Hubei Province

April 15, Thursday

Today, we continued sailing thru the agricultural area with a wide, brown river that had banks that were lined with rows and rows of poplar trees. These were planted to help provide soil stabilization of the river bank so floods and boat waves would not damage the river edge. This is the area of the river that has been most prone to deadly and damaging floods before the Three Gorges Dam Project.

Today we awoke to actual sunshine in the morning with fleeting blue sky and orange reflections on the river as the sun rose in the sky.

We sailed down to the city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, which has a population of 8 million people.

The cruise ship is managed very well. We have about 75 passengers on board now for the full trip down river to Shanghai. A group of about 25 departed earlier after we got thru the Three Gorges Dam (Full capacity is about 200). The staff is first class, a combination of experienced western and Chinese individuals in the senior and supervisory positions. There are also a group of young Chinese who are the servers, photographers and housekeeping staff. They are all friendly and efficient and seem to be having a goodtime. They also put on costumes for a couple of after dinner shows:

We stopped in Wuhan for 2 hours and I liked this city as it made a very positive impression. It has wide streets with modern buildings and has an energy about it that is controlled and the people seemed pleasant. It is split into 3 sections by the Han River flowing into the Yangtze from the north: the education section; the industrial section; and the business/financial section. There are 52 universities in the city! The business section has a wide riverside boulevard and park which is lined by trees and European design buildings; this was mainly part of the French and German Concessions of the 19^th and 20^th Centuries similar to the famous Bund in Shanghai.

We spent some time at the Hubei Provincial Museum which houses the artifacts of the tomb of Marquis Yi who was buried 2400 years ago. The tomb was found in 1978. He apparently had everything and everybody he owned buried with him including some huge, heavy iron bells.

Dams

April 14, Wednesday

After passing thru the locks of the Dam Project, this morning after an early breakfast we got on buses to visit the Dam in the daylight. However as you can see from the photos, the clouds and fog gave us limited views. It was also rather cold and windy with temperatures around 50F. The dam is 190 meters high and 2,100 meters across making it one of the largest damns in the world. It generates more hydroelectric power than any other dam on the planet. The other main reason for its construction is to help control the intermittently deadly flooding that takes place on the Yangtze.
Later that day we passed thru the single lock of the Gezhouba Dam that was placed as a test dam downstream from the Three Gorges Project. So I was able to get some photos of the lock function as we lowered 25 meters in 10 minutes.

We then cruised thru relatively flat lands with a wide and shallow river as we entered a rich agricultural area

.

The Three Gorges Dam Project

April 13, Tuesday

Today we started our cruise thru the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. The first of the Gorges is the Qutang, the second is the Wu Gorge, and the third is the Xiling Gorge. They are very beautiful river country and each is beautiful in a different way. The Three Gorges Dam Project has filled to capacity late last year so the Gorges are not as deep as before but are still impressive. Many people have been displaced to new towns that are above the waterline.

Our off-boat excursion this afternoon involved getting into smaller boats to cruise up a Yangtze tributary, the Daning River which has its own gorges…the Lesser Gorges. Then we got into even smaller sampan boats to cruise thru the Mini Gorges of the even smaller Madu River tributary. The tributaries are where the ancient Ba people lived…they are mostly noted for their Hanging Coffins which are placed high above the water level on shear cliffs. We were able to see 2 of them from our small boats….wooden coffins placed in caves.    

 There were other beautiful scenes along the River as we cruised further downstream on the main course:

We arrived at the Three Gorges Dam Project late at nite and received permission from the Navigation Authority to proceed thru the locks at midnite. It took 4 hours to traverse the 5 sets of locks and to descend 90 meters. The groans and squeaks of the boat and the locks and the rushing water in and out of the lock chambers managed to keep quite a few passengers awake. Also thunder and lightning from a passing weather front also added to the nitetime creepiness.

First Day of Yangtze River Cruise

April 12, Monday

Today I boarded the River cruise boat, the Victoria Princess at 9am and the boat left the dock at about 1030 with just less than 120 passengers. The boats in the photo above are not our boat; those are coal barges. Shortly after getting settled we had lunch followed by a talk from the River Guide about the course and flow of the Yangtze River which is the 3^rd longest river in the world.  It flows from its source in the Himalayas across the high Tibetan Plateau and winds its way for 3964 miles through central China before it empties into the East China Sea just north of Shanghai. It has over 700 tributaries. It’s Chinese name is Chiang Jiang which means “long river”. We will cover the length from Chongqing to Shanghai in 7 days.

