July 24 - Pandas!

July 24:  Disembark - Chonqing - Pandas - Off to Xian

Today was largely a travel day, but not a day without "oh my" photo ops and without stories! We were scheduled to be off the ship by 6:40 am so we were up early and I took the snapshot at left off our balcony....one last look from the Viking Emerald. On the bus ride to our first destination our local guide Molly had a great wit to her as she told story after story while educating us about the city. Some quick facts.....Chonquing is THE largest city in China, it is over 100 times the size of New York City! And is populated by over 35 million people. They are known for three "hots." (1) hot and spicy food, (2) hot weather, and (3) hot women! And the women she went on to tell us are not only hot in way of attractiveness but are spicy in their attitudes and Chonquing women are typically known as "dragon ladies" which means they ALWAYS get their way and are very bossy (Kim subsequently remarked that it's nice to know she is NOT a bitch, but is a dragon lady!.....she said it, not me). The men are typically "soft ear" - which translates to being henpecked! There are EIGHT international airports and 13,000 bridges in the city! 

Our first destination was the zoo to see the famous Chinese Panda bears. We'd been told onboard that we were going early to (a) avoid the crowds, (b) avoid the heat, (c) it was the best time to see the Pandas because they'd be up and eating breakfast, and finally (d) we had a 10:45 am flight to catch. On the bus Molly told us that we "might" see the Pandas because breakfast wasn't until later in the morning. So we were not counting on a great visit - and to be fair many people were unhappy that this huge, world-reknown zoo we were visiting was only a 45 minute stop.

Much to our delight however, upon arrival at the Panda section of the zoo we were immediately

greeted by a red panda - who looks a lot like a fox to be honest. And then we came upon several black & white Pandas. We were entertained for over half an hour in the shade where the temperature was a comfortable near-90 degrees. It's been oh-so-hot here! It was time to move on, so we headed back to the bus. Below are the best individual shots of the Pandas, when the video highlights are online you'll enjoy watching them entertain us :) 

The ride to the airport was about 40 minutes and we were told we'd not have a lot of time here. We got our passports and boarding passes - our luggage had already been sent through by the Viking staff, so nice to be treated like this! We cleared security - it was interesting here as a few of our fellow guests got in one line, but the security station would only process females! The sign was pink and they refused to see any men! All the other stations took either men or women. Got to the gate, half an hour before boarding time, and then "DELAYED." Sigh.....but it was only and hour and a half wait, not too bad. I included a photo of the plane below because we went through the boarding gate, only to be sandwiched into a bus to be transported out to the plane on the tarmac where we walked up the portable stairs. The flight had it's bumps making it an "E" ticket ride for a short while, but we landed in Xian within an hour. We were promised lunch here at the airport and Kim figured, as did most that it was going to be a box lunch. I told her I got the impression it was more than that.....and it was. We ate at the Airport Buffet - though we were served, did not go through the line. I know what you're thinking.....a buffet, and in an airport? Well, three different guests went to our guide Iowa and told him it was THE BEST Chinese food of the trip. It was delicious! 

It was about an hour's ride on the bus - of course our luggage had already been whisked away ahead of us - to our hotel, and we were told that recently Viking had moved guests from the Westin Hotel to the Wyndam Grand. AND we were told the guests had raved about our hotel. We walked into the lobby and OH MY. As Iowa had promised, it was tons better than the Ritz Carlton we'd had in Shanghai. And the room - well see for yourself below. We are DELIGHTED! 

Tonight dinner is in the hotel, any time we want to eat. Tomorrow is one of the highlight days of the trip - we are going to see the Terra Cotta Warriors! And then tomorrow evening we have a dinner show that is all about the Tang Dynasty, should be interesting - it too was given rave reviews by previous guests on this trip.

July 23 - Shibaozhai Temple

July 23:  To The Top Of The Shibaozhai Temple!

As the sun rose this morning we were making our way towards the dock near the Shabaozhai Temple.

It was about 5:30 am when I opened my eyes and as I rolled over I could see through the window that the sun was about to come up so I went up to the observation deck, grabbed a cup of coffee and let the cool gentle breeze rustle through my hair as I watched the sun rising over the Yangtze River......again, it occured to me.....WOW, I'm in China! After my coffee I went downstairs and soon Kim was up and we moved into the dining room to enjoy a light breakfast with our new pals Ron, Nancy, Leslie, and David. Last night was the "Captain's Night Dinner" and everyone was a touch more "dressed up" so we had our photo taken at dinner with two other guests in our "sticky rice" group. You'll note I took the opportunity to wear my new authentic shirt - and I received many compliments :) 

