 |
| Calligraphy demo |
We started the day out with the breakfast buffet, as usual, then went to an art museum. There was amateur art by farmers, modern Chinese paintings, and ancient replicas. We had a demonstration on Chinese calligraphy, but I couldn't quite see the characters as she was drawing them, so I only managed to do a few.
 |
| Chongquin from the Yangtze |
I hated flying to begin with. Now I despise it just a little bit more. We flew from Xi'an to Chongquin (Chong means double and Quin means happiness), which is the largest city in china. It is very different here. The air is thick with what is either smog or fog. The land has much more greenery, and there are hills and mountains surrounding the city with a river running through the middle. The buildings are all regular 4 - 5 story models but they have high-rises (apartments?) jutting from the top occasionally. It reminds me of eyes jutting from a potato.
 |
| Panda @ zoo |
Our first excursion was to the zoo. I'm not sure if it was strictly a panda zoo, but that is all we saw. The first enclosure was a red panda. He was right near the wall, so I caught a good glimpse of him. There was a mother and child duo, though, that we're throwing bread down into the habitat. I wanted to scold them for being so ignorant. The rest of the enclosures were for pandas. It was their dinner time, so all of them were perched on their little decks, chowing down on bamboo. It was great for viewing, as only one was hiding away in the back. Also, I finally got my "big fat panda" - a plush panda that is wider around than it is tall.
 |
| Red panda @ zoo |
The ship is much smaller than the Alaska cruise ship we took and the AC is sparse at best. The city at night is lit up with laser beams and lights in the shape of sailboats on the high-rises. The bartender, Hu Yao (aka Anna) makes very strong Victoria Vistas... So I type this while tired and tipsy.
Observations: Airplanes in China take forever to take off and are unbearably hot; all of the cities I've visited thus far seem to be striving to develop themselves, building new monorails and subways and bridges, etc.; Chinese parents let their children potty in the streets right out in the open; this country has some serious Olympic pride, especially in Beijing, even though it was 4 years ago - it is everywhere and frequently mentioned; Beijing and Xi'an girls are quite fond of bright, neon colored clothing - I have seen more neon colored shoes than I've seen in my entire life.
FENGDU
Things have slowed down since we boarded the river cruise ship. Instead of each day being packed with tours, there are two excursions a day, all of which are optional.
I started the day with a shower. Upon turning on the faucet, the water came out the color of tea. A lovely start to the day. It eventually ran clear, but showering still creeps me out now.
 |
| See that temple at the top? That's the point of the excursion. |
We docked in Fengdu, and went ashore to visit the "Ghost City" in the Ming Mountains. The Yangtze was so low, there was maybe 200 yards of exposed river bed. We climbed many stairs and walked through many yelling vendors to tour the Ghost City. I can't exactly report about the beauty and the meaning of the buildings and temples, because I was drenched with sweat and completely miserable. I have dealt with the walking and climbing and heat quite well, but yesterday was horrible. It was hot, but also unbearably humid. I went halfway up the mountain before I deemed the trip not worth the sweat. If it would have been cooler, it would have been a great excursion. So I walked back down alone. Walking the path back to the river was pleasant and filled with the fragrance of some kind of flora.
(NOTE: My parents continued on, with their improved heat/humidity tolerance, to a temple at the top of the mountain. I have their pictures from this achievement, so ended up seeing what all of the fuss was about after all.)
I spent the rest of the day on the boat. I had my very first massage - 380 yuan (about $63) for 80 minutes. It was great and very relaxing. Mom tells me that it was different than ones she's had before, though.
I also bought some souvenirs. The guy told me 50-100 yuan a piece for the Chinese knots, then offered em at 10-20 yuan when I came back with my mom. Whatever. I ended up getting three of them for 20 yuan.
There was a captain's welcome dinner thing where they served champagne and appetizers, but you would have thought these people had never seen food in their life the way they attacked the appetizer bar.
Observations: men spit on the streets and sidewalks, and it is extremely gross the way they make a guttural sound and then hack it up; Chinese men also sport what one of our group members calls the "Chinese crop top" when they get hot, where they hike their shirt up so their belly shows; one that I've found to be consistent in every city is that the little girls are so very adorable, with little pigtails high on their heads.
SHENNONG STREAM/3 GORGES
I'm not positive where we are today, but the itinerary says Shennong Stream, so I'll go with that. The Yangtze where we started, in Chongquin, was as brown as mud, but it has gradually transitioned to a greenish color as we cruise. This morning, we were docked at the shore excursion for the White Emperor City. No one from our tour group went.
I went to a "Chinese 101" talk on the ship. We went over some basic Chinese words and phrases - greetings, numbers, etc. Learning phrases is not too difficult, but mastering the five different tones is what I find hard. The word "ma" means mother, horse, numb, damn, and question mark depending on the tone. That and the characters. If I ever learn Chinese, I doubt that I'll ever be literate in it.
 |
| Sanpan |
The first gorge that our ship passed through was the Qutang Gorge. It was beautiful and windy. There were even tiny villages perched on the steep mountainsides. An excursion went out in sanpans (small wooden boats) on a tributary in the third gorge, but I stayed in bed with a ruptured cyst. My dad's pictures looked neat - goats, monkeys, a hanging coffin suspended high between the walls of a mountain. I am disappointed that I missed it. Instead, I spent the entire day on the ship. During the excursion it seemed that I was the only tourist still left on board. The lights were turned out, the public rooms were closed off, and only staff was milling about.
