Last Day of Yangzi Cruise

Our last afternoon on the Yangzte Cruise, September 28. It has been quite enjoyable—3 nice excursions (just like field trips only I didn't have to be the one counting noses). The food has been Westernized Chinese—with English labels, so one needn't eat the duck lungs by mistake, along with both Western and Chinese breakfast. We have had lots of free time just to loaf and look out our sliding glass doors or sit out on the little balcony. The weather was cloudy the first two days and some sun this morning—but not too hot. In fact last night there was a beautiful pink sunset in the gorge with the mountains piling up in shades of gray and the breeze and evening were what I would call 'soft' and just about perfect. We disembark at 9 am tomorrow and our last few days in China will be relatively easy—Holiday Inn and Sheraton and air tickets all booked. This is very good, as day after tomorrow is the National Holiday which means everything, everywhere will be completely booked up. When you have to compete with 1.3 billion others plus visitors, you have to plan ahead. Details of where we have been are on Mark's improved blog. Vicki

Our major excursion today was the Snow Jade Cave near Feng Du. (OK, I was wrong about Feng Du's location last night). 200 steps up off the river to tour buses, then a 30 minute ride out into the mountains. The cave was actually quite nice. Not as extensive as some we have seen in the states, but the various features, stalactites, etc., were very much intact and growing, plus a lot of other types of spelio-features we have never seen before. We spent the afternoon lazing around, packing, repairing, marveling at the passing scenery, now bucolic, now mountainous, now urban. Fuling looked humongous; one assumes it is another 5-10 year old city. Two huge bridges spanning the river, both under construction. The city seemed to go on for miles, 8-20 stories high as far as the eye could see.

Later in the afternoon I attended a Sichuan cooking class on board. All the usual ingredients, a chicken/peanut dish and a tofu dish, both zesty and wonderful. The first meal we had on board, ordered from the menu Thursday night, was also wonderful, Chongqing cuisine, which must be closely related to Sichuan. All the cruise meals since, although quite varied, have been extremely bland, dumbed down for the clientele, I suppose. I have tried nearly everything, although I did draw the line at “backed beans” for breakfast this morning. I must share with Viking Cruises the August Moon recipe for Sichuan cucumbers—far superior to the three kinds of cucumber salad they have served so far. Mark

Further note. The Century Star draws about two meters (according to the scale on the bow). It is 7 decks high. The rolling is fairly pronounced, IMHO. A degree of rudder produces 3-4 degrees of roll. I have experience in these matters, as I steered the smaller ferry yesterday a bit. Well, ten minutes, until they saw I was not going to be a big tipper. This puppy, the Century Star, is very top-heavy. I wonder whether we should sleep in our life jackets.

Further, further note. The engine vibration aft is really pronounced. I don't see how those poor people can sleep.

Familiar Gorge scene, printed on the 5 yuan note

As show to Vicki by the cruise director and Australian friend

Further, further, further note to Viking Cruise photographers: head-shots only. Aging, obese Canadian-Americans are not flattered otherwise. But we did buy the cruise DVD. Vicki was a major star. Mark

Two Days Before the Mast

Our first full day aboard ship, September 26, was interesting and fun. We got underway a bit later than scheduled, saw the first gorge, Xiling, and arrived at the Three Gorges Dam site by late morning. Buses took us first to the demo area and a peek at the locks, then on up to the main viewing area, done up in full contemporary Chinese fashion, huge, beautifully landscaped, monuments, fountains, observation towers, and the rest. Despite all the criticism, one can't help being impressed by the monumental scale of the undertaking. I took a picture of the provincial water resources management commission monument for my sister Carole, who works in water resource management in south Florida. Now this is a dam, Carole. After lunch, family-style with our group of independent travelers (non-tour folks), two Australian couples, one Chinese-American couple, and us, we went through the system of five locks, each raising us and three other ships about 30m at a time. It was awesome (really, awesome) watching the huge doors close and open, the rise (about a foot every 7 seconds), and so on. I guess I've just never been around anything so big..... By nightfall, we were on top, celebrating with a variety of pix from our cabin. Before dinner we attended the captain's welcome cocktail party, then dinner, then the crew talent show, including a good bit of traditional numbers. The Sichuan face-changing was particularly interesting. Our dining group is interesting and agreeable. One of the Australian couples works for Volvo in Beijing and is quite knowledgeable about China and the rest of Asia. Of course, much of the conversation bore on the ongoing financial melt-down, the American election, and so on. Everyone's watching CNN/Asia.

