DAY 4 - Yueyang on Board Viking Emerald
Our first day on board the Viking Emerald, beginning our voyage up the Yangtze River. As one author wrote, we were travelling back in time. The Yangtze River Valley boasts some of the world's most spectacular landscapes of misty mountains, breathtaking gorges, bamboo groves and serene lagoons. Along its narrow, cliff-bound course lie some of China's greatest cultural treasures -- ancient tombs, temples and natural wonders.
The great river rises in the Tibet Plateau and flows east across the entire width of China until it empties into the East China Sea near Shanghai. It cuts the country in half and has historically marked the division between north and south China. At 3,434 miles, it is the third longest river in the world, after the Nile and Amazon (see our previous blogs from 3 years ago for our trip on the Amazon River).
All along the course of the Yangtze are little rural villages where life goes on much as it has for centuries. Viking River Cruises has renovated and supplied a school in Yueyang and this was our first stop. Before we left the ship, we had to partake in the mandatory life boat drill.
Lifeboat drill in the dining room. The centre portion was the buffet which was oval shaped and inside the chefs prepared many wonderful delights
We were bussed to the school and Yueyang certainly was a sharp contrast to Shanghai and Wuhan. Even though it was a holiday week, the children and teachers all turned up at the school. Yeuyang was not a "staged site" as so many of our other stops were. This was a real small Chinese town, although it really wasn't that small compared to Nova Scotia standards. The small businesses were labour heavy and the building sites had bamboo staging. Road signs were just a suggestion, but we were large enough to get the right-of-way.
On one of the major roads, this woman was sweeping the road with a twig broom, oblivious to the traffic.
The school was built around a courtyard and was 4 stories tall. The school looked like something from Nova Scotia in 1920 (inside the classroom). The children were really excited to see us and the first thing they did was put on a song and dance show. We were then taken into the classrooms. Our bus group was in a grade 4 class. The children sang a song for us and we sang one back at them. We have a video of the children singing and it was posted on Facebook as soon as I got to Hong Kong. This was one of the highlights of our trip.
School courtyard
Children putting on their show in the courtyard
Little boys watching us from the third floor
Our classroom children along with our translator "Jimmy"
Once we returned to the ship, we were able to rest up and enjoyed sitting on our balcony, watching the Yangtze River and all ships and small boats.
Our ship, the Viking Emerald followed a standard design for the majority of the ships on the river. There are many cruise lines and the price charged is reflected in the quality of the decor of the ships. Most certainly, Viking stood out at the top of the class. There were some pretty nasty looking ones but the basic design was the same. Gangplanks are a luxury and on several occasions we stepped ashore after walking through several other ships and then along a series of floating docks. Certainly not a trip for the faint of heart, or with physical disabilities.
Viking Emerald
Francine walking along the floating docks to get ashore
Travelling from one ship to the other to get ashore
Our evening was very delightful as we got to meet the officers and crew on the ship. Even though this is a Viking ship, the actual ship is owned by the Chinese government, which means the crew is Chinese. There were several officers on the ship who worked for Viking. The crew was absolutely fantastic and it appeared that a job on this ship was a good job!
We were eager for the next day as we would be visiting the Three Gorges Dam and Xiling Gorge.
We want to thank Judi's brother, Bob, for the use of some of his photos. It is interesting how the four of us were together, but our photos were quite different. Bob captured some great shots of people, while Judi was most interested in scenery and historic sites. We did have a lot of similar photos, but with 3,500 photos, this is bound to happen.
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