Yichang (8-11)

I had 24 hours in Yichang because my chances of making the 1:24 train were iffy. As it turned out, I probably couldn’t have made it, since we got to my downtown hotel at 1:10. After checking in, I relaxed in the room for a couple hours. Then I decided to go out to the river and to a park I saw on the map.

The walk to the river turned out to be short—about ten minutes. There is a really nice tree-lined walking path along the river with park areas between the street and the river. I walked for over an hour. It was really hot—about 40^o/101^o. 

There were a few men fishing—with poles, the big nets, and smaller nets. 

In one park area there is a monument commemorating the Yichang Evacuation in 1938 during the anti-Japanese war. 30,000 people and 100,000 tons of war industry equipment were evacuated to Chongqing over a four year period while the Japanese continued to bomb. I hadn’t realized they came this far into the country.

I noticed a McDonald’s arch on a building across the street and decided to go for some ice cream on my way back. I ended out getting a Flurry and sitting at a table there for an hour. It’s the only store that is completed and open in the building. And I think it’s not finished yet, as there are no walls around the tables area and it looks like they aren’t cooking yet, only serving ice cream items. 

But I appreciated the Flurry and having a place to sit with a fan. (another sign that it’s not finished, as I think it will have aircon when it’s done)

Then I headed back to the hotel and to find dinner. But I got sidetracked and stayed along the river for over an hour longer. At 6:15, when I arrived at the hotel’s street, I noticed that people were starting to get ready for the evening crowds. Booths were being set up. A few stage backdrops with microphones were up and people were starting to sing. People were starting to come out to walk. 

People were swimming in the river. The exercise equipment was being used. So I walked in the other direction for a while. 

I watched a few men fishing with the big and smaller nets. That process fascinates me. As time went on, the sidewalk had a steady stream of people walking, some walking fast for exercise. 

Then the sun started setting; so I stopped and watched. When I walked back, there were more people swimming and singing.

Then it was time to find a place to eat. Tables and food displays were on the sidewalks. When I crossed the street, there was a restaurant with food out that I could point to to order. I asked the price of two items and then the woman walked away. I waited for her to return, but she didn’t. Another woman was standing there and not offering to take my order. So I left. Around the corner there was a smaller, similar place with tables and food on display. The man there was very helpful and willing to try to serve this foreigner. When I asked about items, he showed them to me on the menu and pointed to the prices. I asked, with the assistance of my phone dictionary, about a small portion, and the man got out a small bowl to show me. It looked the right size. I ordered the crab, which he had indicated was delicious, and the boiled soy beans in the pods, which I really like. They seated me inside where it was cooler.

First the soy beans came. I was surprised that they’d been cooked more and had chili pepper sprinkled on them. But this was OK, because with such foods the inside is not affected by the chili; so I could eat the beans. Then the crab arrived. It was a big dish and had been cooked with some vegetables and chili sauce. This was not looking good. I hadn’t occurred to me to ask for not spicy, as both the crab and soy beans were already cooked. But, again, the part of the crab that is eaten is inside the shell and not affected by the chili. So I could eat it and just not eat the vegetables. The woman brought plastic gloves for me wear when eating. After I ate a couple, I realized that they were not crabs. They just looked like crabs the way they were folded in the display. I realized that they were actually small lobsters, which never would have occurred to me because I had no idea lobsters that small were eaten. As I was eating, the woman came and made sure I knew that there is meat inside the claws as well as at the tail. But, since they were cooked in the spicy sauce and the only way to crack the claws was with my teeth, which meant putting them in my mouth, I couldn’t eat the claw meat. And there was so much food that I knew I would be doing well to eat all the tails. The tail meat was about an inch long and was tasty.

Sunday morning I planned to go to a folklore center I’d read about, but when I asked the receptionist about it, I learned that it would take over an hour to get there, and I didn’t have time to do that. This receptionist spoke some English, which was helpful. When I asked about another place to go, she suggested that I go to the mall nearby and go shopping. I was not interested in that and headed back to the river. It was already very hot at 9:30. I walked the direction I’d gone in the evening. I was surprised to see a lot of people out walking, possibly because it was Sunday. Several people were doing their tai chi under trees. Two men were boxing. The only sign of the Saturday night activity in the area was a truck that was overfilled with trash and onto which two women were unloading more trash. I passed a pagoda 

and saw a church across the street that I thought I should check out. 

The worship room was very simple with a cross and a menorah and two peace doves on the altar. Then it was time to head back to check out and head for the train station. I was glad to have this extra time along the river.

