China - Part 5 - Cruising the Yangtze, continued

 

Day 4 of the Yangtze Cruise included a visit to the Shibaozhai Pagoda (or Shibao Pagoda).  This was our last day of cruising the Yangtze, as we disembarked the next morning in Chongqing.

 Going to see the Shibao Pagoda

Shibao Pagoda

(Sam and Narene)  

The pagoda was built against the rocks, so only three walls were man-made.  

The windows of this pagoda are round, which is unique for a pagoda; 

and the temple walls are painted red with colorful decorations.  

There are 12 tiers reaching 184 feet built against the mountain.  

The bottom nine tiers were originally built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), 

while the top three tiers that extend above the mountain were constructed in 1956.  

Because of the three Gorges Reservoir, 

the pagoda became surrounded by the rising waters forming an island.

 

 Entrance to the Shibao Pagoda

We climbed the more than 100 stairs to the top of the 12 floors. 
Although the outside of the pagoda looked impressive,
the inside looked like this with steep stairs winding up to the top. 

This is a view we saw when we reached the top of the pagoda.

Another view from the top of the Shibao Pagoda.

The stairs going up to the pagoda were inside,
but these were the stairs on the outside
for going back down. 

Kui Star Pavilion
located at the top of the
Shibao Pagoda area.

Shibao Pagoda area.

Sam walking over this small bridge.
According to legend,
if any person can walk over the bridge in three steps,
they will have good fortune.
Sam did it!

Shibaozhai Liumi Stone Legend
This legend is about a stone cave from which rice flows,
and there was enough rice only for the monks.
Later on, a greedy monk desired more rice,
so he dug a bigger hole;
but then there was no more rice and the monk went hungry.
The moral of the story is to be content with what we have.

The Dafosi Bridge in Chongqing
It spans 1,480 feet over the Yangtze River
with six lanes for traffic.

Souvenirs and crafts were available on shore,
but I especially appreciated this mother
letting me take her photo with her baby.
 

Here are some photos taken on our ship:

A visit with the ship's captain.

 The dining room where we ate.

 

The pool on the ship.

 Artisan on board the ship
who painted inside small "snuff" bottles and jewelry.
I bought one of his necklaces
and watched him paint the pink flowers inside the small bottle.

 

 I had my picture taken with the young girl and boy who
were assigned to serve us at our table.
I am wearing the necklace the artisan painted for me.

 

I went to a demonstration of how to tie scarves
in a variety of ways.
Here I am wearing a scarf tied using one of the techniques we were shown.

Some of the styles demonstrated were quite unique. 

While I was doing interesting things on board the ship,

Sam had a new experience, too:

 three treatments combining acupuncture,

acupressure, and cupping. 

Crew Cabaret Show
It was interesting to see the different costumes representing the various dynasties
as they shared their musical talents.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

After breakfast on Saturday morning, April 29, we disembarked from our ship in Chongqing

where we had a brief tour of the city and visited the Chongqing Zoo to see the pandas

before flying to Beijing.

Pictures from this day will be in the next blog entry.

China – Part 5 – Cruising the Yangtze, #1

After breakfast on Tuesday, April 25th, we left Zhangjiajie and had about a 6-hour bus ride to Yichang City (Maoping), our departure port, where we boarded a five-star luxury ship, M. V. Century Legend, for our cruise on the Yangtze River. Our assigned room was very comfortable with a personal deck. 

Day 1

Our luggage had come by bus
and was brought on board the ship and taken to our room.

Fun For Less had provided blue yarn for the luggage of all
who were assigned to the "blue" bus. 
The other two buses were assigned yellow or red yarn.

Michael Wilcox had been scheduled as the educator for this tour,
but he was unable to come on this trip because of a severe back problem.
Rob and Diane Prince were the replacement educators for our tour.
However, Michael had taped three of his presentations
that we listened to on the bus as we traveled. 

Diane had prepared presentations for a series of slides which Rob had put together,
and these were given in the theater room on the ship:

(1) Bill Taylor – One American Man's Impact on China. 

(2) Bill Taylor – Chinese Discoveries and Inventions That Have Changed the World.

