Around the World in 365 Days – Part II – China – cont.

Nov. 7-10, 2019

Delayed posting again due to technical problems – first the photos did not appear to load from my laptop to the blog; the tech’s suggestion was to get the app so I wouldn’t have to do move the pics from the phone but loaded directly – great, except for the fact that Bluehost creates its own login/ password “for you” – which they don’t share, and you need that info to be able to log in on the app. The second problem you will see below, several pictures – even though they align normally in the media area, present flipped on the side and the site will not let me rotate the picture no matter what I do. Technology and I do not get along. But enough of that kind of stuff – on to travels!

Day 21, Nov. 7^th: I awoke in our hotel “near” Shanghai (as in “near” – for my Texas friends – it’s like being told your hotel is near Austin, and finding it in New Braunfels) – to an unhappy stomach. One of the pluses of being a physician, is I travel with a lot more meds than most people. I took some nausea medication and went back to sleep for another hour before I needed to get up for our tour day in Shanghai. My stomach was better, but not back to normal. I planned to have toast and tea. The toast was easy, even if the toaster was pretty ancient, but tea – in China – was nowhere to be found. There were 3 teabags in an empty pot that I never saw filled up, and no other teabags. I had toast and warm water. Apparently starting one’s day with a cup of warm water is a common custom here, so I guess I was just following custom. We got on the bus for an hour to Shanghai to the train station to experience the maglev train. This is a train built on magnets and can go 431 km per hour. It takes 7 minutes to go from near downtown Shanghai to the Pudong International airport (which was near our hotel). The ride is pretty thrilling – watching the world go by in a blink. As we decelerated my stomach did a little lurch, then was fine. We stayed on the train and did the trip back. Still thrilling, but as we decelerated, my stomach started to turn again – this time not settling down. We stood, and I knew what was coming. A general note on travel, always travel with an empty plastic grocery bag. Great for shopping, wrapping up wet clothing, separating stuff, and on occasion, a barf bad. A good thing I keep one handy, since I didn’t make it off the train, but I did not make a mess. Jenny got me a taxi, which was 200 yuan back to the hotel (and if my stomach had just stayed upset on the way down, it would have been a lot cheaper – less than 10km to the hotel instead of over 50). John continued on into Shanghai – getting pictures from the Jin Mao tower (he thinks), going to the knock-off market, and generally getting in the sights and sounds of the city. I napped, which made me feel much better, and drank tea (I found the teabags we had packed) and ate crackers. I finally did walk around the quirky hotel. It was very close to Disneyland Shanghai and catered to families.

Day 22, Nov. 8^th: A very early 5AM start (John was upset I had to turn the light on to get ready a little after 4AM – there was no small side light that could be turned on in the room) and then down to the bus for a one hour bus ride to the train station in Shanghai and onto an 8 hour train ride (this is on a bullet train that goes 240kph, not the “green train” that takes 20 hours) to Yichang. A total of 9 of us from the tour chose to continue on to the Yangtze cruise. Along the bus tour, John and one of the other travelers had been joking that the large yellow building crane was the “national bird of China” – and they are everywhere, with fifteen to twenty story and higher apartment buildings sprouting out of seemingly nowhere. Flying by at 150mph limits your ability to get many good photos, but at times there would be a set of ten or more identical high rises next to farmland and rice patties.

The train itself is modern, with young women carrying trays of food and carts of drinks every so often. If you went to the dining car and ordered something, they would bring it to your seat. After eight hours on the train (the seats are arranged three on the right and two on the left) we experienced the mad dash through terminal exit lines so we could leave the train station. Before coming to China, we had been warned that the queue was not a thing here. Previously, except for one woman at a restroom – we had not seen that along the tour – until here. Everyone pushing in from every direction trying to put their fare card on the machine to get out. All nine of us managed mostly unscathed, and met our UTO transfer host at the bottom of the escalator as promised. Where we got on another bus for almost 2 hours. He did let us stop at KFC to pick up dinner, since it was not included on the boat that night. The cabin on the boat is comfortable and small, with a balcony big enough for two small chairs. They tried to upsell us to one of the bigger ones, but none in the group felt the need for larger accommodation so our rooms were near each other in the same hall. My only complaint is poor storage planning. As a frequent cruiser, I know how rooms can be arranged to allow for plenty of storage cubbies and drawers, which are lacking here. There are several English-speaking staff, but finding one was challenging that first evening, we purchased the internet package. 200 yuan for the 4 days – the internet is slow (it took me 15 minutes to open and reply to an email), and available on the 6^th floor in the bar area only. We headed to bed early. The other complaint I have are the beds. If you like an extra firm bed then you would be very happy. I am a side and stomach sleeper – the firmness of a thin layer of foam over concrete does not make for a great night’s sleep.