(NOTE: Of the many things that plague me, PCOS is one of them [hence the cyst in the paragraph above].)
Then tonight there was a show put on by the staff. It was just cute amateur performances. One guy did magic tricks set to the Mission Impossible theme song. A group of girls dressed in hula outfits danced around to Shakira (I enjoyed the sheer strangeness of Chinese girls dressed Hawaiian dancing to Spanish music). But now I'm still slightly nauseated, so I'm going to read myself to sleep with a demon book (benefit of being an invalid = I finished reading A Dirty Job today and started Origin).
Observations: it has only rained twice so far since I've been here (once in Xi'an and then today) - the rain in Xi'an was normal, cold rain... but the rain today on the river smelled different than any rain I've experienced... it's hard to explain, but it was more musty, I guess; the Chinese rendition of veggie pizza I ate for lunch was surprisingly delicious.
THREE GORGES DAM SITE / SHANGHAI
It wasn't until today that I realized how nice our little cruise ship is. We didn't go with the group to tour the damn site, but we disembarked a little later to go check out the town. When at a port, they link boats to other boats that link to barges, etc. until one of them has a plank to land. Usually, we hook to a barge and other ships hook to us. But today it was the other way around. We had to go through two smaller ships to get to the barge. They were dark, dank, wet, and smelly. I was holding my breath and praying that I didn't step on a rat.
 |
| "Tram" |
Unlike the last couple of ports, which all had an exhausting number of steps to reach the town, this one has a tram on either side of such steps. By tram I mean a rickety box with metal doors and dirty seats that shambled noisily up the mountainside on a couple of cables.
The town at the top was not a tourist town, with only a bus station and some local stores and restaurants. We took pictures of the hillside and of a vegetable garden, then walked back to the ship.
 |
| Town |
 |
| View |
 |
| View |
 |
| Veg garden |
We left for the airport after lunch. We transferred buses in Yichang, a town along the Yangtze. For this first time since I arrived, I saw regular free-standing houses. They looked like the ones in Lynn's neighborhood in St. Augustine, almost, but with an Asian twist. A new neighborhood was even being developed that included a golf course.
We arrived at q tiny airport with only three gates, and flew Juneyao air. We did the thing where you go outside, then climb those mobile stairs to get up to the plane door. I felt like the president.
Another bus and another local tour guide. Shanghai is much more modern. It is like Beijing, but bigger and with outer city surrounding downtown instead of ancient sites and Hutongs. Our guide told us of the names of rivers and hotels, etc. in the area, many of which include the word "pu." Pudong, pushi... I couldn't help but giggle to myself at the thought of poo. I'm a child.
 |
| Picstitch panoramic of my Shanghai hotel room |
So the Westin hotel in Beijing was very nice. Definitely a high-end hotel. The Westin in Shanghai is even more impressive. My exact words were "oh... Bitchin!" Amazing view of Shanghai, chic interior, big flat screen TV with the most English channels I've seen thus far, great wifi, ritzy restaurants... even stairs in an atrium that are lit with color changing rainbow lights.
 |
| Dragon Festival |
We walked up to Bund, and the Dragon Boat festival, a 3 day holiday in china, was taking place. Beautiful and brightly lit boats went up and down stream. From the Bund river walk, you can see the beauty of shanghai at night. On one side are elegant, towering European-style buildings that house ritzy stores. On the other side of the river, you can see the modern, Western-style skyscrapers and high-rises. It was absolutely gorgeous. Mom and I wish we could have skipped Tyne river cruise for more time in Shanghai.
Observations: my parents have developed a pet peeve - the impressive volume of the Asian tourist voices; mine is when the Americans pronounce xie xie as she she, even though tour directors have corrected them a dozen freaking times; Chinese seaweed is like the Japanese seaweed at home, but is longer and thicker, like fettuccine noodles.
 |
| The Bund at night (The building topped with a lotus flower is our otel) |
NOTES ABOUT SHANGHAI:
We had a couple more days in Shanghai before returning home, but there are no journals for them. Every day on the trip was action packed from dawn until way past dusk. The unjournalled Shanghai events include: a great acrobatics show, our tour guide taking us (back) to the Bund even though it was raining, one of the most beautiful Chinese gardens you'll ever see and the market surrounding it, an amazing Shanghai museum, a silk factory, and the breathtaking way in which Shanghai lights up at night.
Your Journey is Complete!
PAGE 1: Bejing, China
PAGE 2: Xi'an, China
PAGE 3: Yangtze River Cruise & Shanghai, China <-- You are here!
The end! More travel journals to come. For more series, check out the Chronicle of Furbabies or head over to Psychlone Bean for the trippier side... if you dare!
No comments:
Post a Comment