On the way to the hotel, I had lunch at a place with vegetables in baskets. I was given a dish on which to put the vegetables I wanted. When the man didn’t think I’d put enough on the dish, he added more. Everything was stir fried to make a delicious lunch. I like places like that.

I barely made my train. When I checked out, I learned that the station is farther than indicated on the booking website and that I barely had time to get there. When I arrived, I got in line in front of a few other people, Chinese style. By the time I got to the gate for my train, it was closed. Not quite panicking, I walked quickly and showed my ticket to a few people and asked where it was; they just shrugged. Then I saw a man in a uniform and showed him my ticket. He indicated for me to follow him and made a call on his walkie-talkie. We went to the central gate where another man made a call on his walkie-talkie and told me “gate 9.” Two other people followed me and we ran down the corridor to the gate, which was, of course, the last one. Then they ran up the stairs. I couldn’t do that, but I went up as fast as I could. When I got to the train, I saw that a person was standing outside each car and realized that the train wasn’t going to leave with me walking fast to my car. They wouldn’t let me get onto another car and walk through. I was so relieved when I arrived at my seat. And after all that, the train left 15 minutes late. My seat turned out to be a soft sleeper. I’m not sure how that happened. I just paid for the ticket that was given to me. But it was nice to be able to lie down and put my feet up on my bags and be comfortable. I had a bottom bunk. There are six bunks in a room. A conductor came and took our train tickets, giving us a plastic card with the number of the car and bed. Shortly before we arrived, he returned to exchange the card for the ticket. I had no idea what that was about. When I asked my guide later, she explained that the card is so they know where you are getting off and can wake you up. 

Yangtze River Gorges (8-10)

After returning from White Emperor City to the boat, we set sail and went through the first of the Three Gorges. It’s the one we had seen from above. It’s only 8 km long.

After lunch, we changed to a smaller boat for our tour of the lesser three gorges and the mini gorges that are down a tributary of the Yangtze. These were beautiful. The haze was not in this area and the sun was just right on the surrounding mountains and cliffs. Our guide encouraged us to go inside where it was air conditioned between gorges, but we foreigners and several other people preferred to be outside. It was relaxing to stand on the deck and watch the scenery go by. 

The second of the lesser gorges was even more beautiful. These mountains reminded me of what I’ve often seen in Chinese paintings, especially black and white ones.

Our guide pointed out hanging coffins on the cliffs. I’d seen these in the museum. People believed that a higher burial was better, as it was closer to heaven. So bodies were put in caves in the cliffs. Some were hung on pegs attached to the cliffs.

Then we got onto motorized sampans to travel through the mini gorges, since this tributary was too small for the boat. This was another optional tour, but everyone did it. A local man was on the boat. On the way back, he sang a couple songs. At one place a group of local people on a sampan sang as we passed them. As we went through the mini gorges, we were each allowed to go to the front of the sampan for a photo.

This trip took four hours. It was a highlight of the cruise. It started at Wushan. The guide for the excursion told us that the new Wushan is better than the old one that is now submerged. It has better apartments and hospitals. It’s a better place for the new generation. We heard this from the Fengdu guide, too, about the new city.

Back on the boat, we traveled through the second gorge. It’s 40 km long and the trip took about half an hour. The atmosphere was clear and the sunlight was perfect again.  The cliffs were very colorful.

We passed some river depth markers. The river is currently 150 meters above sea level. At its highest level, it is 175 meters. The difference can be seen in the white colored rock at the bottom of the cliffs.

Dinner on Friday was the captain’s farewell banquet. It was served at the table and had ten dishes. Everyone had a small glass of wine. The captain spoke and we all toasted prior to eating.

In the evening, there was a cabaret/talent show. Several people sang songs. David played the piano and sang. He sat beside me most of the time.

At 11:30 PM we started going through the locks. There are five locks but only four are in use during the low water season. It takes about half an hour to go through each one. I didn’t go out to watch the process because I’ve been in locks before and I didn’t want to get dressed again. From my window I could see the side of the lock, and every now and then I went out on the balcony to check our progress. After an hour, though, my curiosity got the best of me and I went to the deck to see the whole lock. There were three ships in it—another one the size of ours and a bigger and wider one in front of us. It was interesting to see, but I only stayed a few minutes. Then it was time to sleep.

Saturday was our last half day on the river. We had a 6:30 wake up again. At 7:30 we disembarked for our visit to the Three Gorges Dam. We boarded a bus to take us to the site and then a shuttle for the last part. When we crossed the river on the bus, we could see the locks from the front. 

