Journaling my travels enables me to look back on some of the wonderful places I've had the opportunity to visit over the last 20 years…..and the places I will visit in the future.
Goodbye Sinorama Gold 8….a bit of a hike so very glad someone took our luggage to the bus for us!
We started the morning with a tour of Chongqing. What a great city it is! It’s old and new. It’s high enough that it wasn’t impacted as much by the dam as other cities along the river. The morning started off rather cloudy and overcast. It was a bit hard to tell what was cloud versus pollution! But still quite a lovely city…to me. Brightened up nicely later in the morning.
To me it’s a “real” city. BIG still applies to everything but it doesn’t seem a garish, or over the top like Beijing. Lots of activity and lots of people. Winston says it’s the largest city in China….30+ million. I thought Shanghai was but apparently not. Many interesting side streets and alleys. It’s quite a clean city.
First stop was lovely Eling park overlooking the city. Beautiful gardens…which are probably even nicer in spring and summer. Busy place being a Sunday. Family parties/picnics, people doing tai chi, playing badminton, groups playing cards etc. There is a children’s area with little rollercoasters and other amusement park type rides, restaurants, cafes, some vendors selling some quite lovely handmade items (lots of paintings!) and just lots of places to sit or walk around. The park overlooks the river. Even with all the people it was a relatively quiet and peaceful place to wander thru.
Another park/plaza was our next stop, again with lots happening. Kids bring their bikes, scooters and whatever else they have to ride on. There a little toy kiosk that puts things out for the kids to play with. A couple big trees with wooden benches built around them that the old people, mostly men, sit and visit. A couple of food trucks too…..looked and smelled really good. The original building, that was a palace, is now a huge big hotel. Wandered around and people watched for the hour we had there.
Dave joined the other old guys…..
I had heard about, but had never saw, until today, baby pants with slits in the bum…..strange concept to us but it’s been around in China for eons! Thought “whatever” until seeing someone hold their baby over a garbage can…..kind of ewwwww.
A really nice day and really very nice driving around this city and to the airport. Still lots of “stuff” everywhere but generally clean and relatively tidy in comparison to Beijing.
Lunch on the plane was “chicken rice”
Tonight we’re in Suzhou. It took over 2 hours to drive from the Shanghai airport….mostly just lots of traffic.
Suzhou is known for a big garden and it’s canals, which we’ll see tomorrow. Dinner was at a place in the old part of town. Really pretty pedestrian area along a canal. Lots of nice little store, including a Starbucks. Dinner was pretty disappointing….some of it was OK but again just not enough food.
spiffy cup holder from Starbucks!
Tonight we’re at the Wyndham Garden Hotel…..really nice. After checking in we had time to wander around. Very nice area with lots of shopping (expensive), restaurants and clubs. So many shops with beautiful coats!! I’d love to get one but I doubt very much they’d have my size. Donna, Dave and Loyanne headed back to the hotel. Shirl, Neil and I explored a bit more……we came across a KFC!! Neil was still hungry so in we went. He had a 3 piece meal and Shirl and I just shared a 2 piece….was delicious!!
This was the first time on this trip that we’ve been able to wander freely!! The electric motorbikes are the scariest thing we came across…..because not everyone stops for red lights you just about take your life in your hands when crossing on a green light….you cannot hear them coming!! Definitely caught on to that after a near miss the first time we crossed a street!!
Back to the hotel for a drink in the lounge and to bed. Very busy day….not a lot of walking just planes and buses.
Mon Nov 30
Up early to visit The Lingering Garden (UNESCO site). Very beautiful with the fall colours, especially the yellow leaves on the ginko trees……they’re shaped like little fans! The central garden has a little manmade lake that all the trees and building around it reflect on. It must be pretty amazing here when the flowes are in bloom. Lots of parts to the garden, including over 100 bonsai. Very nice. Small shop where I bought a picture of bamboo painted in black ink on silk. Could have spent a lot more time there!
The weather the last couple of days has been great! No coats required 🙂
The rest of the morning was spent at the canals. Very pretty and referred to as the Venice of the East. Lots of little shops and cafes….and a Dairy Queen! Unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of time to explore the canals and the market, which was too bad because both were incredibly interesting.
The market was unbelievable. It went for blocks and blocks. Local food…..lots of vegetables, stands selling cooked and uncooked (but dead!) chicken, duck and pork…..probably beef too but can’t say that I recognized it if it was there. Fish in big tubs, crabs, clams, shrimp, prawns, eels…..all were very much a live. Some keep hoses running constantly in the tubs to keep it all fresh. There were live chickens and ducks. Some things I had no idea what they were. One place was selling frogs, but they were dried and on display in a nice case, so assumed they were expensive. Margaret bought some little apple type things on a stick….6 or so of them. They were kind of like baby candy apples coated in sugar……quite tasty. Lots of stands selling nuts (lots of walnuts) and beautiful looking pastries but was afraid to try them because of all the nuts. One guy was making what looked like 3 ft round shrimp chips….started with a little piece of dough about as big as a fist, threw it in the hot oil in a big wok and poof…..almost instantly it puffed up into the giant chip. Also stands selling clothes, purses, cooking stuff and pretty well anything else you think of. You could also have clothes made!! Could easily have spent another hour or more there. Tons of people, lots of scooters driving down the narrow alley, some even had carts attached. Lots of hand carts, bicycles and pretty much anything with a couple of wheels to get the goods in or out.
On the road again to Shanghai, with a stop for lunch…..great buffet today with lots to eat! Not exactly sure where we were, still along the canals. Very nice complex….a combo of restaurants and townhouses. Very neat and tidy with a lovely park across the canal. Still a portion of the old city wall from 1000 yrs ago (?). Not sure what city though!! Had some time to wander around, cross the old bridge and take a few pics.
Back on bus and into Shanghai. Busy, busy place!! Took almost 2 hours. The first stop was the Shanghai Museum. Excellent museum!! Very well laid out and really nice, interesting displays…..most with English descriptions. We only had a couple of hours to see it so I went off on my own and was selective as to which rooms to go into. I did the silk and clothing, the bronzes, ceramics and pottery. Quickly went thru the furniture and the seals and stamps rooms. Could easily have spent at least another hour there. Very nice store with some expensive things.
Dinner! Also very good….buffet at a big fancy hotel. Much the same stuff but all really good…..today I think were the best two meals we had along with the one in Jingzhou.
Tonight we saw the famous Chinese acrobats. They are all pretty incredible. The girls on the bikes at the beginning were unbelievable and then the 6 or 8 motorbikes in the big ball cage were pretty amazing. How they stayed so focused was unreal….one little missed queue and they would have been a mess on the bottom. I think we saw the watered down tourist version but still really good. A few circ de soliel type acts as well. We were told that the company has helped a lot of young people. They offer free education to kids (some as young as 6 or 7) from some of the poorest villages around China. They come to the city and along with their schooling are trained to become these acrobats. As they get older their experience with the acrobat troop supposedly helps them get better careers. Good/bad?? Regardless they were excellent!
Finally at almost 10 we arrived at our hotel, the Radisson Blu Shanghai. Nice rooms except for the shower, the tile of which could have used a good scrubbing with some bleach. It had a two part shower, hand held and rain head. The hand held one HURT if you turned it on full blast….like pins poking you everywhere….definitely good water pressure. It was also one of those hotel rooms that had a window/glass wall between the bedroom into the bathroom! There were blinds but still….I don’t get this set up! Had a glass of wine in the bar before going up to bed….a big glass. Wine was from Argentina….very good. Bar was in the lobby which was so cold you had to wear your coat.
A very busy day today…..but a very good one!
Tues Dec 1
Up not so early this AM. Not on the bus until 9.
Our room was very hot and no matter how low we turned the heat it never got any cooler…..made up for the no heat in the lobby I guess.
Breakfast here is good but not as good as the other places we’ve stayed. Not a lot of variety….but there was an egg guy. I think the Wyndham was the nicest overall, or the Holiday Inn in Xi’an,
Our first stop this morning was to the silk factory. We watched a demo of how they make the silk threads from the cocoons and also how it is stretched and then layered to make the comforters and pillows. Would have liked to buy a duvet cover but very expensive so didn’t bother. They had some lovely clothes as well. Jackets, shirts, blouses etc. I tried on a cute vest but it was a little too tight and too short. The next size up, a 2XL (!), fit ok except the armholes were too big so let that pass too.
Lunch was a little different today….all you could eat Mongolian Grill. Was great and lots of fun. You go thru the raw food buffet filling your bowl with meat and veg and the sauces you want then take it up to the 3 people cooking it on a big round grill (Mongolian grill!). There was also a salad bar and rice and Chinese noodles. Very good!
