The Yangtze River
Page 8
Our ship on the left which took us down the Yangtze. A "new-city" above.
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Our Chinese passenger ship was
adequate if not opulent. Our first class accommodation was the
biggest room on the ship, but it came with a single double bed. The
second class rooms off our companionway were considerably smaller but they
had two beds, so Sam and I let it be known we might be willing to
trade. The engendered some excitement, so Sam and I inspected the
various rooms until we found one with a western toilet. We made the
trade, to the great happiness of that couple and the bewilderment of the
other guests.
The room was small, and the toilet ended up leaking. It was definitely not a Carnival cruise, but if one viewed it as a couple days of camping it was very comfortable. Our outside wall was a glass window, which we kept open, and in late April the temperatures were perfect. It reached a high of perhaps 80 in the daytime and a low of 60 at night. However, everyone confirmed that a month later, the Yangtze valley would be a steaming cauldron. The views from our window, or anywhere on the ship, were incessantly beautiful and interesting. |
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Our second class room. |
Sam enjoying the view from the fantail. |
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Hauling a net. Large cat fish and what seemed to be big perch were sold by the vendors. |
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A seven hour tour through the three "little" gorges was spectacular. |
This place would be a rock climbers paradise. |
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A "sampan experience" took us deeper into the gorges. |
Diesel outboard engine found on most fishing sampans. |
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The second day we rode dragon boats to tour another canyon. Since most guests can't swim, some angst was evident. |
We raced these a short distance, which was certainly the first time most guests had paddled a boat. |
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Grabbing lunch on a tour. |
One of four locks ships step through at the dam. |
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It was a fascinating 12 days in
China which left me with much to ponder. I was able to spend time in
Chengdu, the city where my sister, Dorothy, was born. We found the
site of our old house in Leshan and found the city to be very much like the
city of Tainan, Taiwan, where I spent most of my childhood. And I was
able to redo some of the Yangtze River trip and replace my fuzzy memories
with new images. The people were warm, and the culture could not have
been more like the culture of my upbringing. Yes, much to ponder.
Don Webster |
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A five star tourist ship. |
The obligatory sunset picture. |
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The End |
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Other Links:
Don's Home Page: www.jali.net
Don's email: websterdr@yahoo.com
Map of Sichuan Province: http://encarta.msn.com/map_701516531/sichuan.html
Map of Yangtze River, Chongqing to Wuhan: http://encarta.msn.com/map_701517763/Yangtze.html best if you zoom in a bit.
Page by Don Webster: websterdr@yahoo.com