From the top of the hill, we could see them from above, which was interesting. To get up the hill, there is a series of five escalators. We were all happy to learn about that. It seemed like a lot of the time on the hill was to allow a shopping opportunity. We were given half an hour to look at one view and the model of the dam and the rest of the building, which turned out to be a shop. The Chinese are very proud of the dam, which controls the water level, provides electricity, and lifts ships. (I think that means moving them from one level to the other through the locks.)

After returning to the boat, we set sail and went through the third gorge. It was a beautiful day to go through it, as the air was clear and the sun wasn’t too bright on one side.

At 12:15, we arrived at the Yichang port. We foreigners had thought we could get a taxi on arrival, but Leo said there wouldn’t be any taxis or buses. He did say there might be black taxis (people who drive their car and pick up passengers for money) and maybe a minibus. He offered to see if his friend would be willing to drive us. The British women and I took him up on that; the Italians didn’t want to pay the price and held out for something cheaper. There was a minibus that they must have gotten on, as they were not in the parking lot when we went out. I wondered how much it cost—if it was much less than what we paid the driver. But we were happy to have the security of knowing we had transportation and didn’t have to worry about how we would get to town.

Yangtze River (8-10)

I embarked on the Victoria 2 Wednesday evening. After checking in, I relaxed in my air conditioned room for over an hour. 

I was surprised at how nice the room was. In addition to being spacious, every room has a small balcony. Then I went out to explore the ship. There’s not much to see, as it’s a basic ship without many extras. I went to the top deck and was exercising there when Leo, the social coordinator, came to take me down for his orientation for English speakers. There were five of us: two young women from England and an Italian couple. There were 145 Chinese passengers. After the orientation, I returned to my room to have it confirmed that I did, indeed, not have a roommate. I had booked a room to share with another female to avoid paying the 75% single supplement and had wondered whether there would be one. So I had the room to myself.

At 9:00 PM, the ship set sail. I went to the top deck to watch us leave and to see the view of the city lights from the river. There were about 50 others on deck, too. It was fun to watch the city disappear as we moved down the river.

At 6:30 Thursday morning, morning music began so we would wake up for breakfast at 7:00. Meals were served buffet style and included both Western and Chinese food. As we expected, the five foreigners were assigned to sit together along with three Chinese passengers. When I approached the table, it was obvious which seats were for the foreigners, as there were five sets of utensils and three sets of chopsticks. We asked for chopsticks, and after a few meals, they were put on the lazy Susan for us, but we always had utensils, not chopsticks, at our places.

At 8:00 we disembarked for our tour to Fengdu, the city of ghosts. This was the only included shore excursion on the trip. There was an English-speaking guide for the five of us. She was very good—spoke English well and provided a lot of information. Fengdu is the home of ghosts/spirits. According to legend, it is where the devil lives. Good spirits go to heaven, and evil goes to Fengdu. It is built on a hill with the main pagoda at the top. 

Outside the bottom entrance is a statue of the spirit of good. Kindness is the way to have a good life and avoid hell. The spiritual focus is Taoism. Pillows before altars have the yin/yang symbol. Yin is female and evil; yang is male and good.

At the top of another hill is a statue of the head of the Jade Emperor.

In one place there are three bridges. In the middle is the Bridge over Troubled Waters. This is the path for entering the area. You should take an odd number of steps over the bridge. As we crossed the bridge, a photo was taken of each of us. When leaving, you can cross on the silver bridge or the gold bridge. The silver one is for wealth; the gold one is for longevity. Our guide suggested a third way to cross for good health: walk over the gold bridge taking as many steps as possible. We all followed her.

Going up the path to the top temple and pagoda there are demon guardians on both sides. After visiting one temple, you walk along a street and are not to look back. When entering gate, men stepped over with their left foot, women with their right.

One building features hell. There are demons guarding the image of the king of the dead. 

On the sides of the central altar are the torture chambers. These depict all kinds of tortures in hell.

Originally built about 2000 years ago, most of the buildings in Fengdu were reconstructed in the 1980s after being destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Our guide used this terminology; a sign referred to it as the middle of the ___. (I forget the words used to refer to that period of time.) The Jade Emperor and another building were just completed in 2011.

A special symbol of Fengdu is a character found only there. It combines the characters for “only kindness makes peace.” If you purchased the photo taken of you crossing the Bridge over Troubled Waters, you also got a keychain with this character. I decided to purchase the photo, which I usually don’t do.

