The Three Gorges, Chongqing and Hong Kong

Saturday 9/13/2008

We were sailing, cruising through the Three Gorge proper. They were awesome at the present level. Spectacular probably would have been an understatement before the dam water started filling them up. The first (east to west) was the Xilang Gorge, then the Wu Gorge. The village of Wushan is between the Wu and the last gorge, the Qutang.





The Daning River enters the Yangtze at Wushan. The Daning passes through what is known as the Lesser Three Gorges. That, it turns out, was spectacular. 45 or so minutes up on a ferry, marveling at the scenery. Then we left the ferry and boarded sampans for a trip up the Daning’s tributary, the Madu. All in all, a lovely side trip.



Then the Qutang Gorge, dinner and an evening in the lounge watching the shop’s company put on a cabaret show. One of out party, Jim Sandler, surprised is all by playing several songs on a Chinese flute he’s purchased. Quite a remarkable feat, considering the fact he’d never seen one until this trip, and never played one until two days before his world premier. Way to go, Jim!

Sunday 9/14/2008

Sunday, and we arrive in Fengdu. Most of the ship’s passengers went on an excursion to see the “Ghost City”, site of Daoist and Buddhist temples and statues. We Elderhostelers, on the other hand, went to visit the home of a family of farmers displaced by the dam project. They now have a 2-story home, 3 bedrooms with a store and several other occupations. While the farm wasn’t all that bad, the new house was larger, and they liked the city life.



Then on to the street market in Fengdu. That was really a pleasure to walk through. Busy as one could imagine, and on a Sunday to boot. One of our party got lost, and our guides were in near panic. But the lost soul found a friendly local who escorted her back to our buss. All’s well that end’s well. From talking to other passengers, the “Ghost City” was ma-ma hoo-hoo, Chinese for so-so.



Except for some very high parts of Fengdu, all of the original city will be underwater eventually. Most of it was relocated to the south bank of the river. Families received a 200,000-Yuan (About $30,000) relocation package if they lost their homes. All the buildings that will eventually be under water have been/will be torn down and the ruble removed. This is to eliminate them as navigation hazards and to prevent contamination.





In the afternoon Hui gave us a summary on China, a lecture our previous lecturer didn’t have time to present. Without getting specific, I have to say this lecture made it even clearer that much of what we’d been told and seen of modern China has been sanitized. Nuff said.


Monday 9/15/2008

After leaving Fengdu, we cruised overnight and docked at about 8:00 AM in Chongqing (pronounced ChonChing). Chongqing was somewhat of a disappointment. From the ship we went to the Chongqing zoo and saw several pandas and a few Asian tigers. Nice zoo, but there’s not that much unique about a zoo. Not quite “seen one, seen ‘em all”, but I’m sure there are more interesting spots in the largest city in China, somewhere around 30 million, we were told.



We also stopped in the old town. There we saw a home built in the 19th century, and still occupied by a few families. Each had access to a small central courtyard. We could only peek into the residences, as we were restricted to the courtyard, out of respect for the occupant’s privacy.



In the same area, we were turned loose to shop the local stores. Lots of souvenirs on sale, and I guess some items for local consumption. I have no idea how so many businesses can co-exist and still survive, but they obviously do.



From there we proceeded to our lunch, which turned out to be the worst meal of the trip. Part of it, according to Hui, was that this is Sichuan Province, and their food is very spicy. Too spicy in most cases, for western tastes. As a consequence, our restaurant tones things down. The result wasn’t too hot (no pun intended). But the presentation and service were also sub-par. Oh well, one bad meal in a foreign country in three weeks isn’t all that bad.

Following lunch, we boarded a plane for our flight to Hong Kong, our last stop. The plane arrived in Hong Kong without a mishap, in case you wondered. By the time we arrived in Hong Kong, bused to the hotel and checked in, it was too late to think of eating. Very nice hotel room, with a fantastic view of a very busy street. Hong Kong doesn’t seem to slow down at all at night.

Tuesday 9/16/2008

In the morning we headed for the Star Ferry terminal, and a walk along the harbor edge to admire the Hong Kong skyline. Quite the skyline, too. Our hotel is in Kowloon, across the harbor from Hong Kong Island. One thing missing here that’s been ever present at our other stops is the national bird, the crane (sub-species: construction). I guess Hong Kong has pretty much built as much as it can. There were a few cranes, but not nearly as many evident elsewhere.





Once we crossed the harbor, we took our bus to the base of Victoria Peak and boarded the tram for the ride up the mountain. The tram has been in existence since 1885. I think a few renovations have taken place in the ensuing years. The view from the peak is quits spectacular. Again, I wish we’d had more time to spend there. But schedules are schedules.