We cruised away from Chongqing downstream the whole afternoon.  We were delayed getting away from the dock for some reason as the Navigation Authority (The River traffic is monitored like Air Traffic Control to avoid problems going thru the dam locks and to spread out traffic).  After dinner we stopped at the “Ghost City” of Fengdu. It is believed that all souls after death must go to Fengdu to be judged there. There are a series of temples on a hill above the old city of Fengdu, requiring 700 steps unless you take a chairlift which allows live tourists to skip 75% of the steps.  The old city in now under water about 50 meters since the reservoir behind the Three Gorges Dam is now filled.  On the opposite shore of the river a brand new city has been built housing all the displaced residents.

Here are some photos of the temples up on the hill:

Chongqing

April 11, Sunday

The flight to Chongqing on Air China got delayed for an hour for no definite reason. 

The city proper has about 12 million population while the greater Chongqing district has 33 million. It is at the junction of 2 large rivers… the Yangtze and the JiaLing River and is quite hilly. It was the wartime capital of free China during WWII as the government had to move east during the Japanese invasion from 1937 to 1945. Consequently it was bombed over 250 times by Japanese air forces and almost every building was obliterated. In the past 10 years the central government has made developing the Chinese interior a priority so this area has had great amounts of money flow in. It is known as as the City of fog because it has over 100 foggy days each year, possibly because it lies at the junction of 2 great rivers. Nowadays there is undoubtedly a certain amount of air pollution that adds to that toll. In the late Spring to early Autumn it is known as one of the 4 furnaces of China with temperatures above 100 F and extraordinary humidity. Luckily during my time in the area, temperatures were about 60-65 F but the skies were cloudy and fog was present each morning. Consequently the city is dull looking during the day with modern, high rise apartment and office buildings. But at nite the city comes alive with exuberant lighting decorating most of the buildings. The nite before embarkation on the river cruise, I went with a friend who is a native of Chongqing to a Hot Pot restaurant located in a complex retail development on the cliffs high above the Jialing River. “Hot Pot” is the distinctive Chongqing way of eating with raw foods cooked in tableside pots of boiling oil filled with assorted chiles and spices. And then it is dipped in an assortment of sauces and herbs before being eaten. My friend made sure that I had a pot that was on the low to medium spicy side, so I did not kill myself. His was regular spicy which I tried a few times and was not too bad. 

Here are some photos of nitetime Chongqing:

This is a shopping/restaurant area that was restored on the cliffside above the Jialing river:

A theatre and performing arts center across the river:

The Chongqing Museum:

To China for 2 weeks

April 10, Saturday

Yesterday involved 23 hours of travel from my home in San Diego to my hotel here in Shanghai. I flew to Los Angeles, then flew 12 hours to Tokyo and then 3 hours to Shanghai. Got some sleep at the proper time for my new time zone which is 16 hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Time. This morning I will fly 2 ½ hours to the city of Chongqing.

I’ll spend 2 nites in Chongqing and get on a 100 passenger riverboat Monday morning and spend 6 days cruising down the Yangtze River back to Shanghai. Then I will spend 5 days in Shanghai before I return home. The river cruise should be a nice way to see some of central interior China as well as the Three Gorges Dam.

Out of China Now

Friday, April 23

I flew from Shanghai to Tokyo airport this morning on my way back to San Diego.  I can now access Blogger to post.
I will try to post my photos and commentary in the next 3-4 days and get it up to date.

Ko Olina, Oahu, Hawai'i

I've been in Hawaii this week at one of my timeshare weeks.
It has been a lazy week here with temperatures around 80 with brisk winds.
I played golf 4 times with various success, scoring twice below 90 and twice above 90.

Quiet Time

It's been relatively boring since I got back from South East Asia. Just at home watching TV, surfing the internet, watching some rain and vegetating. I did spend my usual Ski Week at Snowbird, Utah during the first week of February at my timeshare condo there. It was my 32nd consecutive year using that timeshare week!

Above is my photo from this year's trip.

Next month I have 9 days in Hawaii planned using my Marriott timeshare at Ko Olina on Oahu for some sun and golf.
Then in April I am going to China for 2 weeks to cruise the Yangtze River for 7 days from Chongqing thru the Three Gorges Dam to Shanghai. Then I will spend 5 days in Shanghai before returning home. Since my blog is blocked in China I will have to wait until I return home to post.

Home

I'm home now,
Thanks for reading about this trip.

Thailand again

This is what was waiting on my bed for me when I arrived at the Marriott Pattaya Resort today.
That's a bath towel done up as an elephant! Cute, huh?