The original city Fengdu was flooded when the dam was completed and is now underwater. On the opposite side of the river is new Fengdu, where people who were displaced by the changed river live now.

The river is low now for the summer season. This is controlled by the dam so that there will not be flooding during the rainy season. In winter, it is much higher.

Before lunch we had the captain’s welcome reception. Everyone was given free champagne, and there were snacks. I sat with the Italians. A Chinese family came over to do welcome toasts. The woman had her son, age 10, tell us about Guanzhou, their home.

After lunch and relaxing on the boat for a few hours, it was time for the optional afternoon tour to Shibaozhai. That one hadn’t been listed in my itinerary, but I decided to go. The temple on top of the cliff was built in 1572. Ninety years later (1662), the pagoda was built in on the side of the cliff as a way to get up to the temple. The two structures have a total of ten levels, which become smaller as they go up. The circular staircase also becomes narrower. We didn’t go to the very top level, as only a few people could be there at once and it was time to return to the boat.

The structures were built with no nails, making Shibaozhai one of the world’s eight largest singular construction buildings. They are also among the oldest buildings in China to have survived without being reconstructed. To get to the pagoda, there is a long, wide suspension bridge that shook when the crowd of people walked on it. 

As the river rises over the years, the pagoda will be flooded. So the local people have built a barrier to protect it from flooding.

There’s a small temple on the island. It has a special bridge here has a very steep arch. It should be crossed with three, six, or nine steps. This takes some planning, as it takes one large step to get onto the bridge.

The tour was interesting, but it was especially crowded at the pagoda. More people arrived after we did; so climbing up the pagoda was rushed. There wasn’t time to really look around. However, it wasn’t so crowded when we walked over the bridge and to the bottom of the pagoda; so that was good. From the top, I could see a steady stream of people crossing the bridge. We passed a number of foreigners, who were probably doing the river cruise as part of a China tour, which made me glad I was with my small Chinese group. Tillie, whom we had met at the reception, walked and chatted with me part of the way up. She used to be an English teacher and is now a department secretary and teaches a little.

Later I met David, age 10. He wanted to ask if I would take a photo with him but couldn’t quite do it. So I helped him, and his father took a photo. Then he walked with me the rest of the time. When we were going up the stairs, he took my arm to assist me. He wanted to take a couple photos of me for me; so I let him, as this is important to Chinese people. His English is good enough that we were able to chat quite a bit. It’s experiences like these that make me happy to be with this group.

Friday morning wake up was at 6:15. I joined the group going on the optional tour to White Emperor City. (Those who didn’t join the tour could sleep half an hour longer.) This was the optional tour I knew about. Again, I was the only foreigner from the ship to go, but I joined a group from another ship. They were a Chinese-American family and a couple from El Salvador and Colombia. They said there were other foreigners on their ship, but they didn’t join the tour. When we disembarked, we walked up the stairs to get to the top of the cliff. Fortunately, after ascending a few sets of stairs—about half way up, there were escalators to the top. There we walked along the inside of the wall. The original, 600-year-old city gate is there. It was going to be submerged in the flooding after the dam was built; so they took it apart and rebuilt it at the higher level.

The “city” is on an island, which was a peninsula prior to the dam. Now it is connected to the mainland by a long bridge. 

From the bridge we had good views of the Yangtze to one side and another river that branches off it to the other. It was a hazy morning, which added to the atmosphere but made photography difficult.

After walking uphill and across the small island, we were at the viewpoint from which we could see the view that is on the back of the 10 yuan note. It’s the first of the Three Gorges and is considered to be the most beautiful. However, since it was hazy, it was not the most beautiful like in the picture, but it had a different kind of beauty.

Our guide told us that the white emperor is a story about a white dragon that turned itself into a general. Realizing that this man was really not a man, another general declared himself to be the emperor and called himself the White Emperor. The brochure says that someone reported seeing a white dragon, which is a symbol for the emperor and then a warlord declared himself to be the emperor, calling himself the White Emperor. It is also said that the city was once covered by a white mist, like an emperor should be. This is a very revered story in Chinese history; so the site is very important to the Chinese. It was crowded with Chinese tourists.

The temple is at the top of the mountain. Up 300 steps, and this is after walking up to the steps to get there . The white town (Baidi Town) was written about by many famous poets. 

Outside the temple gate there is a poem written in Mao’s calligraphy and one in Zhou Enlai’s calligraphy.