our cruise is coming to an end...

Today is our last day on the Victoria Princess (insert sad face here). We went through the 5 stage ship lock at the Three Gorges Dam the day before yesterday. It took nearly 4 hours to get through them all. We had previously had a 2 hour tour looking around the dam site, we drove on a bus to the top of the dam and had some great overlooks of the locks. So..by bus we went over and past the dam in about 10 minutes, but by boat, through the locks it took all evening.

 

We are getting much better at bartering. The class didn't teach us much technique, but we learned the phrase for "that's too expensive". We're finding the best technique is to just walk out. If they really want to sell it to us for our price they chase us outside the store with the calculator (to continue bartering) and the item we were looking at all wrapped up and bagged.

 

We learned to play Mahjong the other night. I think they taught us the most simple version (we didn't get to use the North, South, East, West, Flowers, Dragons tiles). The version we learned was similar to Rummy 500. We get to play again this afternoon after we learn how to make dumplings. They crew have a very difficult job of serving our meals, cleaning our rooms, and entertaining us. They have put on several fashion and talent shows (based on the chinese culture) throughout the trip.

 

Sailing through the Three Gorges was magnificent. It was rather foggy, but that made the area mystical. We got on a smaller boat (glass top) and explored a lesser gorge so we were able to be a little more up close and personal with the steep jagged mountains that line the now flooded gorge. The water level is almost at the max the dam can hold. It can hold water up to 175 meters above sea level and we are traveling on water at 165 meters above sea level. So, we're essentially seeing the completed effect of the Three Gorges Dam. The guides joke that they will have submarine tours in the future to see the old Three Gorges area before it was flooded.

 

When we disembark for shore excursions our local guides all tell us about the new home the government gave them since their town was flooded. They talk about how much bigger and better their new home and their new town is.

 

Well, I'm going to sign off before I lose the connection.  Happy Easter!

 

(tomorrow we visit some Pandas in Chongqing and fly to Xi'an where we'll see the Terracotta Soldiers...more updates when we can!)

 

 

 

 

Greetings from Shanghai!

We weren't Shanghai'd, we came willingly and are having a blast!  Adrian and I arrived in Shanghai two days ago and have enjoyed the assistance of a private tour guide for most of our stay thus far. We did adventure for a full day on our own and felt pretty proud of ourselves.

 

Our tour guide, Cindy, picked us up at the airport and showed us around the city a bit then got us squared away at our hotel. Yesterday, we successfully navigated the Metro system and ran a few "errands" which included booking a hotel room for later in our trip near the ferry terminal (where we'll take the ferry to Japan). We found a hotel with a very nice man who spoke no english at all. With a combination of sign language (hands together by our ears for 'sleeping'), pointing to "I'd like to make a reservation" in the phrasebook, and a calendar, we got a tour of the rooms, picked the one we want and made a reservation. We paid $22 for a very nice room with a TV and computer. Yesterday we ate lunch for less than a dollar. We are lovin' the cost of living around here. Our four star hotel stay downtown for the past two nights cost $70/night and included breakfast.

 

(The breakfast buffet certainly provided a lot of interesting options...this morning I had some green glop! Literally. It tasted like green tea and had the consistency of mochi which is a very glutinous (super sticky) rice. It looked like something from a Dr. Seuss book.)

 

Today, our tour guide (who goes by Cindy) picked us up at 9am and took us around the Yu Yuan Garden, a fresh water pearls wholesale shop where they cracked open an oyster and showed us 17 pearls inside, a silk museum (on how silk is made) and then to the Shanghai Museum. It worked out well to have her book our tix for the Yu Yuan Garden and the Shanghai museum in advance. There were long lines at both and we slid right in. The other two stops were lures for tourists to get us to buy Shanghai products, but it was fun to see how silk is made! I did purchase some pearls. They were such a deal! The Yu Yuan Garden is a 400 year old (after being re-built several times) home and garden built by a rich retired man. He was a treasurer in Chongqing and took his big money to Shanghai when he retired to built a little world he could be ruler in. It was a fun place to tour traditional chinese buildings and gardens. 

 

We did a one hour speed tour with head sets in the Shanghai Museum. Adrian is really good at speed museum visiting. We covered a lot of it. There were bronze cast cooking items, bowls, wine goblets, etc from 1100 B.C. I can't even comprehend how long ago that was.  It's a really good museum. I recommend it to those of you heading to Shanghai in the future.

 

Right now, we have boarded our Yangtze River Boat cruise. We're about to pull away from Shanghai for 9 days of the river life. We've got a great room with a little balcony. We plan to do a lot of sightseeing and relaxing. Tomorrow morning there are tai chi lessons before breakfast and chinese bartering lessons after breakfast. We've had one very unsuccessful attempt at bartering so far. We can use the lessons.

 

All in all, we are doing great in China and looking forward to more adventures.

Spring is in the ground!

People say Spring is in the air, but I disagree. It's still pretty chilly here. I do are Spring in the ground. There are many fun green things sprouting up from the dingy, brown, tired ground. Pretty soon Boston will be covered in beautiful blossoms!