There was a cashmere store upstairs…..some very nice stuff but again, all way too expensive…..honestly we could buy at home for way less. They kept insisting that it was way better quality….not terribly sure about that! The stairs to go up were tile….white, or would have been, really quite a mess…cracked tile, tiles missing altogether, and not very clean BUT at the top of the stairs is a great big beautiful crystal chandelier hanging from a gold ceiling!!
After lunch it was a visit to Chinatown! Yes they have a special area for that even here! It’s the old original area of Shanghai. Most of the buildings have been redone/rebuilt and are full of touristy type shops, bars and teahouses. Dave got taken to one by a lady that had asked him “what was he looking for”…..BEER he said! Donna and I were a little worried because we’d been warned not to do that!! I went after him and Donna waited for Loyanne. As it turned out it was an OK place….a nice teahouse and bar on the 4th floor of one of the pagoda buildings. It had one of the best skyline views of Shanghai that I’d seen so far! We had a beer, took a bunch of pictures and went back down to meet up with everyone.
I managed to find jammies for the kids, had their names written on cards in Chinese and picked up a shot glass for Craig’s collection and a pretty ivory (plastic!) fan for Kim.
Back on the bus for some shopping and people watching on Nanjing Road. We all wandered around a bit but really wasn’t into anymore shopping…..this is a famous road for shopping! Most of it is pedestrian only. Was still daylight when we arrived and it was quite busy but within an hour or so, once it was dark the street was packed!! Donna, Loyanne, Dave and I found a coffee/beer bar right on a busy corner and just parked ourselves there for the rest of the time we had on our own….another hour or so. Lots of big name stores on Nanjing Road and lots of big prices to go with them. Great people watching! It’s pedestrian only but there are still crossroads…..so even when the light was red on Nanjing, the people just kept walking and the cars, buses, bikes scooters etc., who had a green, had to go slow and nose their way thru the people! A lady had a doggy dressed in a little plaid shirt, jeans and pink booties! Kathy from RI came by and shared some of her roasted pigeon!! A little over done but tasted like chicken!
The bamboo scaffolding around buildings that were being worked on was amazing…..I can’t believe in this day and age it is still used.
Dinner was at a restaurant on the Bund! Finally get to see this famous area….in the dark! After dinner we went across the street to the park on the Huangpu river. Great views across the water of Pudong with the Oriental Pearl tower and Jinmao Tower and another new huge building (118 floors) still under construction that will be a “self-sufficient” living environment when it’s completed. The night view was lovely…..lots of lights of course across the way, ferries, also lit up, going up and down the river. There is the first iron/steel bridge ever built in China, that was 100 yrs old. I just wish we’d have more time to wander around in the daylight……was looking forward to seeing all the historic buildings and would also have been nice to visit Pudong across the river.
Back on the bus and to the hotel by just after 7:30 to get packed up. Stopped for a drink in the lobby with N & S. Rhode Island people came in and had a drink but left to get more food. When they came back I went up to the 27th floor to have a drink with them up there…..nice view but not of anything too exciting.
Finished packing and to bed….wake up call at 6:45.
Tues Dec 2
Up and packed before 6. Breakfast and on the bus to the airport by 8:30. Some flights (Calif) left an hour before ours so we all just went together.
We had all checked in but sort of all wandered off in different directions….I had put my boarding pass in my passport and thought I’d just check the gate and time again…..I noticed the gal had given me my passport but Donna’s boarding pass!! A little bit of a panic because Donna was on her way to go thru security. I went racing over to find her but no sign of her…..I assumed that she had gotten thru with MY boarding pass no problem. I was with Neil so told him when we were going thru, if I had any issues, he’d have to go and find Donna to get MY boarding pass. As it turned out, it wasn’t an issue….the guy glanced at it but didn’t bat an eye lash….thought maybe he couldn’t read it or just one of those “for show” security things??? A bit worrisome though when you think about it!
Caught up with our group and found a coffee place not far from our gate and ran into the RI folks. Donna and I had beer and dumplings that were really good! We did not see many dumplings on this trip.
Flight left on time at 1:30. The route home was a direct route over the Pacific to Vancouver. It started out really bumpy for the first few hours, even hitting an air pocket or two…..one big one that had people screaming!! I drank my wine with dinner, took a gravol and managed to sleep over 4 hours, which was great because we were more than half way home when I woke up. Flight had smoothed out nicely…..read and dozed for the rest of it. Breakfast was really yucky…..scrambled rubbery eggs, incredibly greasy bacon(ish) and a couple of warm tomatoes. We got a Chinese style “croissant” after?? Weird because the same thing happened with the dinner bun….it came AFTER dinner.
Our flight was 10 hours, way shorter than going, and we even arrived a bit early. We left Shanghai on Dec 2 at 1:30PM and arrived in Vancouver on Dec 2 at 8:30AM! So we not only gained our day back, but an extra 5 hours!
Overall this was a fantastic trip. We saw some amazing things! Very busy and not a lot of time to see or do anything on our own but that’s what tours are like. Some of my best pictures are ones taken out of the bus window…..traffic, people….just going about their daily business.
It was the only way to go to China to me….unless I knew someone who spoke the language and was familiar with all the quirky things. Based on stories we heard and Winston’s warnings, getting ripped off was a bit of a concern….not just in the markets but even the bigger stores too. Our experience with the bottle of wine…..bought one thing and found when we’d got back to the hotel that they’d put something totally different in our bag…similar thing happened again. That said, I really enjoyed the markets, including the bargaining! I’m not a “major” purchase shopper….thank goodness!
The food was the most disappointing thing. Only 3 or 4 meals that I’d call really good. Was really hoping to experience a variety of some great local dishes in each of the areas we visited. Friends of friends that had done the exact same trip in September said food was excellent and in abundance!! They did pay a bit more but presumed it was also because of the time of year….maybe not!
China is so advanced in some ways….huge buildings, dams, cars, electronics etc. but then they still use bamboo scaffolding and twig brooms, such a mix but that’s what makes it interesting! BIG is important to them, clean (as in floors and windows being washed) and maintenance of some things, not so much.
A great trip with great friends…even made some new ones!
Slept really good! The bed is very hard….very, very hard!! But nice fluffy pillows and comforters. I think they turn the heat down to zero at night. Woke up to go to the bathroom and almost froze…it was really cold but OK once I got back into bed.
Didn’t set the alarm for this morning because we didn’t have an excursion until later. At 7:30, thru the PA system, they start playing music or something and then a guy comes on and says “have you had your breakfast…..blah blah blah….!!!! This was a good thing I guess because I think I could have slept for a few more hours. Looked outside and there is another boat right up against ours….a cargo boat of some kind…..a man was hanging up his laundry and waved at me!!
Breakfast buffet was really good. The bacon looked a little odd but tasted really good. After breakfast we went to the acupuncture and TCM lecture at 8:30 with Dr. Lui. It was very interesting.
Our shore excursion today was back to the ancient city of Jingzhou (where we were supposed to start the cruise). First we did the wall, which surrounds the old city and was quite lovely. There was also a “ancient” pagoda (with shops underneath). Lots of little shops across the road. Shirl and I bought “bracelets”, which are really prayer beads, made from apricot pits. Donna bought a couple of bottles of “Great Wall” wine (which was NOT good). Quite a lot of history and really quite a very nice place.
Next stop after driving thru the “old town” (any city name with “hou” on the end means it’s the old or original town name). Lots to look at going thru this city of 4+ million people! In a matter of one day, yesterday, I was in 4 of some of just about the biggest cities I’ve ever been in in my whole life! Xi’an has 9 million, Wuhan 14 million, between Jingzhou and Yichang, another 10 million or so…..the population of the 4 cities is just about the entire population of Canada!
Had the best lunch yet! or dinner for that matter. It was in the old walled part of the town. Lots of great dishes……sweet and sour pork, sautéed beef, fried and breaded fish, cucumber and fungus (really good!), some sort of a roll filled with yams and maybe lotus paste (breaded too), rice of course and even more dishes than I can remember now. And beer….only one glass was free but you could get a big bottle for 20Y. The restaurant had a big moving sign that said “Welcome Sinorama Tour Group”. Definitely the best meal, and most food, we’ve had so far.
After lunch we drove thru the town again…..after the bus did a U turn on a very busy street! So much activity on the streets here. I really like the cooking shops/pop up restaurants, or whatever you would call them, that have all the big pots and woks or steamers set up right on the sidewalks. I bet that food is fantastic! Lots of people on the street, shopping, visiting etc. Took a picture of a very old lady sitting with a guy selling chestnuts and peanuts, then he wanted some money!! So I bought some of the roasted chestnuts….he wanted 20Y but I only had 7 so he took the bag back and took some out….lol!
