River, Chongqing is the gateway for downstream cruises. It was the capital of China during WW2 when the "Flying Tigers" were based there.

As an aside, the numeral 8 is a very lucky number in China, especially for businessmen. The Chinese are very superstitious people so numbers play a big role in their lives. The three luckiest numbers are 6, 8, and 9. The 2008 Olympics which are to be held in Beijing will begin on August (the 8th month) the 8th day and the opening ceremonies will start at 8:00 p.m.

When we arrived in Chongquin we had another bus ride form the airport to the boat which took about an hour (of course!)

We arrived at the dock around 5:00 p.m. In order to get on the boat, we had to go through another boat (this one) and then pass security and get to our boat, the Century Sun.

After walking over the welcome mat that was on board, (and I might add that it was a very pleasant sight)

We finally got settled in our stateroom. All of the rooms on the boat had balconies and we happened to be on the port side. It was very spacious and comfortable and would be our home away from home for the next 9 days.

Our baggage had not arrived yet and as we were waiting, we looked out our balcony door across our balcony, and an amazing site greeted us (Frank had a little trouble as he was still wearing his dark glasses ;-)

Five very small Chinese gentlemen were carrying our bags down these long flights of steps on their shoulders. If you remember from a previous post, they probably had over 800 bags (that included carry-ons) to bring to the ship. Each load they carried totaled a minimum of 176 pounds!

There were at least 70 uneven, slippery steps with no banister that we had to descend and I was very fortunate to have had 2 young men who helped me down.

Once we got our bags, we unpacked, cleaned up and joined friends for a bottle of champagne and dinner.

We were going to stay after dinner and listen to some music but it had been a very long day and we were exhausted.

Tomorrow will be much easier as we won't go ashore until afternoon. Sleep well. I'm sure we will!

Pcasso

Trip of a Lifetime, Day 6

I suppose that I was in such a hurry to got on board our boat when I posted yesterday that I forgot that we had to get to Xian and spend time there first!

We checked out of our wonderful hotel in Beijing after breakfast and took a tour of a silk carpet factory.

Watching the young women work on those beautiful silk carpets was such a treat. The high quality of some of the rugs was unbelievable. They were truly exquisite.

From there we went to the Hutongs for a rickshaw ride and a visit to a private home in the community. Our driver reminded me a little of Jackie Chan (do you suppose that was because we were in China???)

I took a lot of photographs along the way even though the ride was a little bumpy. Fortunately the driver was young and strong because he had quite a load with the two of us! Some of the streets were very narrow and there were bicycles around every corner and in every doorway. The markets were very interesting and all the people who live in the Hutongs shop there on a daily basis.

It was difficult for me to get in and out of the rickshaw, so when the rest of the group went on a walking tour, I stayed in the rickshaw and listened to music with the drivers. Our visit to a lady's home there was pre-arranged by Viking and she was gracious enough to open her home to us and serve us tea. She had lived there all of her life and is now retired from a very good job. This is her courtyard, which is shared by 3 other houses,

and here we are inside her place. The young woman on the left was our interpreter for this part of our tour as the lady who owned the house didn't speak English. She had lived here all of her life.

The word hutong comes from the Mongolian hottog meaning "water well". During the growth of towns and cities, wells dug by villagers formed the centres of new communities.
In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences. Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. The word hutong is also used to refer to such neighbourhoods.
In old China, streets and lanes were defined by width. Hutongs were lanes no wider than 9 metres. Many are smaller; Beijing hutongs range in width from 10 metres down to only 40 centimetres.
Since the mid-20th century, the number of Beijing hutongs has dropped dramatically as they are demolished to make way for new roads and buildings. More recently, some hutongs have been designated as protected areas in an attempt to preserve this aspect of Chinese cultural history.

While we were still in the Hutongs we visited a nursery school where I found the infamous bathroom. I now have a smile on my face since I had accomplished my "mission" and was ready for lunch.

When we finished out visit to this old part of Beijing, we hurried to the airport to catch our flight to Xian. As were were short on time, we ate at the airport and once again we had a very good Chinese style meal. There are over three hundred of us that will be on the Viking Century Sun, so it's hard to imagine how much luggage there will be. Actually it's not, since we are only allowed one bag each ... but then there are the carry on's. This is only the tip of the iceberg!!! It was late when we got to Xian ... nearly 9:00 p.m., so we decided to stay at the hotel and have dinner. Sometimes it seems as though all we do is eat and walk with a little time out to sleep!

Much to our surprise and delight, our room turned out to be a suite! It was lovely and we really welcomed the bed with fresh, cool linens and a good night's sleep. Travel days always seem to be a bit of a hassle, even when you're having fun. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow but we're ready for it. Are you???

Pcasso