Group Photo
Three Gorges Dam

Stanley South, Sam Ireland, Pat and Robert Barker, (hidden Susan Horsley), Narene Ireland, Paul and Susan Gilbert, (hidden William Horsley), Paul and Cherie Broadwater, Rob and Diane Prince, Wilford and Marci Farnsworth, Jeanie Larson, Rene Jensen, Mary and James Halvorsen, Patsy and Albert Harmer, Zeke and Angela Dumke, Paul and Shirlene Huber, Jody and Michael Farley, Ray (our guide)
[kneeling in front]: Chris Angle, Gayle and Kent Crookston

 Day 2
This was day 12 of our tour.
We went on shore and boarded a bus to take us to see the locks
on the Three Gorges Dam,
which is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River.
It is the world's largest power station
in terms of installed capacity (22,500 megawatts).
It was a very impressive tour. 

Three Gorges Dam

Each of the five ship locks can raise the ship 60 feet upward by water,
and the passage through these 5-stage locks takes almost four hours.

 

I read that the ship's locks of the Panama Canal "pale in comparison to this dam."

We watched large freighters go through the locks.
Originally, our ship was supposed to experience going through the locks, too;
however, because of the back log of ships
due to earlier maintenance issues,
only larger freighters were going through at this time.

In this overview of the dam,
you can see the escalator that took us up for a
bird's eye view of the dam.

 A diorama of the dam
and the five locks seen at the upper right.

The shiplifts (seen in red) are a kind of elevator
that can lift vessels of up to 3,000 tonnes,
at a fraction of the time to transit the staircase locks.

Tree Transfusion
Several places we saw similar bags attached to trees
to provide treatment of some sort through a hose.

On our way from the dam back to the bus,
we saw these workers pulling weeds out of the grass.

Passed pretty flowers.

And bamboo.

After our tour of the dam, we returned to the ship.
We are looking like tourists
complete with our earphones for the group discussions,
our Fun For Less name tags,
and my big embroidered tote bag (that I got on this trip).
(Narene and Sam)

Adjectives used to describe the scenery we saw along the Three Gorges:

"Spectacular, unique, mystic, and magical
. . . equal to the Grand Canyon."

Day 3

Excursion on a small boat to the Goddess Stream

Quoting our itinerary: 
"Today we will go through the Misty Gorge
where you will see exquisite peaks,
grotesquely shaped rocks  and silvery waterfalls."

Many Chinese in rural villages lost their homes when the dam was built,
and they were relocated to housing provided by the government.
Our guide said her parents only stayed a year or two in their relocated homes,
but missed the countryside and moved back to the country. 
Whereas, young people often moved to the cities.

On several occasions, we saw graves on the hillsides
similar to these small edifices.



Departing our ship for a land tour.

Sometimes, our ship would dock right next to other ships,
and planks were placed for us to walk through each ship
until we reached the walkway to disembark;
or when returning to our ship, reversing the order
passing through several other ships until we reached ours.
Ship personnel were stationed all along this route to
offer assistance if needed.

 

 Day 4 

We started our day with a shore excursion into Shenny Stream 
described as “one of the most beautiful places on Earth.”

 

Enjoying the scenery. 

We went on small boats that each held about a dozen passengers.
(Sam and Narene)

 

Our boat docked by a walkway leading to where music
and entertainment was provided for us.

 

The stage was formed with interlocking blocks
by the side of the river
where our boat had docked with nature all around us.

After returning to our ship, we continued our cruise.

We traveled through Wu Gorge with the
"lush mist enshrouded mountains,
including the legendary Twelve Peaks which rise up on both sides." 

We continued the cruise on to the "grandest gorge on the Yangtze,
the Qutang Gorge."
This spectacular gorge is the shortest and narrowest of the Three Gorges.

 

 

The following are photos taken on our Yangtze Cruise

 

 Coffins up high on the mountain side,

which was a common funeral custom in ancient times

for Yangtze River people to hang coffins on the cliffs.

 

Typical high-rise apartment and business buildings

toward the end of our cruise on the Yangtze.

These seemed to be almost identical to those in other cities we saw in China,

giving a much different landscape compared to what we saw in 2006. 

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Photos from our our last day cruising the Yangtze

will be in the next blog entry.