There were no highrises in the old city…..the rule is no buildings over 7 stories but off in the distance you can see all the huge mega story apartments…..there is never just one building….they build at least 3 or 10 exactly the same. Some are still brand new, some not so, and most seem pretty empty. They build them in anticipation of more people moving to the city. Lots of laundry hanging off both new and old buildings….they have spiffy clothes line contraptions that can extend out a few feet giving them more clothes hanging room.
Many modes of transportation…..
Car carrier…..twice as long and wide as the ones at home!
On to the Jingzhou Museum. Very nice museum with the 2000+ yr old mummy that is extremely well preserved. Some really nice lacquer ware found in the excavations, all quite well preserved and in great shape and ancient silk garments and other fabrics. The museum is in a couple of pagoda buildings with a little lake and lots of trees. Even some bonsai. Pretty baskets and pots of what look like those small winter mums, which had been trained to tumble over the sides. The grounds could have been very beautiful and may well be come summer.
2000+ yr old mummy….internal organs are removed and also mummified!
The drive back to Yichang was about an hour and half. All through the countryside, which was really very nice. The houses, or at least some of them, are bigger and look much like houses at home. Some stand all alone in the middle of nowhere, others in little hamlet type communities. Very beautiful and well tended gardens and rice paddies. There are ponds (presuming for irrigation) all over the place, almost like little lakes….even with men fishing on some of them.
Back into Yichang. Huge railway station with bridges crisscrossing in every directions. Tons of new building complexes here too. A real mix of old and new, all with laundry! Love it! Again, lots of new buildings that have no one living in them. All the highrises here and in the other cities must be at least 50 stories or more.
Sinorama Gold ships in Yichang……water level is usually at least up to the steps.
Onto the boat with just enough time to shower and get ready for “formal night” and the captains “welcome aboard” dinner. He (thru an interpreter) introduced all the important people on the boat and thanked us for joining them.
Buffet as usual. Thought they might have something a little more exciting or fancy, but no…… After dinner there was a show, some dancers and then music for dancing….they played YMCA and the chicken dance, which got everyone up on the floor. A few good songs but the bar and everything else was pretty much closed/finished by 9:30.
Long day today but a really good one! Weather started out iffy but turned our quite lovely…..some sun! Very tired tonight.
Thurs Nov 26
Did not sleep well last night. Woke up a 1/2 dozen times. The light from the battery charger was bugging me….but did I get up and move it…no. Tossed and turned. Maybe got 2 hours sleep altogether.
At some point last night we left Yichang and started up the river. We went thru the first lock just past Yichang….I guess not important enough to mention….maybe that was some of the noises that kept me awake….lots of banging and clanging.
Breakfast was good again. Off to the “Water Village” tribe of the Three Gorges.
There are 4 Sinorama cruise ships…most of the “ports” can only fit 2 of them, so whoever gets there last has to tie up to the one that is already docked so you have to get off your boat and walk across/thru the one that’s tied up…..not always a cruise ship either!
The Water Village is man made but at the original tribal site from eons ago. It was a bit of a walk from the ship. First we had to get off the ship by crossing over what appeared to have been an old freighter or may not have been?? I think they use these a piers or docks. No bus for this excursion….a very long walkway along the river….seems like we walked for miles. Very pretty with benches that were covered with trellises shaped like a “C”. The path then turned and went along side a small river/stream. Well worth the walk once we got there. They had some junk type boats and fishing net things set up to show what life was like on the river villages years ago. There were some rock statues that looked more Mayan than Chinese along the way. It was all very pretty, especially with the big bamboo forested hillside. They put on a “wedding show” for us…..volunteers from the audience to take part. There are monkeys too! We seen 4 or 5 of them at first. When we got to the end of the walk there was a temple or pagoda and a very pretty waterfall. A person was sitting in a little house/shed that was calling the moneys….and we think feeding them. One was on the rocks in the stream and the others came flying thru the trees and across the platform that we were standing on. One of them had a baby on her tummy.
We walked back on the other side of the stream so got a bit of a different view. I really liked all the bamboo!! So pretty, blows so gently in the breeze….very softly and gently. Most of the trees still have leaves , some were starting to turn to fall colours here and there.
There was a little market/food stall place near the end. The food smelled so good! Some of it didn’t look too terribly appetizing tho. All in all, man made or whatever, it was a really interesting, entertaining and fun morning.
Back along the river again and on to the ship. We sailed just a few minutes after everyone was on board. Buffet lunch and cruising the river until around 2. Donna and I had some quiet time after lunch…..made some tea and sat on our balcony (with coats and scarves)…..was very pleasant just sitting and watching the scenery……so beautiful, almost mystical with the mist/haze hanging over the river and the mountains and cliffs. Lots of bridges! Old ones and new ones!
Three Gorges Dam this afternoon. Picked up by buses after walking thru a market selling all sorts of stuff….souvenirs, food, clothes etc…..very aggressive vendors! Tour of the Three Gorges Dam was really interesting. It is huge of course like everything else and not without a lot of controversy….. environmental, political and social issues….though of course, none of this is mentioned anywhere…but just the size of it boggles the mind! The largest hydroelectric dam in the world. We visited the information centre first where there is a great big scale model of the dam and locks. Then back out and up some mega escalators, 5 altogether….all big and one really big one (was a bit scary even looking back down). This took us to the top of Jar Mountain, so named because of the thing/building/monument, or whatever it was, that they built at the top that looks like a jar! We were able to see the ship locks from there. There are five locks but sometimes, depending on where they have the river level, the last lock is not used. The locks are HUGE. There were at least 3 or 4 ships (freighters, car carriers/ferries) in each one. There is also an “elevator” that will be in use by 2016 sometime for smaller boats, which are still pretty big. It’s a massive project and like everything else here everything that goes with the dam, such a the information centre, the viewpoints, lookouts, parks (2 or 3) etc. is big too. There are also a few towns (BIG…..1-3 million) in the area that were created for the workers, but most of them are almost empty now that the dam is mostly finished. The city on Jar Mountain has some people and they hope more will move there. There are hotels, sports stadiums, hospitals etc., most of which don’t get used. Kind of bizarre really……a lot of expensive ghost towns!
It was a bit chilly to start today and biting cold at the top of the mountain, so was good to get back down and on the bus. We stopped in a market, on the reservoir side of the dam, clothes, souvenirs, food etc. Bought some sweet potato chips (good). I think the lady may have given me a fake 5, so I bought a bunch of oranges and used that bill! Winston warned us to not buy wine or beer from vendors like this….they actually sell fake beer and wine (which I think Donna and I have already discovered!). How they fake beer, I have no idea….it looks pretty much the real stuff to me in 6 packs with the plastic holders and all!
Not a good day for pictures 😦 too dull.
The big white thing with many levels is a car ferry.
Our boat stayed at the dock for most of the evening until just before 9 when we got in line for our turn to go thru the locks. The locks are big enough to hold our boat, a small car carrier and one of the sand/rock barges, with room to spare! It took 40 minutes or thereabouts to go thru each lock.
Lots of clanking, clunking and banging going on, mostly from the boats rubbing on the side of the locks. Donna and I went down to the room and on to the balcony and touched the wall (the dry part!)….it was just right there! Managed to be on deck (very bundled up!) to go thru 3 of them but went to bed before we went thru the last one. Certainly not all the hoopla like when you go thru the Panama Canal….I don’t know why because it was really quite interesting and I think we would have enjoyed it much more if it had happened during the daylight hours, but appears commercial traffic gets priority. Regardless of all the controversy surrounding this project it really is quite amazing to see it.
Fri Nov 27 (Happy birthday Linds!)
Up early again! The breakfast was pretty good today. They had bacon(ish), beans and a potato something…..the egg guy and today a waffle guy too! Funny though….he flipped my eggs and I told him I would like them “well done”, so he gave them to the person behind me in the line up and cracked two more for me!!! Ah sigh…..but I had coffee so all was good.
Excursion today was on a smaller boat thru the Lesser Three Gorges. We went 2 hours or so one way and then back the same route. It was pretty nice. Each of the three gorge areas was just a little different. One famous place was the “3000 year old” wooden coffin in a cave up the mountain with no sign of any access. Story has it that they built a cantilevered walkway along the rock side of the mountain to get it in there and then tore it down after so no one could get to it and pillage it….hmmmm. Don’t think anything wood would last that long! Good story though.
The gorges are quite narrow with just about sheer rock walls that are fairly high…..it’s hard to imagine just how steep and deep the gorges were before the dam was built…..water level, depending on what they’re doing at the dam is 300 – 500ft higher than pre-dam.
The boats that we were one were pretty big, probably holding a couple hundred people. There was only a tiny indoor area where you really couldn’t see too much, so we stayed outside, bundled up again as it was pretty chilly on the water. Was really very pretty thru those gorges. Little villages or a house or two clinging to the side of the hills, terraced gardens and near the end/turn around point, fishing traps or weirs. There is a ferry, more like a big rowboat that is like a water taxi to take people across the river.