This morning, September 27, we cruised the middle gorge, the Wu, and then transferred to a smaller boat, and finally to motorized sampans, for exploration of the Lesser Three Gorges of the Daning River. Particularly interesting were the coffins perched high on the cliffs (well, the few the Cultural Revolution couldn't get to...), and (finally) the monkeys. By late morning the clouds had dispersed and we had a fine day, not at all warm. The Daning comes into the the Yangzi right at Wushan, a five-year-old city of 80,000. Much construction, buildings, bridges (bye-bye and hello bridges), roads, embankments, still going on. Seems like everything in China is either ancient or brand new, equally interesting, equally impressive.175m markers all over the place—marking where the river eventually will rise to...we are currently at 146m (above sea level; and perhaps 300-400 miles inland). Next was the Qutang Gorge, highest but shortest of them. After the Qutang, I got a haircut and beard-trim. Through an unfortunate miscommunication, it came out somewhat shorter than wanted. But for $7 I can wait for it to grow back. Next, and just before nightfall, came the Ghost City (abandoned now prior to the rising water) and Fengdu. We watched the sunset from the top deck and then repaired to dinner with our new friends.

The terrain through which we are passing—apart from the river, the gorges, the mountains (most under 1000m), is intensely agricultural. Terraces everywhere, groves, steps leading from the river to the tops of mountains, verdant everywhere except exposed rock (of which there is plenty). The Yangzi is impressive too—deep, wide, fast-flowing, muddy at this time of year. It is easy to see why it has been the backbone of commerce in China, and also why it has been such a killer river.

We are really enjoying the cruise—nice people, good food, great scenery—and most of all the opportunity to slow down and take it easy, particularly realizing that we will be in Nepal in just a week, in greatly changed circumstances.

Bridge construction over the Yangste

Three Gorges Dam

Packing cruise ships and others into one of the several locks

And yet another bridge under construction

Train Ride, Then--Avast!--Boat Ride

Well, today was a hoot, a day of contrasts. We departed the Minnan International Hotel at 8:30, following a two-fried egg breakfast, taxied to the humongous Zhangjiajie train station, and awaited our train, #1474 to Yichang. Conversation with a young woman in the waiting area revealed that our tickets were not for “hard seats” but rather for “standing room only.” The train was several minutes late, giving us additional time to ponder the prospect of standing all six hours to Yichang. (These were 24 yuan tickets, about $3.50 each, evidently all that was available, but about which the Minnan “travel agent” was less than straightforward).

We had our folding stools (veteran groundlings that we are) with us, but never needed them. The car we were instructed to board had plenty of sitting room, although most of the passengers attempted to take as much room as possible. We sat all the way to Yishang, although there were anxious moments at the various stops when we thought the “conductor” might figure us out and ask for our tickets. (Twenty-years' “re-education” in one of the autonomous regions.) Clearly this was a car-load of real people, relatively impoverished, no tourists, Chinese or other. But they were generous and patient; very mixed age-wise, some women with small children. Americans on trains are rare enough, I assume, and Americans in the hard seat cars probably unheard of. We needn't have worried about being questioned.

The car itself was old, not very clean, but the hard seats were actually vinyl-upholstered and not uncomfortable. Scarcely a minute passed without some concessionaire or other passing by, hawking fruit, drinks, toys, snacks, hot meals, etc. The smoking was a bit much. Vicki's description of the sanitary facilities in the preceding post was a vile slander: you could not see the tracks below. (Although a little ventilation would have been welcome).

The countryside through which we passed was mountain/valley, 99% rural and agricultural, dotted with small towns, and about six stops. Farming here is very different from what we see in the states. It is impossible to tell one “spread” from another. Plots are typically an acre or less, never anything more than a few acres, much of it too hilly or rocky to farm. Most of what we saw in the valleys was either rice or citrus, mostly the green oranges we have been enjoying, some cotton, occasional lotus, and frequent ponds for fish (or crab?) farming. In 500 km or so, we saw two tractors. Everything else was hand-tilled, an occasional water buffalo pulling the plow. There were many, many people out working the plots. Clearly, the valleys we traveled were very old and very fertile, with a very high water table: the Yangzi and its tributaries. Perhaps tractors don't work so well in the mush.

We arrived in Yishang on time, aided in our disembarcation by the conductor and fellow passengers. We waded through the touts, found a metered taxi and drove to the cruise ship dock west of town. (Yishang is 3.9 million according to our 2006 guidebook). Although we were an hour or more early, the crew let us board and settle in our cabin, #321 aboard the Century Star, on the port side, forward, sort of. Neither abaft the beam nor before the mast.

After exploring and provisioning ashore, we enjoyed a pretty good meal on-board: a tomato egg-drop soup, fried rice, for Vicki, sweet and sour pork, for me, chicken and peanuts, both done Chongqing-style (spicy!), with more sliced green onions than we have ever seen before. This is our first “cruise” ever, and we are particularly impressed to have our own balcony. We get underway at 6 AM tomorrow morning for this, the splurge part of our China trip. Today didn't start out that way.

The Century Star, our home for three days on the Yangtse

Ships under construction, waiting for the water to rise...