Shanghai!

For the last time, we had breakfast in our room and waited forever for the time to report downstairs to meet the bus to take us to the airport. The flight was cramped, but short.  We made it safely and are in our new hotel. NICE!!  Ray was right, this is a nice place. We ran into the inhabitants of the other explorer suite from the cruise and they were here scoping out the joint as they heard it was really nice, but they’re staying down the street.  Haha!!  Tonight we meet the group at 6 for dinner and then Ray will take us for a walk across the street from our hotel at the promenade.

Dinner was delicious and the after dinner walk was amazing. The air was cool, and the skyline was colorful!  Glad we got some exercise in after that meal and then we had a nitecap at the jazz bar with Dave and Diane. Great night!

Wuhan

This morning we arrived in Wuhan. We again had breakfast in our room, but this time, they finally took us seriously on our request for mimosas!  Good boy, Allen!  We ate and promptly headed down for our 8:45 excursion call. This morning we are going to a museum. They have three pieces that Ray was particularly interested in us seeing-these three pieces can never leave China. One was the earliest refrigeration system (to keep the emperor’s wine cold), another wine cooler thing, and a special bell set. We got to watch a presentation of a replica set of these bells being used. Pretty neat!

After the museum, we headed back to the ship for a traditional Chinese lunch. There were some interesting items-dad was the most adventurous one of our group, trying the chicken feet, jellyfish salad, 100 year egg, pig ear, pig tail, as well as the normal fare of duck, cashew chicken, peppered steak, etc.

After lunch and a brief rest, a few of us in our group joined Ray on a walking tour. They have a very nice outdoor walking area with tons of shops. It was HOT AND HUMID.   We ended up walking about 3 miles, but had a good time people watching and seeing new and familiar sights. 

It was a beautiful dinner and night overall

Tonight, back on the ship, showered and almost packed, we have a cocktail party at 6:15 folllowed by dinner and bed. Tomorrow we leave the ship by 9 am to catch our flight to Shanghai. I’m ready!!  Dad and I are both tired and ready to be home and he reminded me that in one month, we’d be sailing off on our Baltic cruise. Time to get home and starve myself. 😜

Had a delicious dinner and good company. The skyline was also beautiful. 

Jingzhou

Today, we awoke and had breakfast in our room again, followed by watching the school children perform song and dance for us. We then left the ship and went to Longevity Park which had a nice pagoda and  was on the river.

After the park, we were bussed to a farmers market. They had some neat stuff-I particularly liked seeing a bag of live frogs waiting for their imminent death. I was then accosted by a local who wanted to pose with me for pictures. They seemed to like to photo us.

We’re about to ship out again heading towards our final port in Wuhan. After lunch, I plan to attend a demonstration on how to cook Chinese dumplings. Looking forward to that!  There is a crew Caberet  show tonight at 9:15-will try to stay awake for that!  Tomorrow we will arrive in Wuhan and will stay one more night on the ship before catching a flight on Monday to Shanghai. Ray says the hotel we’re staying in is in the top 50 most notable hotels in the world. Built in the 20’s, it’s old, but says very nice and has been visited by the famous-they have a wall of celebrities. 

Locks and dam

Last night, we entered the lock to take us to a different part of the river. It was interesting, but was really late and took forever. I went to bed, but got a few neat pics.  I also snapped a pic of the barrier between us first class passengers and the rest of the riff-raff. Haha!  Dad and I also got to tour the bridge and take photos with the captain.  BTW-met with the doctor and he didn’t think the acupuncture would work for me, but gave me some tea to help-4 packets. I’ve done two so far and supposed to have my next one shortly. Not sure if it’s doing any good. I’m supposed to follow back up with him this afternoon.

Today, we awoke and had breakfast in our room again. This time we invited Dave and Diane to join us. They didn’t bring all the food we ordered, but was plenty for all. Shortly after breakfast, we headed down to start our shore excursion-tour of the dam. It was nice, and although hazy, we were told this was a good day for the haze-better than normal!  It was hot in the sun, but worth the trip. Back on the ship now and we’re to set sail again shortly-we’ll pass through another lock around 1:00.  Tonight, we were invited to attend a exclusive cocktail party. We’ll see if we make that. They have a couple other talks today as well. Yesterday we learned how to play mahjong tiles. It was fun. Kinda like gin. 

We’ve shoved off!  Tomorrow we were supposed to go see school children that Viking helps to fund education in a small community, however it turns out they are on holiday. But they will come here instead and we’ll go see some local park. Sounds exciting!  😜

Busy relaxing days

Wednesday (yesterday) we climbed a pagoda. It was horribly hot and humid. Felt like Houston!  It was a long walk and we had to cross a treacherous wobbly bridge, but we made it. Then we climbed the 99 stairs in the 12 story pagoda. Beautiful views!  It drizzled on us off and on, but really started pouring on the way back. Of course, I didn’t elect to take an umbrella, so I was super wet. After returning to the ship, I showered and got ready for the welcome happy hour before dinner. It was nice. We have a nice table we made up of a portion of our tour group-George and Carol, Todd and Alison, Dave and Diane and Dad and I.   After dinner, Todd and Alison came over to our room for a nightcap.

This morning, I awoke at 5:30 and am starting to feel poorly again-ears have never fully cleared and now feeling like I have a sinus infection. We watched a pretty neat demonstration yesterday by the resident Chinese doctor where he performed cupping on one gentleman with a significant shoulder problem as well as an acupuncture demonstration on a woman with arthritis in her hands. He had a whole list of things acupuncture can help with—including sinus and ear issues. Diane and I had already scheduled an acupressure massage and foot rub for this afternoon, so what the heck-I’m meeting with the doctor later to see if he can resolve my other issues. Keep you posted on that. So after my massage today at 2:20, dad and I were invited to tour the bridge at 4, my doctor appt is at 5:20, then cocktail time at 6, dinner at 7, etc. It’s a busy life!  Oh, and this morning, we had a shore excursion to view the Yangtze tributary by Sampan.  Very pretty views!!  We also sailed through 2 of the 3 gorges and tonight we’ll begin our passage through the 5-stage river locks of the Three Gorges Damn.