Dinner last night was buffet style – not too bad. Different from the usual (now) Chinese style meal. Then off to the room to watch “The Last Emperor” but the TV channel it was on didn’t work. Oh well. Tai Ji at 7:30 AM. The ship’s Dr. doubles as the Tai Ji master. White silk pajamas and all. He didn’t explain it nearly as well as our guide or the master in Xian.
Breakfast buffet and then a nap before our arrival in Nanjing, formerly Nanking. At one time Nanjing was the capital of China, but it was moved to Beijing. This was Chang Kai-shek’s last capital before he moved to Taiwan.
Our group was 1st off the ship. Our local guide was Ms. Dong, or as she said, so we’d remember, Ding Dong. Our tour was to Nanjing Normal University where we were entertained by a group of students majoring in traditional Chinese music and musical instruments. There were 6 different instruments. We were given a brief rundown on each instrument, then a solo performance. Following the solos the entire group played several tunes. Very interesting. We were all impressed.
Then Dong took us to a tourist area, the highlight of which was supposed to be the Confucian temple. Not very impressive, to my way of thinking. We didn’t get the chance to go in, just peek in the entrance. It would have been nice to wander about the area on our own, but …
Back to the ship and back to what’s become the traditional way for us to eat. A Chinese style meal. Have I mentioned the lazy susan all the food is always on? It becomes a problem if you are about to pick up a tasty morsel, and one of the dinner companions moves it to their selection. What was different about this one was that it didn’t end with watermelon for desert. First time we've been without watermelon.
9/9/2008 Tuesday
We left the shop on a bus for a 3-hour ride to the Yellow Mountain, Huangshan. It was named this by an emperor, or so we were told, because he wanted it to be his royal mountain. The trip there was pretty, level farmland, then foothills. The crops were rice, rapeseed and tea. Lots of rice paddies, but all we saw was the rice, not the water in the paddies. Much of the rice had already been harvested, although some was still very green.
The foot of the mountain is the base for a 100-passenger gondola. The ride on the gondola takes about 10 to 15 minutes. I don’t know the altitude at the summit, but the two walking trails are 4.5 and 9 miles long. There were some really nice views of some very steep and rugged mountain scenery on the way up. Bamboo and evergreen eventually became nearly all evergreen. Once on top, a walk along a stone path – steps and platforms – to a restaurant for lunch. The path was through the forest. Two of our group took sedan chairs. That’s a lot of work for the sedan bearers.
We took a different path back to the gondola. This time, mostly along the edge of the canyon. Many magnificent views down the canyon. We took lots of pictures of this. Steep gullies with some fog moving in and out. While we were on the mountain for about 3 hours, we didn’t get to spend nearly enough time enjoying the scenery. That’s the biggest problem with tours.
It’s possible to hike from the area near the gondola to the top of the mountain. It takes 3 or more hours, and that’s for those fit enough to try it. From what I saw of the mountain, I think I’d pass up the opportunity.
The evening on the ship was a musical one. First a number of Chinese traditional instruments played by the same folks who serve dinner. Not as good as the group at the university, but enjoyable. Then a “face changing” performance. This was a dance by a man in costumes, who wore a mask, or rather 7 masks. He’d somehow change the masks during the performance. And no one in the audience could see how. He’d face us with one mask, move his hands and a fan rapidly and then he’d have another mask on. Amazing.
The final performance was part of the “Shanghai Opera” with the emperor choosing his concubine. Lots of dancing by the emperor, his eunuch and 8 concubines, but we never did see which concubine he chose.
9/10/2008 Wednesday
We’ll be on the Yangtze River all day today, with Wuhan our destination this evening. There certainly is a lot of traffic on this river, in both directions. In general, but not always, the up-river traffic is empty. The downriver traffic is usually loaded – sand, coal, steel, paper, use your imagination. Once in a while, a fishing boat, nearly always farming along the banks. As I write this, we’re getting into country with hills a mile of so from the banks.
We had a lecture this AM on two major dynasties, the Song and the Tang. Also on culture, philosophy and religions, Confucianism and Taoism. This opens the door to a lot more to read up on.
We arrived at Wuhan about as scheduled, 9 PM. What a brightly lit city! A number of tall buildings and all lit up. Even a navy ship at a pier was outlined in lights. Later on, about 11 PM most of the lights went out.
Several busloads of us were taken to the “Rare Stone Museum”. I’ve been to geological museums before, but never have I seen so many really large exhibits. Decorating gardens with stones and bonsai trees (I thought bonsai was Japanese??) is a Chinese custom. So most of these large rocks had been polished, cut, shaped in some way. They came from all over China, and a few from other parts of the world. All of us were impressed.
Those who chose not to visit the museum went on a self-directed and in some cases guided walk near the dock. Seems there was an interesting pedestrian mall. Like to have seen it, but we walked around Beijing, Xian and Shanghai, so we’ve had out exposure.