Chatted with some people from Bus 6…..from Argentina! Maria and Alfredo…..got some good tips on where to stay in Buenos Aires for our trip in April next year. Fun bunch but a little overbearing after a while! (DO NOT STAY IN SAN TELMO not safe at night, she says…good to know!)
We just stayed on the same side on the way back so see the other side of the gorges. We saw monkeys. Except near the turn around point, everything pretty much just clings to the sides of the mountains…..it’s very pretty going thru this area.
There always seems to be food for sale everywhere we stop…..even on the dock/pier when we get off the ship, if not a market. Loved some of the signs!!
Back on the boat around 12:30 for lunch. The lunches seem to be a little better than the dinners but still not terribly good….at least there is enough food. Spent the rest of the afternoon in the bar, watching the scenery go by. I had the one Bacardi Breezer that was in the fridge. When I went up and ordered another, it was warm so I asked if I could have a cold one and he took the bottle and put it in an ice bucket?? I asked if I could have a glass with some ice instead. Kathy from RI ordered a gimlet, which was one of the 1/2 price happy hour specials for the day, and they brought her a vodka martini with two black olives in it…..I think gimlets are gin?? We had to go up to the bar and order our drinks from a lady, who then, while you were standing there, told the guy behind the bar what you wanted (in English!). Once in a while a waiter was on the floor and would take your order but he could only take one order at a time??? Ah well…..made for an interesting afternoon! It was really an enjoyable afternoon….good to just sit and watch the scenery for the day. We did move the big screen TV that was right in the middle of the front window…..it’s for a game where you can drive the ship.
Donna went for a foot massage…..one hour….said it was great. We have been tracking our walking on her fitbit and it’s been at 10,000 minimum a day. One day it was almost 20,000!
Went for dinner around 6:45. Unfortunately the only good things were the dumplings, chicken wings (spicy) and yam rolls.
Back to the bar/lounge after for the guest talent show. Lots of fun! A couple of the buses entire groups put on a show…the best one was the ladies from Seattle….their flight was cancelled , then they showed up in Beijing without anyone there to meet them….they reinacted the whole thing…..lots of laughs. One group did tai chi and a bunch of ladies did their dancing. One group danced to a Neil Diamond song sung by one of the men (Chinese….could not speak English!!)….very good! And one of the Argentinian groups did a striptease….lol. They were actually quite rude and pushy a lot of the time on the boat….sort of taking over areas, loud etc.
Just before bed time we passed another “mega” city. Tons of new buildings, 30 – 50 stories high, all light up….not just regular lights but ones that changed colours or looked like waterfalls or zigzags or whatever they could think of. On top of one of the hills was a building that looked like St Peter’s in Rome (was probably just as big too!) with columns and all. It was lit up gold. There was some huge, like bigger than our BC Place Stadium, thing that kind of looked like an upside down satellite dish or UFO that was lit up and changed from silver to blue and back. Then we came to the massive stadium that also changed colours….blue, green, red, purple, orange etc. and a street that went up the hill that was also lit up with all different coloured lights. We passed at least one city like this every night. Margaret (from China….now lives in Seattle) said they turn the lights out as soon as the last ship goes around the bend??? There were 4 cruise ships in a row (we were #3), so only one behind us. I think I might actually believe her in that we should have been able to see the lights of that city up over the mountain, reflecting off the clouds for miles…..but all we seen was darkness behind the last boat. That is pretty ridiculous, if true!
Sat Nov 28
Up early today for our excursion to the Shibaozhai Pagoda. Breakfast was good. Apparently coffee is very expensive in China. There is no freaking way to get a cup of coffee before “early bird” coffee which is only a 1/2 hour before the dining room opens…..and today they didn’t have it because the dining room opened earlier for the excursion…..not good if you’re up at 6AM! Seriously will remember to take instant packets next time regardless of where I go!
Very pretty…..we sailed in past the pagodas. One was part way up a hill/mountain on the river and because it would have been underwater, or at least part of it, when the dam was built, they created a coffer dam around it. To get to it you walk thru the town/city of Shenbao, where there are tons of vendors selling anything and everything. Shirl and I found some cute pajamas we really like and tried to do some bargaining. We thought we were going to get 2 pair for 60Y but she meant TWO PIECES….lol. Top and bottom, not two pair. Winston was trying to help us but suggested we just keep moving on to the pagoda and try again on the way back (when the ships are going to be leaving as well as any profit!!).
The walkway or boulevard to the pagoda was also lined with vendors selling the same stuff. Mostly scarves, jammies and really cute sweaters. Once you’ve walked thru the town and all the vendors you come to a bridge, sort of a suspension type, that will get you to the pagoda. It’s all very pretty. The pagoda was built right into the rock. All the grounds around it have been preserved by the coffer dame, which is what you walk on to get there. There are supposed to be 99 steps to the top of the pagoda…..not sure there are quite that many but definitely a lot of them. They’re very steep, small wooden steps, so you need relatively strong legs to get up. You can tell the stairs are old by the way they’ve been made. We (Loyanne, Donna and I) made it all the way to the top. There was also a stone set of stairs that you could go up with a chain for a railing. It was even more steep than the wooden ones. Once at the top there is the temple that has 3 chapels…not sure exactly what you’d call them, the rice cave and the duck cave, each with their own story. It’s a Buddhist temple but parts of it looked Hindu. No monks anymore, just a couple more vendors selling the same stuff the ones below sell. I did by a pillow cover….very pretty with mostly gold, some black figures and a red circle. The views from the top are pretty nice. You get a view of the bridge, the town, the river and all the ships tied up in port.
To get back down you take the new, wide and easy to use, stairway. Getting back to the ship you have to walk the same way you came in thru all the vendors. I bought a very pretty scarf for 60Y, thought I’d done OK until another vendor offered exactly the same scarf for 25Y!! Oh well, I like it and I guess that’s what really counts. I was trying to take a picture of some strange fungus that was for sale and the guy that was selling it came running up to me and tried to stuff a piece of orange in my mouth!! Ewwww. We did buy some oranges, which are really good. We had started to see orange groves on the hillsides as we’re getting closer to Chongqing. So juicy and sweet….we almost wondered if they hadn’t been injected with orange juice! It’s really easy to be skeptical of everything after you hear some of the stories…..
At the market….so just what would one do with the nose? The good part I guess is that absolutely nothing gets wasted!
Caught up with Neil and Shirl for the rest of the walk back. Neil bought some “silver” US coins…..against the advice of Winston….but he thought he was getting a deal. Seen a lot of others selling the same ones. Hopefully he didn’t get ripped off. Shirl and I found the same jammie person and proceeded to bargain with her again. She still wouldn’t take our 2 pair for 60….offered us 2 for 70 but after all that we didn’t think they’d fit after holding them up to our hips! They were size XXL!! She didn’t have any XXXL so we kept going. Another vendor said she did have XXXL. I tried them on OVER my jeans to make sure they fit and they seemed to be OK so we offered her 2 pair (or 4 pieces!) for 60….which she wouldn’t take either, she wanted 80…..told her the other lady up the street was 35 per pair…..she said BUT these had more material so were more expensive…lol Not a terribly good way to make a sale! We ended up paying 80, which was OK. We did have a lot of fun.
Just before getting on the ramp/walkway or whatever you wanted to call it (very wibbly sheets of metal laid against more floaty things….only in China!) there were people washing their clothes in the river….yuck. I thought they were staged for our benefit but then saw more people doing the same thing a little further along around a bend.
Oops! I guess upside down doesn’t matter as long as there is one!
Back on the ship by 10ish and we headed to the bar after all the excitement! Had a Breezer at 10:45!!! Called Linds to wish her happy birthday (it’s 7PM yesterday at home….so she was at dinner with some friends). Fun to talk all the way from China!
a “snack” from the bar to go with our drinks……not too bad but definitely strange tasting!
Lunch buffet was good today. Had a special counter with someone making noodles and ground pork in a really tasty broth. Some of the things in the buffet had strange names such as “chicken gristle” for one.
After lunch Donna, Shirl and Loyanne went to see the movie, The Last Emperor, They said it was good. Dave and Neil were napping. I enjoyed some quiet time….reading, journaling and watching the scenery. Was quite pleasant outside so sat out there for a while.
Off to Captains Farewell Dinner at 6:30. It was a “special sit down dinner” not buffet…..which was too bad!! The captain made a speech and then they had some door prizes for people that filled in the favorite crew cards. Dave and Loyanne’s name was drawn….they won a cell phone holder. They sang happy birthday to a few people. Winston found out it was Neil and Shirl’s 43rd anniversary so gave them one of the little snuff bottles that the guy was painting in the ship store. It said 43 and then long life and happiness……very nice of him to do that.
