Thursday, March 28, 2013

This morning breakfast was 7:15 am and our excursion was 8:15 am.  We docked at Fengdu and were going to the "City of Ghosts".  

When we docked this morning we were right next to another ship.  In fact if we had been on our balcony, we could have reached across and shook hands with the people on their balconies across from us.  Needless to say, we closed our curtains.  When we got off our boat to go ashore, we had to go through their boat but they took us through the lower deck (not the passenger areas).  There was a long walk to shore and then up about 500 steps.  There were golf carts waiting on us to take us off the the "City of Ghosts".

Across the river from where we stood there was a town built with high rises.  This was the new city of Fengdu.  We were standing on top of the Old Fengdu.  It had been torn down and flooded.  They had told us that we would have to walk up 400 easy steps to get to the part we going to see.  I thought I would give it a try.  After we walked up 175 steps we got to a Pagoda that we briefly stopped at.  We were told it was going to get easier.  There was a road with a gradual incline.  Well I knew there were still more steps to climb and i was having problems breathing so I told them I was going to stay there and wait for them to come back down.  I just didn't feel I was up to the rest of the climb.  

I sat there and patiently waited and it took them almost 2 hours to come back down but by that time I was well rested and had no problems at all walking down the 175 steps.  While I was sitting there on a wall waiting on them, a Chinese woman came over by me.  I thought she was trying to get her picture made by the sign I was sitting under.  I moved over to get out of her way and she moved over next to me.  She was wanting her picture made with me.  We had been told that they liked to have their pictures made with Americans because some of them lived in very tiny towns and never saw anyone that looked like us and often thought of us as Movie Stars!  I was nice to them and posed for their picture with her.  

After we got back on the boat the River Guide gave a talk about the Yangtze River which was very good.  He said he has been working on the river boats for 10 years and had started working on them when he was 18 and didn't graduate high school or college but went to a Technical School.  His English was self taught and is very good.  

As soon as his talk was over it was time to go to lunch.  It was pretty good today but very crowded.  Since everybody was on board and there was nothing else to do, I think everybody ate at the same time.

After lunch there was a Chinese Medicine Talk and Demonstration (Acupuncture, Acupressure, and Cupping).  It was all very interesting.  They always have an Acupuncture Presentation on the big ships and I have never gone but somehow this one gets more credibility since the Dr was Chinese and it was in China!

Pat and I then went up on the top deck to enjoy the scenery.  It was nice and cool out there and not crowded.  We were just wasting time until the Embroidery and Snuff Bottle Painting Demonstration began.  I didn't realize how good this would be.  I wanted everything they had but it was all priced near the $600 mark.  The man selling the embroidery told the woman next to me to make him an offer on a piece.  The price he quoted her was $580.  I said if I made him an offer I would probably insult him.

We went back to the room to relax before the Captain's Welcome Reception.  It was to start at 6:15 pm but the Captain didn't arrive until after 6:30 pm. They gave a brief introduction of him and he spoke a few brief words -- all in Chinese.  He didn't look very old but had been working on the river for 25 years or so.  He then went around the room to all the groups and toasted them and had his picture made with them. I am not sure if my picture was taken or not but that is ok if it wasn't.  They also had refreshments but I opted out as dinner was to be served at 7:00 pm.  

We slipped out of this early so we could be first in line for dinner.  There are certain tables that are reserved for our group and it seems that we always get stuck in the table over in the corner that is hard to get out of.  We were successful in getting a better table as we were first in line.  I didn't feel like the dinner was as good tonight but they did have mashed potatoes which were good.

After dinner we looked through the gift shop which has about 5 cases of things locked up in there.  The snuff bottle painting guy was set up there selling his works.  I really like them and may have to purchase something before we leave.  Terry did buy a few things and they put them in cute little boxes.  I said that it was worth it to get the little boxes.  I saw a necklace that I have my eye on so I may go back and get that.

There was a show at 8:30 that showed Chinese Costumes and customs through the ages.  Some of the staff on board did the modeling.  It was good and entertaining.

I don't know if I mentioned this earlier but I think they said this boat holds around 240 people and there are only 120 on board so it is not very crowded.  This is definitely different than I have done in the past but is kind of growing on me but I am not sure I would do it again in China but a river cruise someplace else might be ok.  

We got back to our room and it was ice cold.  Maybe they have finally decided to do something about the heat.  Lots of people were complaining tonight so they might have had to make some adjustments since there are so many Westerners on board.  We will be burning up and the Chinese will have coats on so I guess they get cold easily.