We left shortly after returning to the ship, and will be cruising all day tomorrow.
I forgot to mention the lecture we had by the ship’s doctor on traditional Chinese medicine during the AM. He acupunctured and “cupped” two volunteers. Time will tell if it worked. Needles were passed around for all to admire. “Cupping” consists of placing a small glass cup on a bad spot with suction. It’s held in place by the vacuum and, if I recall correctly, sucks the evil spirits from the body.
We also had a lecture by the assistant cruise director on Ancient River Life on the Yangtze. We were late (my fault, read the program wrong) so we missed much of it. He talked briefly about the river journey from Chongqing to Shanghai, and a bit about the river’s aquatic life.
9/11/2008 Thursday
Another day on the river, no stops planned. However, the power company, probably the government, was stringing power lines across the river, and no traffic was allowed. So we were at anchor from around 9 AM till after lunch.
Part of the morning was filled with a presentation by the assistant cruise director on the pros and cons of the Three Gorges Dam. Since it’s a done deal, there’s not much that can be done about the cons. There are displaced people, siltification of the river, loss of historical and scenic territory, problems with aquatic life … Benefits are power, employment during construction, shipping further up the river…
Later in the day our Elderhostel group had a lecture on China from the beginning of the People’s Republic of China to the end of the Cultural Revolution, roughly 1949 to 1980. Really fascinating. Mao and/or his crew were responsible for a lot of bad times, although some; famine for instance, weren’t under their control. China really suffered during the later part of that period, although it started out pretty good. Hard to understand why Mao is so revered. The instructor said it’s because in the early years, a lot of good was done for the country. People like to remember the good parts. This isn’t the place to expound on that subject, and besides, I’m not qualified.
We had a tour of the ship’s bridge. Not really spectacular. It would have been nice to get a tour of the lower decks, kitchen, laundry, engine room, crew’s quarters, but that was not to be. The ship had a crew of 115. Not many more passengers. But I guess that’s typical of most cruises.
9/12/2008 Friday
We were able to make up some lost time so we arrived at Yichang earlier than expected. Yichang is the city below the Three Gorges Dam. That’s where we boarded busses for the trip to the dam.
On arrival at the dam site, we had to go through security. Off the bus, empty pockets, etc. as the bus was scanned for explosives. Good idea, as it would be a real catastrophe if something bad happened. Then on past the ship locks to an observation point where we could look directly over the dam. From there we went on to the dam’s model and gift shop. Outside, this was the “Pickle Jar”, an observation tower looking over the entire project. Quite a sight, I must say.
I’m used to curved dams, where the pressure of the water compresses the dam and, I assume, adds to their strength. This one crossed the river in a straight line, 2335 metres long and 185 metres high. It’s 130 metres thick at the bottom, and 18 at the top. It’s big, right? Right. To convert to yards or feet, multiply by 3 or 9 for approximations.
There are currently 4 locks for upriver traffic and 4 for downriver. When completed next year, there will be 5 each. Later, not sure how long, there will be a ship elevator, the fast way to cross the dam. That will be for a fee. The locks are free.
I don’t remember the number of turbines in operation, but I think it’s 24, and eventually will be 32. Don’t quote me. But there will be a lot of power generated. Some say enough for half of China. We can hope it replaces some of the coal-fueled and nuclear power plants.
What I don’t understand is the height of the dam from sea level. The height of the dam is said to be 185 metres and the water level from the base will be 175 metres. Sounds OK, right? But I’ve also read that the water level will be 175 metres above sea level. If that’s true, then the base must be at sea level. And it’s about 2000 KM from the coast. Something to puzzle about, and look up on the net.
Wikipedia to the rescue. The dam is 185 metres above sea level at the top, but only 101 metres from the base of the dam to the top. That says the base will be 84 metres above sea level. And the water level behind the dam will be 175 metres above sea level, but only 91 metres above the base. Now I’m happy. I also found that the reservoir will be over 600 KM long, around 400 miles! The Wikipedia numbers are slightly different than those we were given, but close enough.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Gorges_Dam
After the dam tour, we returned to the ship, docked at Yichang. By the way, Yichang was a city of about 20,000 before the dam was started in the 70’s. It’s now about 4,000,000. That’s an increase of somewhere around 20,000%! Many of the residents were relocated from the area now flooded by the dam. It amazes me that the infrastructure could keep up with that growth.
Dinner on the ship, as it started upstream for the dam. We went through a lock at the Gezhouba dam just outside of Yichang as we were eating. We finally reached the locks of the Three Gorges Dam around 11 PM. Phyllis and I stayed up for the entrance and exit to/from the first lock, but then decided bedtime was a better option than staying up for three more locks. Traversed one lock, you’ve traversed ‘em all.
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