Dinner was absolutely the worst yet!! Dishes included……one smaller than a normal small PIZZA with cheese and green peppers cut into 10 slices, French fries, beef and bok choy (only really good thing but as usual, not enough….someone took most of the beef!), deep fried prawns (one each) on a bed of frozen corn, braised celery with “cashnuts” (10 cashews), a sticky rice packet with a bone with no meat on it in the middle, tomato soup….broth of some sort with chopped up tomatoes, thinly slice beef which we decided was tongue based on the texture. Dessert was one piece of cake each and a plate of cantelope and cherry tomatoes! Luckily there were buns available where the buffet usually was. We think they had ran out of food for the buffet and basically put together a dinner with whatever they had left in the fridge!
After dinner I finished packing and then up to the bar. Had a Breezer that was in the fridge this time. Sat with the Mexi family and RI people.
Good day….fun day and quite nice weather wise….definitely warmer here.
Sun Nov 29 (end of cruise)
Had to be off the boat by just after 8 this morning. Settled up our bills last night…..mine was 646Y which is probably around $160CDN (had to pay extra for the Water Village excursion for Donna and me), not too bad really.
The good and the bad……
rooms good
breakfast buffet good
room steward(ess) very good
food was really hit or miss….more miss than hit!
excursions were excellent
bar service was hit or miss and just kind of silly to us
no coffee until just a 1/2 hour before breakfast
Not quite the cruise experience that you’d normally get if you are used to Princess or even Carnival, but hey…..where we were and what we saw made up for all things lacking.
Watched them bringing on all the new supplies….mostly vegetables, some meat. It is all amazing that the only way to get this stuff on board the ship is by “Coolies” (sounds terrible but that is what we were told they’re still called!) walking from the end of the pier to the ship with this stuff loaded on their backs or on the end of their sticks on their backs. Definitely back breaking labour! The chefs were out there weighing things and taking inventory I guess.
This was a tour…..a cheap tour! ($2100CDN including taxes) One that we had second thoughts about because the price just seemed to good to be true. After reading reviews and going to the agency to check it all out we booked it. It was late November so we went knowing that the price also reflected that the weather could be iffy….not unlike our Vancouver weather at that time of year. 15 Day Dream of China tour. It was Beijing, Xi’an, 5 day Yangtze River cruise, Suzhou and Shanghai, 3 domestic flights, all entrance fees and all food. It also included, besides the 6 of us traveling together, 23 other people on Bus 2 (of 6). We pretty much knew what to expect “group tour” wise and weren’t disappointed nor were we disappointed in the trip itself! It was really a great trip to an incredibly interesting country with a fascinating culture and history! Will do this journal in three parts……
Wed Nov 18
We did a selfie at the airport and sent it to Linds and the girls at work. (Donna and I worked together and have been friends for 35 years….I retired in May 2015, she was still working when we went on this trip).
While we were having breakfast at the airport Neil and Shirl and Dave and Loyanne all arrived. Met up and off thru security. I, as usual, got picked for a random check. Had the choice of a pat down or going thru the fancy xray machine. Can’t take your stuff with you to the machine, so I opted for the pat down….no issues.
On the plane loading up. Donna and I had seats together which was good. We were pretty close to the back of the plane (China Eastern Airbus A330). Row 70 of 75, seats J & L….I have the window 🙂 Left the gate a little early….just before 12 noon. Take off was good…..out over the water so headed in the right direction! Seats are OK. Not sure I’d refer to the legroom as “above average” but good enough.
Dinner/lunch was served pretty well right after we leveled off. Choice of “chicken rice” or “seafood noodle”……had the chicken. Actually pretty good with teriyaki sauce, rice and veg. Had the red wine to go with it….pretty yucky. The meal came with a piece of cake, a bun, coleslaw with a big shrimp and a little Kit Kat bar.
At some point during the flight we changed to tomorrow! Beijing is 16 hours ahead of Vancouver.
Thurs Nov 19/Fri Nov 20
It’s still the same day to me! Long, long flight (just about 14 hours) but was OK considering. Did manage to sleep a couple of hours here and there. We flew up the coast, not directly out over the Pacific. Over Alaska, Russia, Siberia….maybe Mongolia too. I really enjoyed looking out the window at the different landscapes along the way. The flight attendents were constantly coming along and telling people to close their blinds because…..”sleep now”….it was like 4 in the afternoon for us at that point!!
Breakfast we had the choice of congee (sp?) or eggs…..chose the eggs! OK, just regular plane food.
Arrived in Shanghai on time…..8PMish, I think….really had no idea of the time at that point. After customs, everyone went right thru security again and on to the gate for our flight to Beijing. Had a few hours to kill so found a restaurant/bar and had beers and G & T’s.
No problems going through security there…other than the umbrella! The flight to Beijing was good….a little less than 2 hours, most of which I managed to sleep!
Arrival was good but a little chaotic…..luggage from 3 planes on the same carousel. It was well after midnight by then. 12:01AM China time Nov 20, 6AM (Nov19) Vancouver time. Have lost a day just in travel and time zones. A ton of people on these tours! Lots of different buses. Finally collected all the people and luggage for our bus and arrived at the Loong Palace at 1:30AM.
What a HUGE hotel!! Looked nice in the dark. It was an incredibly long day(s) and I’m glad we won’t do this again on the way home.
Our tour guide is Winston. They did a bit of a tour change……..we’re going to the Great Wall tomorrow because it’s supposed to snow the next day. Will do Tiananmen (sp?) and Forbidden City then.
So tired, can’t see straight enough to write anymore….
Fri Nov 20
Up at 7AM. Very “hung over” feeling even though I didn’t have anything to drink! Jetlag? Very long day yesterday, or whatever day it was….
The lobby is a mile away from the rooms! Down for breakfast around 8. NO HOT COFFEE!! Buffet was pretty typical except with the addition of various Chinese dishes like noodles, rice, congee etc. There was a “Muslim Food” section but had bacon in with the potatoes……shouldn’t have laughed really but was kind of funny!
On the bus at 9:15 to the Great Wall…..in the snow!! It started a bit earlier than predicted! It was about an hour drive north…..still kind of in Beijing, Badaling area/section. Traffic was horrendous! Snow was coming down pretty good but as we got closer to Badaling we caught glimpses of the wall through the snow, buildings and fences.
Very touristy up there. Buses parked quite far from the entrance…..15-20 minute walk in the snow. Shops, a museum, coffee shops etc. along the way.
Very pretty though with the snow and I think it was really quite an opportunity to see it like that. Unfortunately the visability was minimal so could really only see about 3 or 4 sections and the towers between them. The wall walkways were very, very slippery. It was OK for me because I had good tread on my boots, not so for many others. Other than Loyanne none of us ventured beyond the first tower. People were slipping and sliding going up and down so just not worth breaking a leg or an arm going further. They were falling and then, because it was icy too, just sliding down out of control, taking out anyone in their path. Was quite entertaining to watch really! Most people ended up on their bums either on purpose, because they’d fallen or someone had wiped them out. Found a good, safe, out of the way place to enjoy the beauty of it and take a few pictures. Quite magical really!
Had some time to kill so went and got HOT coffee and then used the washrooms….checking first to make sure they weren’t all the hole in the floor models!!
Next stop was a Cloisonne factory. Had a quick tour to show how they make it before lunch (there). Very interesting and intricate work…..very pretty. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/clos/hd_clos.htm
Lunch was OK….noodles, rice, chicken, spring rolls (1 each!) sort of sweet and sour pork….but not sure if there was enough for everyone. There are 29 of us on our bus so our bus group was sat at 3 tables of 10. Whatever food was put on the table was what you got…..if someone took too much, someone else didn’t get any….especially the meat! (Food is very subjective, right?. We were prepared for whatever as we had read in the reviews that the food varied from trip to trip…some people saying there was a ton of it, it was great, others said not enough, not good, too “Americanized”, some suggested packing cup a soup/noodles for snacks later!) What we did have was good…just not enough.
Cloisonné shopping after lunch. I bought a blouse!! Cute Chinese style with toggle buttons and some cloisonné Christmas ornaments. They offered to convert our purchases to Canadian dollars…..no, thank you! Exchange rate is often higher and regardless of which currency, it still goes through the credit cards a yuan first, so almost like two conversions happen. Found this out the hard way years ago on a cruise!
