Elizabeth goes up the Yangtze without a paddle PART ONE April 28-May 1, 2011

Or maybe it was down the Yangtze? Yeah, that's it. Travel is such an excellent way to learn geography! I had four days and three nights on the Yangtze River to learn even more.

Here's a map for reference

Rakesh, Hare and Vivian came with me. I thought it would be nice to let them tag along seeing as how it was a school break. Actually, the trip was Evelyn's idea. She is the mother of Vivian's friend, Joy. She, her husband David and Joy came with us. Thanks for such a great suggestion!

China Eastern was our airline of choice out of Shanghai. The two hour flight was fine, but I swear there was someone smoking in the bathroom. Really.  We arrived safe and sound at Chongqing, our port of embarkation for the cruise. I know. Chongqing sounds like a made-up name.

Chongqing is the fastest growing city in China, latest population count 31. 4 million and change. Their municipal bird is the crane.  Due to Chongqing's foggy weather, it was used as a capital city during WWII (the enemy couldn't find them to bomb them) and as headquarters for Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government. Now you've had a history lesson, too. We didn't have time to tour Chongqing, just drive through it to the pier.

The pier

Vendors for those last minute snacks

Our ship, the Victoria Katarina, with the world's longest gangplank

Yep, the river was a little low.
Note the many municipal birds in the background.

The staircase down to the Yangtze.

Yep, the staircase was a little long.

Note the lack of railing.

Rakesh and Hare taking a break. 

Yep, the walk out to the ship was a little lengthy.

You have to be strong and brave to take this cruise!

Why did I feel we were being culled?

Gratuitous photo of my son

Getting closer to our ship

Vivian and Joy

 A porter carrying bags, not mine!

Ah, yeah, another porter did. I was glad I packed light.

The brass band on the dock welcoming us.

An even closer look at the Victoria Katarina

The Victoria Katarina belongs to a fleet of seven ships, the largest fleet of five star ships on the Yangtze, according to the China National Tourism Administration. OK, I believe it. For those of you who are really nosy interested, check out the cruise line's website http://www.victoriacruises.com/

Our cabin

I didn't have to put it to the cat-swinging test. I could tell at a glance. It was small, 

but very clean and made excellent use of space.

Biggest bonus-every cabin had its own private balcony.

Check out this feature.

Fold-down shelf for bedside reading.

I also liked having the switches for the lights and TV right there.
It's the little things.

Our head

I knew you'd want to see it.

Now for the public areas

The atrium 

The dining room
We had assigned seating, which was great.

Every meal was a buffet, except for the Captain's Farewell Banquet.
You'll see that later.

The food was fine with enough variety to please everybody.

Salads

Dessert

Only the Chinese recognize that the tomato is really a fruit.

After all, they are called "cherry" tomatoes.

Chongqing at night as we set sail.

A local party boat heading out, too.

The next morning, we woke up to this near Fengdu.

I knew we were in an area prone to fog, but I wasn't sure if all this was fog...

Never mind! On to our first shore excursion, Fengdu.

Old and new

Another steep climb.
Can you make out Vivian and Hare?

Yes, to the far right. Both were wearing white tops.
Remember me saying earlier about having to be brave and strong for this cruise?

The shuttle bus that took us up to the village of Fengdu.

Safety first!

What is Fengdu, you ask, besides the number one tourist attraction on the upper Yangtze River? Excellent question. Here you go, copied directly from another website:

Located on the north bank of the Yangtze River, Fengdu is an ancient city with a long history, known as the "Ghost City" to most Chinese people, it got its reputation as the "Ghost City" in the Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D. 25 - A.D. 220). Two officials from the imperial court: Wang Fangping and Yin Changsheng, got bored with the political life in the court and came to Mt. Minshan outside Fengdu City to practice Taoist teachings. Both of them later became immortals by carrying out self-cultivation. This story widely spread and Mt. Minshan become famous. When combined together, their surnames Yin and Wang, sound very much like "King of Hell" in Chinese, hence the people began to call Fengdu the "Ghost City".

Now photographed from the ship's handouts. I know, how lazy am I? No, there is no correct answer to that question. 

I love how I learn more after the trip.
(I hate how I had to change the font. Technical difficulties.) 

The original town of Fengdu is now completely submerged because of the Three Gorges Dam reservoir. The people relocated in 2003. The temples, what was left of them after the Cultural Revolution destroyed 60% of them, were safe because they were on Ming Mountain. I took notes when our guide was speaking. Really! Don't make me photograph them and show you. 

The shuttle bus took us to the base of Mingshan or Ming Mountain."Shan" means mountain. I actually know the character in Chinese, too!

We still had some climbing to do.

This area of the country is affectionately known as the one of the 
"Three Furnaces of the Yangtze". 

With temperatures hovering in the low 30s and humidity quite high, 

Fengdu definitely lived up to that moniker. All this heat at 9:00am. Woohoo!

Those two emperors, Yin and Wang.

Like many structures on Mingshan, these were reconstructions.

Old World techniques

Can you make out our ship way below in the fog?

 Naihe Bridge

Hard to tell, but there were three stone bridges, all built during the Ming Dynasty, about 500 years ago. The middle bridge was considered to be a judgement bridge. Bad people crossing over it would fall into the little pool, a symbol of a bloody future awaiting them in Hell. Nice. Husband and wife were supposed to cross the longevity bridge (on the left) hand in hand to ensure togetherness in the afterlife. 

Detail of a bridge

A "guardian"

As I said, Fengdu Ghost Village was the biggest tourist spot on the upper Yangtze, 

so there were a few hokey attractions.

This was supposed to be a test to determine the quality of a potential husband. If a man could move the 300 kilo rock and balance it on the other, he was deemed suitable marriage material.

Scroll fast and it looks like a video.

All I can say is thank goodness for momentum, 

otherwise there would be a ton of single people in Fengdu!

Another reconstructed temple

Colourful detail

Moving along to yet another temple, the Baizi Temple.

The courtyard

The three Bodhisattvas

They each have a unique role with regards to children-one protects them,

 one gives wisdom and the third bestows good personality traits.

Line up kids!

Vivian and Joy leaving the Baizi Temple.

Let's hope they got their fill from the Bodhisattvas.

Detail of wall

This is not what it seems.

This was a naughty boy being spanked by his grandfather.

That doesn't sound very good either. 

Anyway, every culture has its mischievous boy. Nowadays, with the one child policy and the all the little emperors and empresses, this type of corporal punishment would never happen.

Other statues along the way

These ones were demons.

Entrance to the Palace of the Netherly [sic] Emperor

I guess they meant "Underworld".

Mural on entrance wall

After you went through that hall, you came out into a courtyard.

(If memory serves me correctly...I hope it does! We saw so much in such a short time.)

More activities for tourists. I tell you, we were busy, busy, busy!

The story here is that if you can balance on one foot (left for males, right for females) for three seconds, you will have a long life. Sounded good to me.

Hare having his go.

Yours truly

Vivian

Entrance to the temple housing the Netherly Emperor

The big fella himself

Nearby small statues depicting the gruesome tortures of Hell.

Not suitable for children. Or grown-ups, for that matter.

Bad angle, I know. Maybe it gives the photo an edgy look emphasizing the horror?

Actually, this diorama was behind a screen with cut-out holes for photo taking. 

Getting a decent angle with my camera was impossible. It's easier to just tilt your head.

Back out in the courtyard
The Tower of Harmoniousness (that just rolls off the tongue)

Closer look

The only original structure left

Front on

Detail of doorway

Time for us to head back to the ship.
We walked back down the mountain to the shuttle buses.

I did mention that this was a steep hill, right?

Other local ships off in the mist

The Victoria Katarina and its loooong gangplank
at the end of the steep staircase.
This definitely counted as exercise.

 This was my favourite part-sloped, slippery metal with no railings and stinky mud below.

Boarding the ship

I loved this.

I would have paid big yuan to see someone fall in this net.

Ahhhh! The refreshing towel

 Cruising to our next shore excursion
That's right, we had TWO excursions on the same day.

Bridge along the way

The Yangtze is definitely a working river.

Our next stop rising up out of what I hoped was fog.

Look carefully and you can make out a 12 storey red pagoda on the left. It is set into the rock which it uses as a wall. If you look a little to the right, you can pick out the white roof of the temple. This is Shibaozi, situated on an 200 metre (700 foot) rocky hill that juts out into the river. The hill is said to be the creation of the goddess Nuwo, who caused a rockslide while she was redecorating the sky after a fierce battle between two warring dukes.

The temple was built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1736-96) and followers had to climb chains to get up. Talk about a test of faith! A nine storey wooden pagoda was added in 1819 so that visitors to the temple would not have to use the chain. That was a nice gesture. In 1956, three more storeys were added, making it the 12 storey pagoda we have today. The pagoda, one of the architectural gems of China, is also called "The Pearl of the Yangtze". 

Enough! Bring on the pictures!

We docked and, you guessed it, walked up a steep hill.

It's hard to tell, but our ship is rafted up with others. Ours was on the very outside edge.
We had to walk through the bowels of three other ships to get to the dock.
Little did we know how important this set-up would be later.

Looking at Shibaozhai

I love this shot.

The new village with a sign showing how high the water can rise.

The old village was submerged in the Yangtze River reservoir.

Village street

The inhabitants were ready for us and our tourist dollars.

Yes, the villagers were selling rocks and tourists were obviously buying.

Gate to the shopping area

Grandchild and grandmother

I just liked the colours.

A little way down the street, we came across a funeral.

Good thing I had gone on the Shanghai Funeral Home and Museum tour!

The smoke is from all the firecrackers that were set off.

Yep, just a few.

Whoever was in charge of the firecrackers literally unrolled a huge wheel of them.
I had never seen that before.

Funeral tributes

The mourners and gawkers curious, like me.

Note the band and white funeral flower decorations.

Just like the museum displays!

Another angle

The male family members were the ones with the white sash tied around their heads.

We continued onward.

Courtyard leading up to the suspension bridge that stretched over to Shibaozhai.

 Uncle Homer! What were you doing here?!

Beautiful entrance to the suspension bridge
Yes, it was bouncy and yes, you know I had to jump and make it really sway.

 How could I resist? Look at it!

 I read this after I had crossed.

Right, dribs and drabs. 

For the record, I didn't jump when there were other people on the bridge.

Moving along...

Teaser pagoda

The real deal

Now with the Reluctant Relocator

Suddenly, the photo is more interesting.
Note the wall. More on it soon.

Close up of the windows

Fantastic shape!

The yellow entrance gate was decorated with lions and dragons. The inscription invited visitors to ascend into a "Little Fairyland". (Credit to the ship's handouts)

Ascend we did.

The staircase was so steep it was almost a ladder. 

Was I sensing a theme with these excursions?
There were 99 steps, a number that signifies "forever". How appropriate.

The pagoda was constructed without using any iron nails. The original mulberry wood pillars remain, I was told, because the wood is bitter and pests don't like its taste.

Decorative symbols

Double longevity, if I remember correctly, and I probably don't.

I know it's double something good!

Views from the round windows on the way up

Love the detail and colours

See the big grey wall with the trees on top?
I was standing on it a few photos back.
This is the wall that will protect the site from the rising waters
that will eventually make this rocky hill an island.

Our guide explaining the statues.

Now I will tell you. Thank goodness I took notes.

This fellow was a fierce warrior. His wife was the one behind him. They were known as Father and Mother Bamanzi (I know my spelling is all wrong). They had lots of kids.

The end.

Clearly I need to work on my note-taking skills. I must have been all toured-out.

Moving along...

Buddha's face carved into the rock wall of the pagoda.
Look carefully, you'll see it.

The outdoor staircase
So, our climb could have been more challenging after all.

The top!

Having seen the Buddhist red pagoda temple, we then proceeded to the Taoist temple honouring General Qin Liangyu (1576-1648) who fought bravely against the Manchu forces. (Thank you, ship's handout.)

But first, the Duck Hole 

I know you're asking; here's the information:

It is said that as spring turns to summer, if you take a live duck and drop it through the hole, it will quickly reappear swimming in the Yangtze below. 

I asked myself, "What if wasn't spring yet? Where did the duck go? How long was it in limbo?" This is the sort of thing that keeps me up at night.

Must have been a slim duck.

Entrance to the temple

Jade Emperor first
aka the most powerful god

The General

Another courtyard

The General's wife 

The view of the bridge from the very top.
To think that we had walked up this high.

Time to head back to the ship

Some local cuties

The red dot on her forehead is the village version of our sticker on the 

hand for young school children who've done a good job that day. Very economical.

Back at the dock

Locals washing

They didn't want their faces showing. Again, I complied.

***** LAST MINUTE DRAMA ON THE HIGH SEAS*****

Pay attention now!

This actually happened!

Remember how I told you that the Victoria Katarina was rafted up with other ships and we were on the very outside edge? Sure you do. Scroll backwards. I'll wait.

Yep, I did. However, when our group returned to the dock, the passengers on the ship closest to the dock did not want to let us through theirs to get to ours. Apparently, our ship had prevented theirs, a local ship, and I mean local, from leaving. They had had to wait for four hours. I don't know why the captains hadn't communicated better (men!), or why they had to wait for our group's return, but the upshot was we were standing on the dock a good half hour while it was sorted out. 

Of course I took photos.

Discreetly.

Our tour guide in the yellow T-shirt trying to reason with the passengers.

No employees from that ship in sight.

An employee from our ship trying to board the "difficult" ship so he could negotiate.

I wanted to take a video, but I thought that would have made the situation worse.
The arguing and the din were incredible!

Finally, they came to an agreement. In typical Chinese fashion, the passengers wanted an apology. Our ship's captain gave it and we were released.

The Victoria Katarina pulling out so other ships could do the same.

Our ship did come back for us, obviously. All's well that ends well. Let me make this clear, this was just ONE day. Yes, one day. I felt that I had definitely earned my champagne at the Captain's Welcome Party that evening. 

I don't know about you, but I need a break. I am tired of looking at this thing and I bet you are, too. 

Take five.