This morning we had to have our bags outside our room by 6:15 am for a 7:00 am departure. We were so tired after our long day yesterday.
The Terra Cotta Warrior Museum opens at 8:30 am but they got special approval for us to visit it at 8:00 am before it opened to the public. They also normally have to park in a big parking lot about a mile away but they got special approval to park the bus up next to the gate which was nice.
I had imagined the Terra Cotta Warriors would be in the middle of a field. They actually had buildings built on top of the fields to protect them from the elements. They have only finished preserving a small amount of them but the ones that they have preserved are very impressive. We saw three different fields, a museum and a gift shop. They actually had life size Terra Cotta Warriors that were reproductions for sale. I really wanted one. The most expensive one was only $2500 and that included shipping and insurance. They also said we could make them an offer. I am sure Craig would have loved to have had this in our yard!
After our visit to the Terra Cotta Warriors we were off to the airport for our flight. They did have lunch for us at a restaurant in the airport and it was just ok. After lunch they finally gave us our boarding passes and we were off to go through security again and off to the furthest gate again. The security at Xian airport wasn't that bad. However by the time we got to our gate they had already started boarding and the gate was a madhouse. We got in line and waited and saw that we were having to board a bus to take us to the plane where we then had to go up the stairs to the plane. In addition to that, we had randomly been assigned seats and I wasn't sitting with my group. In face husbands and wives were sitting at opposite ends of the plane. It was a short flight so it wasn't so bad.
When we arrived in Chongqing we were off to the zoo to see the Pandas. It was late in the afternoon when we got there and they weren't sure if they would still be active or not. However we were pleasantly surprised. They were all out and eating when we were there. The weather was nice and cool so that was good too. After the zoo we were off to the river cruise.
When we drove up to where the river cruise was we were quite surprised. None of us had ever been on one before and didn't know what to expect. When we got off the bus we had to walk down about 2,000 steps carrying our carryon luggage. There were no hand rails. There were however stick men that we could hire of we wanted to and they would carry us and our bags but we opted to walk it on our own. We had to put our bags through a scanner and we had to walk through a scanner. I am not really sure why we had to because I am quite sure neither one of them were on. We were quickly given our room keys so off we went to see what we had gotten ourselves into.
When we walked in our room, it was about the size of a shoe box and a bathroom the size of a thimble. We weren't sure if we could do this for 3 days. They had suites available for upgrade we inquired about that. They had 2 sizes -- one of them would cost $1500 and the other one $800. We figured we could tough it out where we were.
It was soon time for dinner so we went to check it out. All the meals are buffet and this meal didn't look that appealing but I did try to eat something. I am sure that by the time this trip is over, I will have lost the 20 pounds I gained on my European Cruise in 2008.
The Cruise Director was having a presentation on what all was going on for the next 3 days at 9:00 pm. We went back to the cabin to rest before that because we were very tired. Our cabin was terribly hot! I didn't know if I could take it or not. Mary P got to work and started calling about the heat. They said "Oh do you need another blanker?" There seems to be a little translation problems on this boat. She finally got them to understand what she was saying so they came to check it out and was going to get someone else to come check it out. She said that she would stay in the cabin and I could go listen to the Cruise Director while she stayed there and waited for the air to get fixed. When I got back from hearing the Cruise Director they still hadn't fixed it so she called again. It wasn't long before our cabin was filled with lots of people trying to assure us it would get cool. When we didn't believe them and Mary P kept questioning them, they brought the Cruise Director into our cabin. At least she spoke English! She assured us it would be better soon and that she was right across the hall if we needed anything. Well she was right. It finally got cool enough to go to sleep.
Tomorrow will be an early day because there is an excursion that leaves at 8:15 am.
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