Day 23, Nov. 9^th: Full day of tours – the morning was the “optional” tour of the Tribe of the Three Gorges – it was very pretty, the local minority population takes pride in their tribal heritage and beautiful young “Yao mei” – single women wearing traditional garb and baskets full of flowers (no boyfriend – if they don’t have any flowers then they have a boyfriend, when they get married they are called “grandmother” and wear darker, plainer clothes and their baskets change to a larger baby basket). Part of the tour is a play of the wedding where an audience member is chosen to be the groom – Don, one of our group who is very actively engaged in talking to the guides and learning was the chosen one. The whole place is beautiful, and very orchestrated.

After lunch we then went on an included tour of the Three Gorges Dam project – unfortunately, although listed as an option in the guide, we could not take the elevator up. The dam locks need to go up over 180 meters, so takes 3 ½ hours to traverse the locks, small boats can opt for the elevator which takes less than 30 minutes. Going to the dam is a bit of a process, the bus takes you to the main center – where we get the tickets, go into the building, get the ticket scanned, come back to the bus on the other side of the building where the bus takes you to the base of a series of escalators (which is really good, since that would be an 18 or more story climb taking the stairs), up to the area next to the dam where you can get a view, when it’s clear. Unfortunately, it was pretty misty, so the dam photos themselves did not come out well.

After a couple of hours there, we returned to the bus, and back to the ship. At dinner, the ship finally set sail. Due to my dietary restrictions they make me (and Rod, another member of the group) special meals, which are really good – I had duck that night. There was an evening entertainment where the staff had a “talent show”, a game – Anne, another member of our group won-  musical chairs, and after that some dancing. I jumped up for the Macarena and continued to dance with John and some others through multiple songs – all in English.

Day 24, Nov. 10^th: We woke next to a bridge that looked a lot like the bridge where we had been, so I didn’t think we had moved much. Chris in our group loves maps so she checked, and yes, we had sailed over 10 km – so a different bridge. This morning’s tour was of the Shennong Stream. We disembarked and got onto a medium sized ferry type boat, which took us through a series of gorges, and then onto a small wooden boat that held 17 tourists, our guide “Nancy”, and five locals who rowed their hearts out. Before the dam, the water there was very shallow so they often had to draw the boats walking on shore (which they demonstrated). Now the water is over 150 feet deep. Their homes are on the tops of the mountains which they climb to every day. The area was just beautiful – so I’ll stop typing and show you.

After such beauty, we returned to our ship and had a nap, then lunch and then traveled through the Wu Gorge.

John and I chose not to do the White Emperor City Tour so we could relax and enjoy the afternoon. John spent the afternoon chatting with friends, and I holed up in the room to write. John wanted to explore the town we were docked in, but they would not let him get off the boat unless he was part of the tour. The highlight of the afternoon were the salespeople that brought their boats and hooked into our boat. They were selling produce and dried fish in bundles, the seller put the item in a big net and raised it up to the floor, and the buyer put the money in the net.

They were doing a good business and were there for most of the time we were docked.

Dinner was almost a joke at first – and it was a good thing I was brought my special meal (still not spicy duck – it’s a good thing I like duck) – every dish was “and pork” – potatoes – and a little pork, “pork and beans” made with green beans – no less than 6 pork containing dishes came out before there was plain rice, vegetables, fish and chicken. We decided against the “free dance party” and made it an early to bed day.