Snow was coming down quite heavy…..traffic was worse. Our next stop was the 2008 Olympic venues back in Beijing. The birds nest stadium and the “Ice Cube”, which was the water sports centre. There are also two towers, one called the “5 nails” and the other with the Olympic circles. Donna, Loyanne and I did the plaza walk. Just after 4PM and everything was starting to light up. It was bloody cold by then…..and the wind was whipping up too, making it even colder. Pretty though with the lights and the snow. We walked to the end of the plaza and back…..took about an hour. Was pretty impressive really. The birds nest is huge. The plaza was filled with tourists, most of which were Chinese people. Winston, our tour leader/guide, said seeing this is very important to Chinese people…..they are very proud of what their country did for the Olympics.
Next we were off to dinner at a restaurant that was very similar to the place we had lunch. It was OK but not all that impressive….Americanized again. One of our tables ordered Peking duck….which was brought to the table and carved by the waiter…quite a show was put on. Again, not a lot of food. You do get a drink with meals…..a glass of beer or coke….but only one! No coffee or tea….not even green tea!
Back to the hotel just after 7. We all headed to the bar for a drink or 2. Lots of fun talking about everything we saw and did today. Fantastic really….you can’t beat seeing the Great Wall in the snow! Drinks are NOT cheap here.
Too bed very early for me….9:30.
Sat. Nov 21
Didn’t sleep too bad. Woke up a couple of times then finally just stayed up at 5:30 (wrote in journal….no coffee makers in the rooms….argh!) .
Off early today 8:15. Long day. Tiananmen Square etc. and a rickshaw ride!
Breakfast at the hotel….coffee is NOT hot….if there is any!! Had to wait for what seemed like forever! Must remember to bring some packets of instant next time…better than nothing and there was always HOT water for tea. They do have an omelet station but I didn’t have one. They also fry up a bunch of eggs and keep them in a warm pan so they’re done just right….were quite good and not mushy like the scrambled eggs.
We were on road by 8:30. T Square was our first stop. To get to the square you have to go thru security checks ??? One of the guards was hassling our guide over something…..one of the women in our group, Margaret from Seattle, who is Chinese, told us it was all for show because we were tourists from America….maybe so?? You have to walk thru underground walkways to get to it, then along the street and thru another security check. The square is HUGE/MASSIVE. Chairman Mao’s tomb is in one of the buildings….that building too is massive, almost ridiculously so. There are quite a few monuments, including the big one in the middle that recognizes all the people of China. Besides the tomb, the square is surrounded by huge buildings, perhaps government offices, flying flags and most covered with red and yellow banners. There are a ton of street lights in the square each with 5 or 6 or more cameras on them. There is NO reference anywhere to the massacre that took place here in 1989…….ironically Tiananmen means “gate of heavenly peace”.
It was sooooo cold walking across there I swore my fingertips were going to fall off! I was also amazed at the number of people…..lots of tourists of course but many people just sort of congregate to socialize/pay respects etc.
At the end of the square there is a building with a big picture of Mao, which is the entrance to the Forbidden City. Thru security again, which was a bit of joke…..there were so many people they couldn’t have possibly checked everyone. There were at least 2, or even 3, people at a time walking through the scanners, which just beeped continually. They didn’t stop anyone.
Shirl and Winston
Once inside, it was pretty incredible. Just the size of it, bright colours and the elaborate decorations are unreal. https://www.chinahighlights.com/beijing/forbidden-city/ Virtually impossible to capture the size of the place in a picture…..or the decadence. The weather also did not help for picture quality! You don’t know which way to look! Statues, pots (for plants?), dragons, swans etc. and gardens that I’m sure are beautiful in spring and summer. Huge stairways. There are outer courtyards, inner courtyards, the palace, all in all over 8,000 rooms.
The only building that was open….not to go in, only to look in….was the emperors bedroom. It is all just amazing. We went through just about the entire place, which took over 2 hours. Very cold….mixed rain, ice and snow the entire time we were wandering around. Donna’s fitbit has already registered over 10,000 steps and we weren’t anywhere near finished for the day. We went out thru the back (?) entrance….very pretty, lots of trees, beautiful building, shops and the moat that still surrounds it which was actually very pretty with the misty, sleety weather.
There were so many people though….Winston said probably at least 50,000 and in the summer that number would more than double on any day. I think half of the 50,000 had umbrellas, which was a bit challenging while wandering around (we had our rain ponchos) Bad, bad hair day!!
Lunch….was good but again not enough, at least for the men. After lunch we went to the Temple of Heaven. Another amazing example of Chinese architecture and history. A really beautiful park area with a big Pagoda in the centre and some museum buildings surrounding it. There are a number of covered walkways that local people, mostly retired (men can retire at 60 and women at 55), congregate at. That’s where they do their socializing as opposed to going to each others houses/apartments. They play checkers and cards, have tea and chat. There was another group that had put together a choir….they practiced there every day. It was pretty neat. They socialize outside, even all winter, because their houses aren’t very big or too many people live with them. They can meet with more friends at the same time this way. They are certainly a hardy bunch!! It was freezing.
Next was our rickshaw ride in the old Beijing area of Hutong. Loved it there! We were in rickshaw #38. You get tucked in pretty good with a nice warm blanket for your legs. Once he started pedaling though the wind froze your face and head! What a neat area Hutong is!! Little alleyways full of houses, shops, bars etc. Was historically also where the opium dens used to be.
It’s next to a pretty lake. It would have been great to be able to walk around there…..but such as tours go, we were on a schedule! We stopped part way through and walked a bit to visit a local family in their “typical” home. It’s sort of a courtyard affair with 3 or 4 separate buildings around it. The family (grandparents, parents, kids etc.) usually all live there. Kitchen and dining room (with a big screen TV!) is one building, the others are basically bedrooms. Very tiny little kitchen but only one person does the cooking….usually Grandma. They have chickens running around and various outbuildings for storing food. Had a garden too but all had been harvested by this time of year.
Back on the rickshaw thru a maze of alleys that were fun and interesting to see. Lots of chickens, little shops set up in front of peoples houses/courtyards…selling food (lots of chestnut stands)
or flea market type stuff, cars (some rather fancy ones) bicycles galore, carts of all shapes and sizes and of course motorcycles.
Finished the rest of the tour thru Hutong and back to where we started. Was a really fun experience. Was very interesting to see how they lived….based on things Winston has told us, and Margaret, I’m becoming a bit of skeptic when it comes to what “normal life” here is…..could some of it be staged for our benefit??
Dinner was bizarre!! A restaurant at the Ramada Inn, but instead of our tables being IN the restaurant, we were pretty much right in the middle of the lobby! They left the doors open….for what reason, who knows. The waitstaff wore coats with aprons over them!! It was pretty ridiculous really. We kept getting up and closing the doors. The real restaurant was up a couple of steps from where we were. Food was pretty well the same as what we’ve been having everywhere else. I was hoping that there would be a bit of variety, but no. Donna thought she’d buy a bottle of wine from the restaurant because it was cheaper than buying it by the glass at the hotel. Much confusion!!! She picked out a bottle, which they bagged for her (turned out to be a 2009!! Not the one she actually picked out! We tried it but absolutely not drinkable….ah sigh.)
After dinner we took a drive by the Olympic Park to see it all lit up. Pretty nice! The Ice Cube/watersport centre changes colours, the sides kind of look like bubbles. It was interesting driving back in the dark looking down some of the smaller side streets.
The city is an incredible mix of old, ancient, art deco-ish, modern and ultra-modern. Some things are just a strange mix side by side…..other things are just foreign to us, like squatty potties….haven’t had to use one yet and will try to avoid at all costs, or you walk into a little store with gold plated ceiling and a massive chandelier but everything else in it is a mess…shelves half falling down, dirty cracked floors etc. They build big beautiful buildings with grand gardens and statues but don’t bother with any upkeep. At our hotel, which has a big beautiful garden with tumbled over statues and green stagnant water in ponds that had some fountains going, others not, there are two huge bowl-like planters on the driveway, they’re at least 10ft across, filled with dead, and now snow covered, summer plants still in them. One of the bowls is tilted a bit, probably hit by a car!? There’s a big fountain in the courtyard, probably 25-30ft tall but the pinecone top thing has tipped over and they’ve just left it that way. I hope lots of the pictures I’ve taken from the bus turn out. The best pictures ever……every day life on the streets/down alleys is so fascinating to me.
Every traffic light and a lot of the street lights, especially at major intersections, have cameras on them…..about 10 of them facing each direction. Not sure if they are for traffic or for spying on people!
To the bar for a nightcap…..was 1/2 price happy hour but too tired to take advantage of it! To bed a bit later tonight. Very tired after a long, chilly but fascinating day!
Sun Nov 22
Bizarre, crazy day…..will begin with the normal part……
Up early again but we didn’t have to leave until 9:30. We did have to have our checked bag out in the hallway by 8AM for loading on the bus. Breakfast was good…..there was lots of HOT coffee! It was snowing….A LOT!