We were off the ship by 8 and began making our way towards the temple. Once we'd walked through the small village we came to the "Drunken Bridge" which bobbed and weaved up and down and side to side as we crossed...made even worse by the large crowd crossing at the same time with us. We were all thankful that we'd begun this adventure so early when it was "only" near 90 degrees. As we crossed the footpath on the dike around the temple we were surrounded by people making it even hotter than it seemed, but we had time to take a photo in front of the historic wooden shrine and then we went inside. At this point everyone had to make a decision - go around the bottom and wait for the brave ones (like Kim and I) or venture to the top of the pagoda. Inside, awaiting us were nine floors with eleven steps between each, for a total of 99 steps on the 400-year-old stairway. Once we got to the ninth floor the final leg of the journey was about a dozen more rock-hewn steps and the only rail was a big chain embedded into the side of the cliff about knee high. I just focused on the steps in front of me and we soon found ourselves at the very top - we'd made it! Prior to leaving for Southeast Asia I'd told Kim there were three "must do" photo ops that I wanted - (1) in front of Angkor Wat in Cambodia; (2) atop the Great Wall of China; and (3) I wanted a photo of us, atop the Shabaozhai Temple. This, I thought would be a rival to our iconic (at least it is to me) photo we had taken above the Rhine River at Marksburg Castle. We got the shot and it turned out great. Ron and Nancy were right there with us the whole way so we had our guide Iowa take a photo of the four of us to celebrate our triumphant mission accomplished! 

"The Group"

Kim, Mark, Don, Nancy, Leslie, David, Jerry & Pam

We pulled away from the dock promptly at 9:30 am as we are on a strict schedule if we are to make it to our final stop by tomorrow morning. This is our final day onboard the Emerald. Bags out by 11 pm and we check out tomorrow morning at 5:30 am. We'll take a short bus ride to the Chonqing Zoo where we'll see the famous Panda Bears, then board a flight to Xian where we check into a hotel for two nights. We've been told it's a fabulous hotel that makes the Ritz Carlton in Shanghai look like a Days Inn!

July 22 - The Lesser Three Gorges

July 22:  The Wu Gorge (Witch's Gorge)

Last night we went through the 3 1/2 hour process of climbing through five locks in the Three Gorges Dam. We went to the top deck to watch part of the process. The height is so tall that it would be like being lifted over the Empire State Building! Now THAT IS HIGH! When we got back to the room we found the towel in a bunny shape and a special Viking shot glass to thank us for being a repeat Viking guest. 

This morning we woke up to sailing through the Lesser Three Gorges. It was very misty and quite a site as you can see. A little later in the morning I took a couple of photos to try and illustrate just how massively deep the gorge is. In the photo on the left you can barely make out a boat with a person on it - see the blow-up photo beside; and the right side shows another picture of the gorge, but in the blow up you can see people who are on steps, which are at least fifty high.....this is really a deep gorge! 

About 9:30 am we boarded small, 20-passenger sampans and travelled up the Wu Gorge through the narrow waterways. The temperature was very pleasant with a nice breeze and the scenery was as magnificent as we'd anticipated. While there were clearly MANY highlights, seeing the cave way up on the cliff wal where there were three ba coffins over 2000 years old inside was the coolest (see the collage below which features photos from illustration book). Loved our local guide Jodi who was great throughout.

Wu Gorge Pics

July 21 - Three Gorges Dam

July 21:  The Xiling Gorge / Three Gorges Dam

I Get A New Shirt!

This morning we woke up to see we were approaching the iconic Three Gorges, the most scenic three days of our cruise.....and to be honest, one of the main reasons we came on this cruise (rather than simply visit China for the landmarks). But before we talk about our day, how about the photo sequence at the left? Remember earlier Kim and I posed before dinner in front of the tailor's shop and I remarked this would become important later? Well, here's the story. One of the more prominent tailors in China is now retired and runs a shop on board the Viking Emerald. He handcrafts shirts, jackets, dresses, etc. from Chinese silk to custom fit you if you choose to purchase. I knew months ago this would be my "birthday present" from Kim (the big day is August 1st!) and so on the first full day of the cruise we made an appointment and I was measured. I had lots of options, but decided on a short-sleeve, light weight shirt. It was finished late last night and today......it is mine! I love the color and the design, which is difficult to see in the small photo and still not so clear in the enlarged photo, so I blew up a panel. I am V-E-R-Y happy with my shirt and will always be reminded of our days in China when I wear it in the many years to come. 

The morning was a misty one as I walked out on the veranda and shot the photo of the bridge. The rest of the first part of our day was filled with sailing through the Xiling Gorge, the first and longest of the Three Gorges. It was explained to us yesterday, as a prelude to today that the Three Gorges Dam was built primarily to control the flooding which has plagued this region of China. Obviously the side effect was the tremendous power it provides to China, but they get much more of their energy from other alternative sources today we're told. And third third benefit of the dam, with the resulting higher level of water, is that it allows ocean going barges to sail all the way into the interior of China, thus improving commerce and the economy! 

The afternoon excursion to the dam was interesting, and not very long. But that was good :) First, because it was nearly 100 degrees in the sunshine; and secondly, about 2/3 through the excursion when we were on top the dam a huge thunderstorm was sweeping down the valley. This cooled everything off and our group got back to the bus just before it began pouring......but by the time the bus was back at the ship, just 15 minutes away it was sunnay again! The dam is massive and for our ship to go through the five stage locks will take over 3 1/2 hours this evening. It was very interesting to see, but any longer there and I think it would have been overdone.