This trip is winding down with 3 days in Bangkok and 4 days in Pattaya. Relaxing days and entertaining evenings. No sightseeing.

It will be good to get home after 5 weeks away.

Cao Dai Temple and Cu Chi Tunnels

Yesterday we took an all day tour by bus to the Cao Dai Temple and the stopped at the Cu Chi Tunnels area. The Cao Dai Temple and religion is a rather surreal, bizarre experience. As you can see The Temple and its decoration makes Baroque look tastefully understated. The religion was started in 1926 and blends Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Of of the 3 saints in the religion is Victor Hugo, the French author of "Les Miserables". The temple is about 100km northwest of Saigon.

 

 

 

 

We stopped for a couple of hours on the way back to Saigon at the Cu Chi Tunnels. This is an area that has a 200km network of tunnels that was begun in 1948 during the french War and reached their height in the late 1960's.  They were in 3 levels, and varied in diameter from 15 inches to 3 feet. VC solders lived down here for months at a time appearing and disappearing to fight and drive their enemies crazy. There were kitchens and an operating room. US soldiers went down in after the VC engaging in hand to hand combat in the darkness and subjected to ingenious and brutal booby traps.

The tunnel openings were very small and well hidden:

 

There was an expanded tunnel that was built for tourists to experience:

 

There is a fascinating book by 2 Aussie journalists about this phase of the war called "The Cu Chi Tunnels".
Frightening stuff.

Tomorrow I am going to take it easy at the hotel roof top pool and take a vacation from the vacation. Then on to Thailand Monday for the final week of the trip.

Saigon....Ho Chi Minh City

Sunday, December 13

Ho Chi Minh City as it has been officially called since shortly after the end of "The American War of Aggression" is still called Saigon by most of the people here. The airport designation in still SGN. It is the largest city in Vietnam with about 8-10 million people. It is robust, busy and has a happy, positive aura about it compared to the serious atmosphere in Hanoi. It is the economic and business center of this county's rapidly expanding economy. Lots of jobs are here which has attracted Vietnamese from all over the country. It is teeming with motorbikes buzzing and swerving around cars and pedestrians while honking incessantly.

Folks wear masks to protect themselves from pollution and women cover their faces, arms and hands to protect the skin.












 At lunchtime the sidewalks are full of people eating "pho"- noodle soup with meat or vegetables:

There is a legacy from the 100 years of French colonialism in the many catholic churches one finds around town. This religious legacy contributed to the conflict after the French were driven out in 1954 and the Americans installed a puppet government in the South that was made up of Catholic Vietnamese.

 

Several times we saw photo sessions of brides and groom on the streets that is apparently part of the ritual of courtship and marriage here.

 

The former South Vietnamese Presidential Palace was renamed Reunification Palace after the war.  It is actually a lovely building architecturally, still modern but airy and open.

The grounds around the Palace are inviting for walks and is one of many examples of open parks throughout the city:

Another visit which was a sobering experience was the War Remnants Museum. It has many pieces of leftover US military hardware and a building which contains different photo exhibits. Much of it is propaganda from the Vietnamese Communist point of view, but interesting see the view of the other side.These exhibits depict atrocities done to the Vietnamese people the French War and then the American War. It is amazing the cruelty that our species can inflict on each other especially when fear of Communism is tinged with racism. Luckily it does have some US anti-war movement representations so I didn't feel like I was the Devil as I walked around.

Mekong River Delta

Friday, 11 December

Yesterday we took a daylong excursion to the Mekong River Delta which is area that starts about 25km south of Saigon. The Mekong River is one of the longest rivers in the world- it starts in the mountains of Southwest China and flows south into the border of Burma/Myanmar and Thailand, then into Laos and Thialand , further into Cambodia and then into southern Vietnam. When it gets there it fans out into 9 major rivers that flow into the South China Sea with multiple small tributaries and canals lacing the area. It is a major rice growing area in the world.
During the American War (as the Vietnamese refer to it) of 1962 -75 it was a major battle area as the small villages tucked among the waterways proved frustrating to deal with.

We took a bus to My Tho and got on a medium size boat on the main river of the area:

One of the sites along that river:

We got off the on one if the stretches of land between waterways where there are relatively nice and modern houses with full services and narrow roads:

We then got in smaller boat/canoes to navigate smaller and narrower waterways lined with extensive foliage:

One of the local kids:

 

Entertainment after lunch at one of the villages:

 

Ang finally more proof that I was on this trip: