fun2rv

DAY 8 - CHONGQING & XIAN

The one-time capital of the ancient Ba kingdom, Chongqing City -- once a walled river fortress -- is now one of the fastest-growing cities on Earth. Billions of yuan have gone into its development, launching a major construction surge that shows no sign of slowing. 75% of the laptops in the world are manufactured here as well as truck parts. But despite rampant modern development a gritty old-China atmosphere remains around the river docks and the fascinating hillside alleyways that link them to the rest of the city.

Chongqing is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the biggest city in the world. It isn't. Figures for the whole municipality's population edge the 30 million mark, but these are made up of a number of towns and cities. The city of Chongqing itself has a mere 7,000,000 inhabitants but is growing fast.

It is perched on steep hills at the confluence of the Jailing River, the Yangtze's major tributary. It is a key port and the gateway for downstream Yangtze cruises. It an enormous bustling city and the largest in inland China. It was the capital of China during World War II, when the American Volunteer Air Group, the "Flying Tigers", was based there. The city has a lively open-air market with hundred of stalls strung from the centre of the city down the hill to the river and is particularly charming in the evening.

We had an early departure from the ship as we were being bussed to the Chongqing Zoo to see the world famous pandas. Their feeding time was 9 am, so had to really step on it! Our luggage and passports were once again under the supervision of Jimmy. We simply had to walk to our bus and enjoy our trip through the city to the zoo.

Bridge construction

Downtown traffic and monorail

The Chongqing Zoo was beautiful. The gardens and pathways held one spectacular view after another. Fortunately we were there a bit before the Panda feeding time, so we were able to enjoy the rhinos and few other animals.

Entrance to the Zoo

Feeding time amounted to a mass distribution of bamboo which was placed on each panda's perch. The pandas would slowly walk out of their shelters and climb up to their perches, lay back and start devouring the bamboo. They were excellent "show men and show women" and we have hundreds of photos and videos.

The "Lesser" Panda

The Pandas

We were given enough time to enjoy the local people in the park. Large groups were taking part in tai chi and people were playing games with their children. Watching the locals was so interesting and pleasant.

Local "vendor" outside zoo

Across the road from the zoo -- we never got to go into a Walmart in China

We drove to our lunch stop which was in a restaurant on a typical "old" street in Chongqing. We got to walk the street and see a small local community in a large city. It was beautiful!

Small local area where we ate our lunch

Each meal we ate off the ship was either a buffet at the hotel or a "restaurant" we were driven to. Viking was very careful to use only restaurants that would guarantee their food was safe for us to eat. Generally, we would go to a multi-story building, go up several floors and enter one of many "rooms" set aside as restaurants. The dining format was the same everywhere. We would sit at a large round table with up to 12 seats. There would be a large round "lazy susan" in the centre of the table. The food would be brought out in some sort of order, placed on the lazy susan and we would serve ourselves. Native Chinese would only use a bowl and chopsticks, but we were given a bowl, plate, chopsticks and knife and fork. Typically a small amount of the food would be put in your bowl on top of rice and eaten with chopsticks. The lazy susan just goes around and around and you put food in your bowl. Also, each area has its local beer which was one of the few things safe to drink. Each different area in China we visited had its own type of food and there certainly was a difference. We said that once we returned to Canada, we would have a very difficult time eating Chinese food here. We never saw an egg roll, chop suey, spare ribs, egg foo young, chicken balls .....

The typical round table with lazy susan

More food than we could every eat! The Chinese believe if their guests eat all the food served, they were not good hosts because they did not give their guests enough to eat

Getting the food on the way by

The local beer .... "Brewed for Happiness"

After lunch we headed off to the airport for our flight to Xian. This flight was 90 minutes long and flew us over a high mountain range to the beautiful area of Xian.

Such a busy airport that we were bussed out to the plane. Absolutely beautiful flight with great service.

Upon arrival, we were transferred to our hotel, the Sheraton North City, which was another 6 star hotel. We enjoyed dinner at the hotel buffet and rested up for our big day to come.

Approaching Xian

View from our hotel window

TOMORROW -- TERRA COTTA SOLDIERS ARMY

DAY 7 - Shibaozhai

The major focus on our last day on the Yangtze River was a visit to the Shibaozhai temple located not far from Zhongxian. Also referred to as "Precious Stone Stronghold", it was perched high atop a steep, 721-foot-high cliff and this 12-story red pavilion was a gem of Chinese architecture built in the Qing Dynasty in 1650. It was comprised of a yellow glazed entrance gate, a nine-story red pavilion and a crowning three-story temple. The temple once stood alone and was inaccessible except by an uncomfortable chair lift. The pavilion and an interior spiral staircase were added in 1819. From the temple we accessed a large stone terrace that provided breathtaking views of the river below.

When we docked, we were greeted by a group of people washing their laundry in the river right beside our gangplank. Oblivious to us Westerners, they brought their laundry to the water's edge on foot, bicycles and motorbikes. The clothes were washed, rinsed and wrung out in the mighty, filthy, polluted Yangtze River.

Laundry day on the Yangtze River

This small town was a dying town as the young people had long since moved away to find work. The temple is the only thing that is saving the town. The gangplank off the ship was treacherous with floating docks fastened together.

Our walk ashore off the ship

We had about a 2km walk from the ship to the entrance to the temple. The roads along our walk were full of vendors hoping to sell souvenirs. The stalls went on forever and the items sold continually repeated themselves. Most items were cheap and knockoffs.

The beginning of our 2 km walk to the pagoda, the vendors started here

Shops along the walk

Lost a bit in the translation!

As we approached the temple island, there was a long suspension bridge to walk across. Each end was well anchored, but the majority of the bridge was moving around quite a bit and the footing was unstable. Even Eric was a bit apprehensive, but it had been there a long time and apparently was considered safe.

Approach to the suspension bridge

View of the suspension bridge from the top of the pagoda

The pagoda was reached by a lovely stone walkway along the side of the island. Once we reached the entrance to the pagoda, it was a one-way trip .... no turning back.

The wooden stairs inside were a real challenge as each step was a different width and height. There were nine flights of stairs and the higher we went, the narrower and steeper they became. Some of the older folk were finding it very difficult.

At the top was the temple and of course more gift shops. The view from the top was lovely and the walk down was easy.

It was a very interesting morning but it was very hot and humid. We were all glad to get back on the ship and have a shower. During the afternoon we were able to do a tour of the bridge. The ship's captain had sailed the Yangtze River for his whole career almost 40 years and did not speak a word of English.

The "bridge"

Our time on the Yangtze River was drawing to a close. It was such a unique experience and we were so pleased to be able to experience the "heart" of China.