I woke up at 6:00 and wiggled my foot. No pain! Hallelujah!
We went up on deck and tried doing tai chi (Charlie said the Chinese called it taiji) with a few other ladies.
I loved it that I could more or less follow what they were doing since we'd learned the basic moves from Mr. Pong in Hawaii.
Breakfast was fine. They tried to prepare dishes for an international passenger list.
We took a tourist sanpan to get to the Shennong Streams where we would board even littler boats they called peapods. We saw people going to work on these little boats.
We took a million photos of the beautiful gorge scenery surrounding us. I just wish we had clearer skies for better photos.
When our sanpan arrived at Badong we transferred to the little peapod boats.
Our tour guide "Mary" comes from a nearby village and sang to us. She had a beautiful voice and sold CDs of village songs.
On the left was the largest river cave in the area. On the right is an ancient hanging coffin. Coffins were placed high up in the mountains to be closer to heaven.
Charlie told us that the original hanging coffins with all their artifacts have been sent to museums. These have been reconstructed for tourists. Again, I was thankful for my telephoto!
In the past, peapod boats had to be pulled with bamboo ropes by men because the river was too shallow. They were naked because of the heat and humidity. Our boats were oared by three or four extremely strong villagers but a couple of them demonstrated how the boats used to be pulled (with their clothes on however).
Mary mentioned how the Shennong Stream corn wine is 60% proof alcohol. I wonder what their liver looks like... or was it their kidneys that would be affected?
In the afternoon there was another snuff bottle demonstration, dinner and then a "minority" dance show. This Spanish looking dance was not what we expected.
I was feeling a bit like I was coming down with something so I drank a whole bottle of tea, some Airborne and more water. I figured I was probably dehydrated.
There were only three more actual days of touring. I needed to stay healthy.
I kept my fingers crossed.
We went up on deck and tried doing tai chi (Charlie said the Chinese called it taiji) with a few other ladies.
I loved it that I could more or less follow what they were doing since we'd learned the basic moves from Mr. Pong in Hawaii.
Breakfast was fine. They tried to prepare dishes for an international passenger list.
We took a tourist sanpan to get to the Shennong Streams where we would board even littler boats they called peapods. We saw people going to work on these little boats.
When our sanpan arrived at Badong we transferred to the little peapod boats.
Our tour guide "Mary" comes from a nearby village and sang to us. She had a beautiful voice and sold CDs of village songs.
On the left was the largest river cave in the area. On the right is an ancient hanging coffin. Coffins were placed high up in the mountains to be closer to heaven.
Charlie told us that the original hanging coffins with all their artifacts have been sent to museums. These have been reconstructed for tourists. Again, I was thankful for my telephoto!
Mary mentioned how the Shennong Stream corn wine is 60% proof alcohol. I wonder what their liver looks like... or was it their kidneys that would be affected?
In the afternoon there was another snuff bottle demonstration, dinner and then a "minority" dance show. This Spanish looking dance was not what we expected.
I was feeling a bit like I was coming down with something so I drank a whole bottle of tea, some Airborne and more water. I figured I was probably dehydrated.
There were only three more actual days of touring. I needed to stay healthy.
I kept my fingers crossed.
Beautiful photos; the gorge mountains remind me a bit of Hawaii's tall, green peaks.
ReplyDeleteI noticed in the old photo of naked men pulling the peapod boats, the water is blue. In your photos the river water is green. Is pollution causing the difference?
Your daily beer might be getting to you. Hope you feel better. Don't drink the green water or the 60% stuff!
DrumMajor
Ummm... I was rather enjoying that beer, actually. I don't know if it's pollution that caused the water color change. Could that just be in the photography? I don't know. The air was always rather gray on the days that we were on the Yangtze though.
DeleteAnother fascinating post, I am learning a lot about China, thank you Kay.
ReplyDeleteDenise
An English Girl Rambles
Qutang gorge has beautiful scenery. Good shots. I like the name for the peapod boats.
ReplyDeleteFantastic scenery and a real adventure on those little boats, Kay! I am enjoying this very much. :-)
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your trips so much, you give excellent commentary!Maybe a travel book or show in your future!!!
ReplyDeletebeautiful gorge
ReplyDeleteI think this is my favourite part of your tour so far, fabulous scenery.
ReplyDeleteglad to hear your ankle was ok too!
ReplyDeleteThis is all fascinating to read about and your pictures are really good. I have to wonder how they hung those coffins in ancient times. I'm glad your ankle was better.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful country and you're learning so much - and teaching us:-)
ReplyDeleteGoodness. What a unique and special experience this was. Amazing beauty. :)
ReplyDeleteFascinating.
ReplyDeleteMost of the guests onboard seem to be Asians. I recall in the 80s a coworker visited China and said it was cultural shock to see how poor the country is. A few years ago our inlaws visited China and couldn't stop raving how wonderful the trip was and said now they didn't care to visit anywhere else (being local Chinese). Thirty years between and what a world of difference. In fact a few years before the Olympics in Beijing in 2008, no one seriously thought China would be anywhere near the economic powerhouse it is today. However, I noticed several times in your trip posts you commented that the economy is not doing so well. I'd be interested how you formed that opinion. The big confusion outside of China is whether the Chinese economy is contracting and maybe ready for a hard fall despite record growth since the 90s. Even Japan met a similar fate, now China?
ReplyDeleteL...w
It was Charlie #1 who told us that the economy was not doing well right now. Charlie #2 also mentioned that it was hard to find jobs in certain cities. Charlie #1 said it was the "chicken flu" and economy that was the reason for the low tourist numbers on the cruise ship. I'm suspecting it was more the "chicken (bird) flu" that was the real reason for foreign tourists not showing up.
DeleteI wanted to let you know that I read all of your posts but mostly on my IPAD which makes reading the word verification very difficult so I can't comment..Michelle
ReplyDeleteThank you, Michelle. Actually, I don't have word verification on right at this moment. I just set it whenever the spam totally unhinges me.
Deletedoing tai chi in china-it doesn't get much better than that...
ReplyDeleteEvery day you leave us in suspense about the health situation. So far so good.
ReplyDeleteHanging coffins! Goats standing on a little boat. YOU on a little boat in the river! What an adventure day!
That scenery is just beautiful. To me Chinese mountains look other worldly. They seem more worn. So glad the foot healed nicely since you have so much walking to do though the boat ride had to be beneficial.
ReplyDeleteHope your illness is temporary. 60% alcohol might be the cause or just might kill any bug trying to get a hold on you. Would be a tough call.
You will never know how very much we are enjoying!
ReplyDeleteAloha, Kay