Our cruise down the beautiful Yangtze river aboard the President Cruise No. 8 was fun. We were told our cruise ship was an American one, but the experience was much different than other experiences we've had on cruises. Couples who went on the same tour last year said this ship was much better.
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| The Yangtze River where we boarded |
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| inside the ship |
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Our ship
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We traveled by train to Chongqing where wetoured before boarding the cruise. The ride was great, smooth and fast. The scenery outside our train window was full of farmers working in gorgeous fields. I love seeing quaint villages full of hardworking people. It's such a contrast from the high-rise apartment life all over China.
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| Looking outside the train window |
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| The ride was nice. We sat in first class. |
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| Another view out our train window |
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| The high speed train |
The best part of the whole experience was being with our many friends from the BYU China teachers program. This trip was the last excursion we will take with these friends, so goodbye's were hard.
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| Flying Tigers Museum |
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| Our BYU friends being taught about the Flying Tiger's Museum |
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| Our tour guide, Marvin, showing us how the Chinese pose for pictures |
We toured the Great Hall and the Three Gorges Museum. The Great Hall was just a big building with chairs and a stage. The museum had information on the flying tigers and their mission in China. It was also a place for local artist to sell their craft.
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| The Great Hall and Chongqing Square |
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| Chongqing City |
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| An artist demonstrating finger painting a horse. He was fast and good |
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| A Chinese family in Chongqing |
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| This is how the Chinese dry their laundry. We do the same with our laundry in Chengdu. |
Our ship was one of the nicest on the river. In fact, we were very grateful to be aboard our cruise liner when we compared it to others we passed along the route. Our rooms were great and the service people were all excellent. The only downside was the food. We were told the food would be American but it was all Chinese and not very good. Breakfast and lunch meals were buffet and the evening meal was service. At 6:45 we were awakened to music and intercom announcements in Chinese, English and German. If we didn't make breakfast at 7:00, then there was no other food. Lunch was a 12:30 and dinner at 7:00. We couldn't turn the intercom off in our room! So, we were a bit annoyed by all the loudspeaker comments. The good part is we didn't gain any weight.
Our excursions were great. Cruising along the Yangtze River, a huge rock stands along the river's northern bank in the Territory of Chongqing. Shi Bao Zhai is the name of the mountain and along it's side is the 12-story pavilion, a pagoda type structure built during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). An army settled and used it as their fortress. Hence the place got its name, the Precious Stone Fortress. We climbed to the top with many other people. I was a little worried but Pete reminded me it withstood the terrible earthquake and has been standing for a very long time. The stairs were narrow and the floors seemed weak, but we made it to the top where we found the Chinese selling their wares. The views were spectacular even though the weather was rainy and cloudy.
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| The rain doesn't even keep the Chinese vendors away |
Our second excursion was the Shennong Stream boat tour. We left the ship to board a smaller transfer boat that could safely enter the gorge. Then, we boarded a small peapod boat where the locals took us through the narrow gorge as they rowed with the oars. It was all very beautiful and massive. Unfortunately, it was a cold, cloudy, day but we still enjoyed the spectacular scenery. One sampan, peadpod boat, is steered by six boatmen who are local peasants. While appreciating the natural beauty and historic sights along the two banks, our tour guide sang a beautiful love song to the lead boatman and he answered in song. When we reached the shallow-stream places, two of our boatmen jumped out with a long bamboo rope and began pulling us through that part.
We attended classes on board the ship and learned about acupuncture, silk embroidery, painting done inside a jar, painting on rice paper, Majong demonstration, and traditional Chinese massage. The acupuncture doctor listened to Pete's pulse and told him he had bad blood. She felt my pulse and said I was sick. She was right on that one! I suffered with a cold the entire trip. All the demonstrations were wonderful. One of our favorite experiences was learning how to play Majong. It's a favorite pastime here in China. It's played with tiles on a fancy table. I actually looked over Pete's shoulder trying to help him remember everything. We decided it would be fun to play at home. Pete won the first time he played!
We were entertained by the employees with traditional Chinese song and dance. Pete made friends with all of them and they treated him special. One invited him to take part in a stage activity of musical chairs. Three BYU teachers were part of the fun. In the end, Pete and one other lady were left to fight over the one chair. Pete was a hoot, of course! He fought hard for the last seat but in the end consented by letting the lady have the win. She won a beautiful finger painting done by the artist on board.
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| Pete was asked to come on stage to dance and play musical chairs |
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| Sonny is behind us. She was our favorite helper on the ship. The buttons on our shirt meant we could have all the free drinks we wanted. Sonny served us the drinks. She even made me a hot water, honey and lemon drink for my throat. |
The last adventure of the cruise was riding through the five step ship locks. The Three Gorges Dam Authorities didn't give our ship clearance to ride through until 12:30 a.m. We both went to sleep but at 2:30 a.m. we both woke up to the loud noise outside our room as the ship passed through the locks. Pete watched out our balcony for a bit and then went to the third floor to see more from the front of the ship. There were five locks to pass. He made it outside just as they were coming out of the last lock. Several BYU teachers watched this amazing transfer through the dam. I took a quick look out our balcony and went back to bed. The Three Gorges Dam is the largest hydroelectric project in the world. The locks were huge! It took our ship 4 hours to pass through all the locks.
The next morning, Monday, we toured the grounds around the dam. Our guide kept saying, this 'dam' site. It was pretty funny. We were impressed by the size of everything. From there we rode in a bus for 5 hours to get to the city of Wuhan so that we could fly home. That was a long ride for us!