Our first stop was at the pearl farm. Interesting little bit of info on pearls and a short video, then shopping. They certainly weren’t very pushy, which was good, but not what we were expecting. The place was packed….many tour buses in the parking lot. If they pulled a tray out for you to look at, you had about 30 seconds to make your pick, if you didn’t make a decision quickly, they’d whip the tray away and move on to someone else……didn’t need that bracelet anyway! Everything was pretty expensive, definitely catering to tourists…on buses!
The snow was really coming down when we left and headed for the Summer Palace. I think this has been my favorite spot so far! Absolutely beautiful and more so in the snow. There is a really nice park surrounding it. Lots of trees…..beautiful willows, weeping right into the water of the lake. A big pagoda at the entrance gate that you go through that opens onto the lake and another pagoda on a little jut of land into the lake. The temple (Buddhist) is up on the hillside partway around the lake. It looked surreal in the snow! Many photo ops here…..the canal with little bridges, the bamboo forest, then way around the lake, you can walk along a path, supposedly 7km, out onto a big bridge that goes to a little island out in the middle of the late. All of it manmade for the “Dragon Lady” who was the mother of the last Emperor (the movie). We walked on the covered walkway on the right side…walls and ceiling covered in artwork that took 20 years and many artists to complete.
Many, many willow trees that look very pretty around all the buildings and quite magical in the snow. Would have loved to spend a lot more time there…..so much to see and so many places to wander and be awed by the views in every direction. Was beautiful today in the snow but would love to see it some day in the summer when everything is in bloom.
Off to lunch…..very interesting restaurant today! After going through these heavy plastic or whatever hanging things over the doors (kind of like the matts at the gym!!) it was like walking into a country and western bar/restaurant. All the railings had chuckwagon wheels, checkered tablecloths and ranchy/farm type decorations everywhere…..oh boy we thought….burgers! Nope, was Chinese and pretty much the same stuff we’ve had the other days. It was kind of a fun place though….spent lots of time just looking around at everything….and they had good, clean bathrooms!
After lunch we visited a tea house. Fun! I liked it there…..very clean and orderly shop. We went upstairs where they demonstrated how to make and pour tea properly. We tried 4 or 5 different ones. The first one was oolong. All the teas are natural so no caffeine (?). All were interesting and quite good. It’s very important that the water temp is correct! Too hot is not good…..water is boiled but then left to cool a bit. I bought 2 different kinds. One was the fruity kind…..all diced and dried fruit (apricots, berries) and rose buds! I don’t like sweet tea but this was really quite good and would make an excellent iced tea for the summer.
Bought a tea mug for Linds that changes picture/colour when you pour in the hot water….cute. And a little “pee pee boy” ……this helps you tell if the water is the right temperature for your tea. It’s red clay and you soak it in water so that the little hole in the penis fills up with water…..when you pour your hot water for tea on the little guy, if it’s the right temperature, he will pee! Cute too…..think the grandkids will get a kick out of it.
Then the not so normal…..
From the tea shop it was directly to the airport. It was snowing a lot more by then and getting colder by the minute so the snow was really sticking. Traffic to the airport was a mess…..also rush hour (not really sure that you can distinguish a difference here though….it seems like it’s always rush hour!) When we arrived we found that a bunch of flight were delayed and/or cancelled. Ours wasn’t even on the board yet. We were issued boarding passes but with no gate assigned. Had a some time to kill before we had to meet back up with Winston so headed to a restaurant more snacks and drinks. Back at the desk, he didn’t have anymore details, other than what we had seen, which was the flight was on the board but showing as delayed, still no gate #. He told us to keep checking and to meet again either at the gate if it was going to go, or if it showed up as cancelled back at the desk. If still showing delayed to meet again….or send someone to get the info…..at 8PM (our flight was supposed to depart at 7)!
Back to a different restaurant where we ordered beer and wine. Met up there with the 2 couples from Rhode Island and proceeded to go through a lot more beer! Someone kept going out every 15 min or so to check the board for a gate and boarding time. At just after 7:30 it popped up with gate 67 and boarding at 8! Hooray we thought! At the gate an announcement came on telling us it was now delayed, then about 10 minutes later another one telling us it was now cancelled. Not all 6 buses were flying…..a couple had gone via highspeed train earlier in the day, lucky them assuming there were no issues with the trains. There were enough of us at that gate plus all the non-tour passengers too to cause a lot of chaos. Winston and the other tour guides tried to keep everything and everyone as organized as possible….they did a pretty darn good job considering! We all (the tour groups at least) were herded out of the airport outside (really snowing and really cold!) to wait for buses. It took what seemed like forever. There were other tour buses, shuttle buses from various hotels and a zillion people. A bus from the “Super 8” hotel pulled up and we were told to get on. It was a little bus that only held about 10 people!! So a mad scramble. Some of our group managed to get on it, but most of us were left in the line(ish). We finally managed to get on the second to last bus…..was way past 11PM by then. Patience, patience. I think they said 300 flights (!), coming and going, had been cancelled and were continuing to be cancelled….that makes for a lot of people hanging around outside the airport. Eventually arrived at the “Super 8” hotel (just about midnight by then) to find that our RI friends and the Mexican family had managed to get rooms but now it was full……I was secretly wishing bedbugs on them at that point…lol!!
We ended up being bused to another hotel….or MOT L (E was burnt out!). Was a little worried at first. The lobby, which was very cold, temp wise and very unaesthetically appealing (really bright lights, industrial mishmash of chairs, rather dirty tile floor…fair enough it was snowing and there were a LOT of people…. bars on windows etc.) was full of tour people and some Armenian (?) business people……all yelling! Chinese people yelling, Armenian people yelling….at each other… in their own languages!! Not sure how effective it was. Tour guides were trying to get a word in edgewise regarding accommodation for their groups…tour people and guides were all looking quite exhausted….it was well after midnight and everyone just wanted to sleep. Finally, finally, we got a room! The MOT L looked like it might have been an army barracks at some point in it’s life. The room was actually really good! It had all been redone to look like sort of a boutique hotel. It had comfy beds with nice puffy comforters and pillows. BUT….NO HEAT! It was freezing. The window looked out onto another hallway. The floors were marble or tile so cold too. It was really clean, which was all that really mattered.
Donna and I both crawled into our beds half dressed. We had no idea what time we had to be up or if we were even going to be able to leave in the morning.
Monday Nov 23
Wake up call at 4:45. Donna hopped in the shower, I went looking for coffee, only to see the buses loading up! Mad rush at that point to get going….no breakfast, no coffee or anything. Winston had got us booked on the 7AM flight to Xi’an. He is such a good tour guide even through all the chaos last night…he made sure all 29 of his group had somewhere to sleep and had managed to get us on one of the first flight out this morning! Good job…..even though no coffee!!
Our flight (China Eastern) was an hour late leaving because of the back up from all the cancellations and delays yesterday. As we were taking off the sun came out!! Flight was an hour and a half. “Breakfast” was served….a very dry bun with fish of some sort in the middle, yogurt, pickled veg salad and congee…..NO BLOODY COFFEE!! Just water. Overall was pretty crappy.
Xi’an is supposed to be warmer because it’s a bit further south but it was mixed rain and snow. Xi’an has 9 million people! Lots of new highrise apartments…..like really lots!! They use coal but we also saw what looked like nuclear silos. There are so many new buildings it’s hard to believe anyone will ever live in half of them. Lots of traffic of course, which includes scooters, bicycles, funny little 3 wheeled trucks (sort of like tuks tuks). You see whole families on scooters! Little trucks with wooden sides filled with men/women….maybe for work? Way more here than we saw in Beijing. A local tour guide joined us for the hour long bus ride. She talked about how the terracotta warriors were found and the Emperor that had them made. She also talked a lot about the other various dynasties but in all honesty I think most of our group were dozing thru the whole talk. It was interesting but a little too much to process after last night….and no coffee this morning. Our first stop was NOT the hotel.
We were off to lunch at the Terracotta Museum where they make replica warriors, emperors and captains and horses. Lunch was a huge big buffet on the 3rd floor of the museum building. Still Americanized Chinese but with some different dishes….still no coffee! So I had a beer, what the hell eh?!! The 2nd floor was art and furniture. The first was all the terracotta stuff with some demonstrations of how they made miniature warriors etc. using the original method that was used to make the real ones. Very interesting! I bought a warrior for 140Y (about $40 CDN). The detail on these is incredible. I was wandering around and found…..a coffee bar!! I had a cappuccino.
