Note: It is now May 21 and I'm in Shanghai - we have been on the River Yangtze for several days and the ship had poor telecommunications contact so I couldn't update the blog. I'll catch it up now.
We were up at 6 am to shower, dress and pack. We leave at 8:30 for the countryside. We had breakfast with Marliss and Karl from CA.
Our first stop was Reed Flute Caves just outside Guilin. The caves were cavernous with huge rooms with beautiful stalagmites and stalagtites in many shapes which the Chinese had named. The wet steps were treacherous for me but we made it fine. The many colored lighted added a great effect. They even were playing reed flutes (the name of the caves) and selling them of course. After the cave tour we were back on the bus for a 2 hour ride through the countryside. A bit bumpy at times as their road infrastructure hasn't caught up with ours yet.
Our destination was to see the "cultural minorities" of China of which there are many. The first group was Yao. The women only cut their hair twice in their lives - at age 3 and then at age 18 - and they keep the hair cut at 18 to make hair pieces. They wrap it around their heads in a bun. They cover it until they are married.
We walked across a swinging bridge with a lot of Yao women and visited a family home which was very primitive. They cook on a stone inside their house and cure meat above the fire. We then drove a short way to the Zhuang minority group and wlaked up a steep walkway to a small village. An old lady, 80 years old, invited us into her home to visit. She lived there alone. Her friend, 85, came by and we bought Christmas ornaments from them. Both were stooped over from working in the fields. I fortunately found a "happy room" on the way down the mountain.
The views of the rice terraces on this mountain were magnificent. They group rice in fields built into the mountain. After leaving here we stopped in another small village to see the rice paddies up close and walked throug the town where an old lady had just hearded water buffalo. Narrow alley ways throughout. There were 2 children playing and they stopped when we passed close by. I waved but they wouldn't wave back. I persisted off and on while our guide, David, talked and finally when I looked back the little boy smilled and waved a me- and then the little girl too. The Chinese love to see Americans wave at them and many take pictures of US waving at THEM. It's funny!
So I don't forget, our travel companions are:
Paul and Belinda - Connecticut and Athens (Greece)
Karl and Marliss - California
John and Lillian - Dallas
Allyn and Susan - Dallas
Jack and Sally - Honolulu
Dick and Susan - Winter Park, Florida
We are enjoying our group.
We left Guilin at 7 for our 1 hour flight to Chongquin. David accompanies us throughout our China visit. He is excellent. Helen, our Guilin tour guide sang 2 songs to us on the bus - a Chinese song and "You Are My Sunshine". David then sang "Yesterday" to Helen - we are wondering if "love" could be in the air with these 2.
We arrived in Chongquin - a huge city. Our local guide, Ricky, met us and explained the area to us on the drive to the boat. There is a lot of manufacturing in Chongquin - especially car manufacturing.
We arrived at the docks about 9 pm and boarded the MS East Queen. Tim and I received an upgraded cabin with a living room and queen bed and huge bathroom. Some of the others went to request upgrades once they saw our room. We went to a late dinner in the dining room and they served us a huge dinner with about 12 different Chinese dishes. We are using chopsticks to eat all meals in China.
Tim and I had a night cap on the upper sun deck as we set sail. We watched us sail under the huge new Chongquin bridge that was all lit up. As the city faded in the back, we retired for the night.
Another fabulous day in China.
Larry
We ate a box lunch on the bus and I finished my James Patterson book (4th book I've read on this trip) and got a nap. We arrived back at Guilin airport about 5 pm for our flight to Chongquin where we board the boat on the Yangtze. Chongquin has over 30M people and is the largest city in China - and we had never heard of this city.
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