Guess where we are? Cruising on the Yangtze river! How cool is that?There was an Earthquake the last morning we were in Xian. I am consistent. I slept through an earthquake in Hawaii and I slept through this earthquake. As she did the early morning docking at Kiln Wanchun.
I never cease to be amzed at the delicacy with which these ships can be maneuvered. You can barely detect docking even if you are watching for it. On the other hand, if you are the first ship to dock at any given port, the subsequent ships just pull up and tie off next to you. so this morning i am sitting on our balcony with the second ship an arm lengths away. At least this morning we had no laundry out on display. I took a walking tour yesterday and when i returned my clothes were as wet as if i had been out in a rain storm. 95 degrees and 99% humidity. One sweats and even in rooms with ac there is a dampness that permeates everything. Left them out to dry in the overnight breeze.
We are on the Blue Whale, a 5 deck ship with capacity of 208 with 214 on board. (Sic) We are the only native English speakers. There are a group of 20 French travelers, a handful of Italians, and four Swiss, one of whom has been trekking over Asia since January. He is twenty something and seems fluent enough in English. I met him on our walk yesterday. The rest are domestic tourists.
The river views vary from terraced green hills to immense cities (some of which Google maps seems unaware of) . Last night as we went by one there was a great fireworks display in the downtown district. never did figure out what city that was. In a few hours we will arrive in the three gorges area which is the focus of the trip. This river has been defined by the damn which was used to raise the water level, control flooding and produce hydropower. Whole cities and historic sites were either moved or just flooded. 1.3 million people had to be relocated. Here is what is all that is left of one farming village. Most are completele submerged under many meters of water.
So 5 monks are driving by in a car and stop to ask David while he was on a walking tour, "how old are you?" Shouldn't they have to take a vow of silence?or at least not rudeness. Plus children stand by my table when i'm in the dining room and stare at me. If I smile at them, at best they run to their mothers, at worst start to cry. Women in china retire at 55 and men at 60 so the two of us are novelties not only for our number of children and grandchildren but for the fact that we are still, and for the forsble future, working. Comments about our age are frequent.
In case you haven't figured it out we're going to try using black when Melanie is writing and red when David does. Should save on parenthetical comments. we've also given up on keeping a strict chronology. Some things just need time to process, or require photos or extensive typing that we can't do on the spur of the moment.
Last night was the welcome reception with champagne. Sue and Ellie , PA where are you? As is tradition in China, as soon as our glass was half empty ( or half full) it was refilled. I had a great time.
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