And Repulse Bay was next on ours. Really a beautiful beach overlooking a nice bay. The beach, it turns out, is man-made. It was much smaller long ago and has been filled in to expand it. Very clean beach also. This must be in part due to the restrictions. I took a photo of the “Thou shalt nots” sign. There must have been 20 things you couldn’t do. I think that swimming, sunbathing and breathing were all that were permissible. And very few people were even engaged in those activities. Factoid: Repulse Bay was named for the British naval vessel HMS Repulse, flagship of one of the early southeast Asia British fleets.



The on to --- You guessed it: Lunch. And quite a lunch! We took a small boat to a floating restaurant, famous, we were told, for its dim sum. Please don’t expect a definition of dim sum, because I can’t provide one. But trust me, we all enjoyed it. Quite an elaborate restaurant, too. There was a throne on which guests could sit in costumes and be photographed. For a fee, of course. None of our group went that far, but Phyllis and I did have one of our party take our picture on it in street attire. Didn’t turn out very well, though.

The afternoon was free, so we walked to Kowloon Park and had a pleasant afternoon. Small lake with flamingos, fish and turtles; an aviary, gardens, all in all a relaxing park. There was also a building with an exhibit on healthy foods. Not the low fat, low cal kind, though. More the unwashed vegetables, under-cooked meat, unsanitary type. Some interactive displays. Rather interesting. Fortunately the descriptions were in both Chinese and English.

Our dinner was, as most are, a bus ride away. We went to a fishing village. Perhaps a port is a better word, as it was surrounded by high rises. To get to the restaurant, we had to walk through what seemed like hundreds of fresh fish shops. Looked like nearly any type of seafood thrives in Hong Kong waters, and it’s all for sale. Dinner was, of course, seafood. Pretty good, lots of variety, with a bit of chicken and pork as well as abundant fish.

Wednesday 9/17/2008

The next morning was a walk to the Hong Kong History museum. Another fine museum. It began with the formation of the island, and ended with the re-connection with the People’s Republic of China. I’d wondered why Hong Kong has retained so much autonomy since being turned over to the PRC by England in 1997. Why hadn’t the PRC taken over, and forced their system on Hong Kong? Because the treaty transferring it had a clause that Hong Kong would not be forced to change for 50 years. I wonder what will happen in 2047? I’ll bet it will be an interesting time. I must say that the three major museums we saw on this trip, Xian, Shanghai and Hong Kong were superb. I could have spent much more time in each of them.



The afternoon was another free one. Either Hong Kong had too much to offer, and Elderhostel didn’t know what to take us to, or they decided that we’d had all the guided tour we could handle. In any case, the trip seemed to really wind down in intensity. We chose to wander the park once again. We found a few areas we’d missed. At one edge was a building housing a display of photos of all, or nearly all, of China’s World Heritage sites, as well as many of Hong Kong’s historical and cultural areas.





Dinner was at a Mongolian Barbeque. Very much like most of the places in the US that profess to be Mongolian BBQs. Perhaps a wider selection, but basically the same.

Thursday 9/18/2008

And then came the dawn, and the end of our adventure. Some of our party had other arrangements for the return trip, while six of us headed for the airport. Our guide, Hui, joined us on the bus for part of the trip, but left us at the train station. Her departure was too abrupt for any of us to say anything but a quick goodbye, or to properly thank her. She really did a marvelous job, particularly considering the wide variety of personalities she had to contend with. We truly did enjoy her company, not only as a guide, but also as a companion on our journey.

At the airport, we all went our separate ways. We got rid of our last Hong Kong and Chinese dollars in the bookstore and on ice cream cones. Yes, Hong Kong still has its own currency.

The flight home didn’t seem too long. Again, we had an extra seat, so we didn’t have to cross over anyone in order to move about. The food wasn’t bad, and was plentiful. We found the in-flight entertainment system included a bridge game. We each decided that the electronic bridge partners needed some lessons. We, of course played extremely well.

Or arrival in LA was nothing short of amazing. We touched down at about 11:15 AM. By 11:55 we had recovered our luggage, been through customs and were out on the island waiting for our bus to Bakersfield. Which was also right on time. I don’t think I’ve ever made it through an airport so smoothly.

What I can say about the trip. Simply that it was a wonderful experience. About the only problem was that we didn’t have enough time to really explore some of the places we were fortunate enough to visit. And China had so many or places that would be really great to see. I know now that I’m going to try to learn a lot more about it, because of this experience.