Off to see the warriors! So exciting….this was one of the main highlights of this trip for me. Who would have thought that I’d actually get to see this place?? The site is massive. It was a 1km+ walk from the bus and then the site itself, if you manage to visit everything it is another 2 or 3km of walking. There are 3 separate building for the warriors and horses and another for the chariots. #1 building is the original site where they were found. It’s set up really well so you can walk all the way around. The front part is all the warriors and their horses and even wagons/carts in rows. They have taken great care to rebuild/restore them properly…..which was good to know! It was pretty amazing to be able to see this! They are still doing excavations at site #1 so you could watch some of the work they were doing. At the back end there was what they called the “warrior hospital”. You could see how they were painstakingly rebuilding the warriors and horses. The detail on everyone of them is incredible. Each one is different and unique, since they are replicas of real warriors, so it is like putting together a bunch of giant jigsaw puzzles where someone kind of threw all the pieces together and you have to sort out which pieces go with which puzzle. There were piles of bits and pieces, all numbered just waiting to be put on the warrior they belonged too. Many of the warriors were pretty much intact but still quite a few with bits missing…..probably in those piles somewhere.
Building #2 is the second site found. There wasn’t as much to see there other than rows of the dirt and more digging and excavation work…..and more bits and pieces. How and when they are ever going to put all this together seems quite formidable.
We were advised to skip building #3 because there wasn’t much to see there yet…..smaller site and still a work in progress, nor did we go to the mausoleum. We did go to the Exhibition Hall that holds beautiful bronze statues of warriors, captains, horses chariots. One of the chariots was for the guy who was like the police chief or head of security. The other was the Emperors…it was smaller and all closed up except for a few slits that he could see out of. He had a bunch of different ones so people wouldn’t know which one he was going to use…..he was quite the tyrant so lots of people wanted to get rid of him. There is also a little movie that tells about the Qin dynasty. Very interesting!
The whole site is a park, which was very well tended, even at this time of year….would probably be quite lovely in spring and summer. We all met up at the gift store/coffee shop at 4:30. I had another coffee….Americano with extra hot water….a bit of a challenge language wise but it all worked out!
Long walk back to the bus through a market/shopping area with lots of sourvenir stores. Very cold but not snowing/sleeting/raining…..certainly felt and looked like it could any minute.
Off to dinner……took almost 2 hours to get there. It was so fascinating driving thru the city in rush hour. Traffic lights don’t mean too much….they are simply a “suggestion”. Cars, carts, bikes, moped, pedestrians….everywhere and going in every direction regardless of which side of the road or the colour of the traffic lights. It had started to snow/rain by then so people had umbrellas attached to their bikes and scooters. Some had proper covers on them. Looking down the side streets was so interesting….lots to see. Stores, stands selling fruit (white pomegranites!), cook food, soup, noodles etc. People, anyone….seems to set up big pots or woks on the sidewalks selling whatever they were cooking.
The place we went for dinner was huge big beautiful hotel….not ours…..have no clue though which one….was right across the street from one of the entrances to the ancient walled city. Big staircases, mega chandeliers, huge pots of plants and some very elaborate floral displays. Dinner was a buffet, which included soups and noodles made to order and ALL the beer you could drink. We had our fair share even though everyone was pretty tired. Excellent food and by far the best meal/buffet we’ve had so far……could the food be getting better?? Pinched a couple of instant coffee packets!
Winston told us our hotel was a 10 minute drive…..not quite! Close to an hour to get there…..10PM! Hotel is the Holiday Inn Xi’an Big Goose Pagoda. Also huge and beautiful. We had room 710….very nice room, comfy beds and everything, like the lights and TV, worked…bonus! Sent Linds an email for her birthday just in case we don’t get internet/wifi on the boat. Facebook is blocked in China….unless you have VPN, which John, the guy from Delta, said he could help with….not sure if I’ll bother though.
Tues Nov 24
Wake up call at 7 but both Donna and I were up around 6. Slept great…..lucky I brought the coffee packets from the other hotel because the ones there already had the cream and sugar in it! This hotel had the best breakfast buffet yet. Bacon….so exciting and HOT coffee and lots of it! Had scrambled eggs with spring onion…..made to order, really hot and very tasty. Luggage had to be outside our door by 8. They took it directly to the airport for us so we won’t see it again until be get on board the boat.
It will be nice to stay in the same place for 5 nights! This is the problem with these kinds of tours…..even without snowstorms. I was really sorry we only had one night at the Holiday Inn….it was pretty darn nice and we should have been there the day before but oh well, not much we can do about it.
On the bus by 9 to go and see the Big Goose Pagoda. Didn’t get to go in but wandered around for an hour so. Nice park and a big wide avenue with lots of statues and trees. the park is surrounded by restaurants, souvenir stands and lots of vendors selling toys and kind of junky stuff. Quite a nice day….so far. Chilly but brighter and no rain/snow.
Off to the Jade factory. I didn’t really listen to the spiel and just wandered around the shop instead….was not in the market for anything, but some very lovely stuff. All the jade, good quality of whatever, was really ridiculously expensive. I did buy 3 small pictures with the Chinese characters for longevity, good health and fortune (at least I think that’s what they say!) Spent way too much time there to me.
Then headed for the airport for the buffet lunch and all the beer you want! Lunch buffet was good, not very big but enough variety.
Driving around Xi’an, or Beijing for that matter, is really an incredible experience. It is hard for me, or probably most people from North America, to understand how people can live like they do here….we really are spoiled! Kind of like Mexico or Jordan I guess….you get used to what you have. Huge modern buildings right next to old dilapidated ones, some in such a state that you can’t tell if they are new ones being built and have just been left as is, or old ones being torn down. Most newer apartments have, or had, balconies but they have been closed in to make more living space. Terribly messy store fronts with a mishmash of businesses side by side, tacky storefronts with bronze lions on either side of the door but cracked or boarded up windows….etc. etc. Not really a lot of “garbage” garbage just a lot of junk and stuff! Sidewalks with big chunks missing, or heaved with lots of cracks….Winston says they aren’t very good at repairing things!! And no one complains about it! Supposedly the city wouldn’t fix it anyway…..they say it’s the responsibility of the shop/building owner and the owners say it’s the cities so it just stays as is. Once it was dark you could see in the windows of some buildings and most had only bare lightbulbs or fluorescent bulbs, ….but big screen TV’s. Lots of laundry of course and because most windows have bars or some sort of a bar contraption on them, even food gets stored outside (take advantage of whatever space you can find) There are big empty lots full of bricks, water and garbage (real garbage). A lot of buildings old and new that are just empty shells. It does look like they start to do things and then never finish or build big beautiful things but don’t look after them. Or build really tacky things and then try to fill them with big expensive (looking?) things like chandeliers and statues. This is not bad, it is just different…..I find it all amazing and incredibly interesting. Truly, travel does open your eyes!
After lunch we went thru security…..who did not want to see my umbrella, or iPad, or anything in my bag this time but I did get a pat down. Xi’an airport is very big and very nice.
Flight was just over one hour….very bumpy the entire time. Very beautiful seeing all the rice paddies enroute.
Wuhan is a huge city of 14 million people. Didn’t see much, or any of it really. Because the bus ride to Yichang is 4+ hours, Winston got us KFC chicken sandwiches and fries to eat on the go. (was supposed to start our cruise in Jingzhou but river was too low so had to move an hour or two further down river to Yichang) Off to a good start, until we hit a BLIZZARD! It very rarely snows here apparently. Because of the weather the drive took closer to 5 hours…..and was quite scary really! Snow blowing, huge big trucks whipping by us. We had a big bus so all 29 of us pretty much had our own seats…..I used my bag for a pillow and managed to get in a bit of a nap. We did have a pit stop at a Chinese auto stop/store. One poor old lady working….lots of buses and trucks stopped. Terrible bathrooms, only hot things were eggs boiled in tea and a coffee vending machine…..grabbed a coffee out of it and a bag of chips.
Arrived in Yichang sometime after 10PM. Very chilly on the water and very breezy. The river IS really low….you can tell by the number of steps we had to walk down and they set up sort of gangplanks at the bottom to get on the boat….a mix of wooden and metal planks to get us to the pier/dock. Donna and I are in cabin 232. Very nice cabin with a balcony. Bathroom is a good size for a cruiseship. Big shower….storage is lacking tho. Only the closet and night table drawers. Lobby is nice, big chandelier in the centre which is open all the way up to deck 6. Lots of gold and black on the railings, big staircase. Two elevators that are glass on the waterside…..all quite lovely!
Nothing is open on the ship! No bars, no coffee, no food, nada. They said everyone is tired from traveling all day?? Except most people had slept for a couple hours on the bus. There is a kettle and a couple different kinds of tea in the room. Unpacked a bit and to bed. Looking forward to starting this cruise!
Again, not a lot of food. You do get a drink with meals…..a glass of beer or coke….but only one! No coffee or tea….not even green tea!
My Travel Journals 