April 2, 2012, agh, there's nothing like the feel of Silk

Slept in until 7:30, breakfast by 8:30, on a bus at 9:15. We have been on the go for 3 weeks! Going to a national park and a silk factory this morning...fascinating process, very expensive. After lunch a tour on a 'gondola' (really a tine boat with a roof and a motor, on the canal. Saw people 'voiding' (sorry) cleaning, cooking, living. Saw poverty played against the very wealthy...no different than we've seen most every where. What i forgot to mention when we were on the 3 Gorges Damn tour was this was a very controvertial sp?...tired))decision to re-locate these people from their ancestral homes to spots further up the mountains but two of our guides said the government subsidized the purchases of their new homes substantially and that they were far better off than many of the Chinese people of the same age in other cities. The state owns all of the land...even the land that the hotels are on or the foreign businesses. The state gives the businesses (and tenants) 75 year leases. In Beijing an apartment that was 32 square metres was $15,000 Yuan per square metre. Our guide in Chongqing had a 1,200 square foot apartment paid off. he was 35. Dinner was back at the hotel. very good but nothing we hadn't seen before. We've eaten Chinese since we arrived here except for two nights. Tomorrow has us moving to a new hotel in Shanghai. we'll visit a cashmere factory and I'll give you more details tomorrow. We're pooped but still happy. the group we're travelling with is so good. Good night from china!

April 1, 2012 ,Going through the gates of hell...I mean the 3 Gorges

Our guide, Herbert, informed us that he would be waking us up at 5:30 am to see the 5 (or locks)stages we would be passing through to get through the Damn. I wish he had warned us to wear ear plugs. We were contained in a huge cement 'coffin' with three freighter boats along side of us, edge to edge and all we heard was scraping of cement against metal. It was so loud...nobody slept. Got off the ship at 7;30 am and got on a bus tour that allowed us to see both the locks we had come through and the damn itself. Unbelievable engineering. Obviously the damn project brings tourism and creates electricity but the main reason it was needed was to eliminate the annual flooding that killed thousands of Chinese inhabitants along the river for centuries. Chairman Mao wanted this built but they didn't have the money or the technology. It had taken us 3 and a half hours to go through the 5 locks....think about the amount of noise! we went back to the boat, packed and left for the airport. We had breakfast in Chongqing (on the ship), lunch in YiChing (City of the Sturgeon or peace city)and will have dinner in Souzhou (City of Silk) Had the most fantastic spiced fish at lunch (lots of small bones) YiChing actually had the first damn in China and therefore the first one to have electricity. The Sturgeon fish here are 5 times the size of our new guide (Jacky..a man) They are as big as tuna.  but very tough. (bottom feeders) Toured a small fish market with jacky...very smelly. Our new guide, Chi (a girl) has met us at the airport and we have a two hour bus ride to the Holiday Inn in Souzhou. Ate near the airport in Shanghai (that's where we landed.)
Had a good sleep..have a later start tomorrow.yahooey!

March 31, 2012, Three Gorges Damn River boat tour

We are still  on the Yangtze 2 ship sailing down the river. Each night the rumble of the ship engines gently rock us to sleep. The ship is a good size but not overwhelming. At capacity it holds 300 passengers however we're at the beginning of the tourist season (a great time to come as crowds are more manageable) so we are at about 130 passengers on this tour. Our cabin is the 2nd smallest room we've had, (Hong Kong being the smallest) but our balcony is suspended over the water...just fantastic to sit there at night in our robes looking at the cresent moon which is a happy face smile! Sorry the blogs have been so short.Ii will try to add more as I continue.to get caught up As you know, we're been out of communication for 5 days. I've been handwriting my blog each day so we can keep track. Each city we come to, according to each new local tour guide we encounter, is the BEST city in China. The Chinese are very proud of their hometowns and the 'western' accomplishments that have been made. I must admit to my immense ignorance of this country before my arrival as I expected to see the 'rice patty' hats and drab green consistent  'uniforms' on everyone (both male and female) We have not been in the  remote parts of the country but western clothes are the norm. While we were in southern China with Roy and Martine we witnessed the most fashionable clothes (and wild shoes) so far. I believe this has to do with the fact that there were a lot of young people attending the Normal university. The dullest looking city has been Xi'an. Lots of building going on there so change is imminent.
Today after breakfast we practised our 'skit' for tonight. it is the first time in the 20 tours that Richard and Sandy have hosted that the entire group has worked as a team. it's a wonderful fun group of people. we're singing Oh Canada in both french and English, This land is your Land (with homemade lyrics that refer to our Canadian hobbies and habits) and three verses of 'If you're happy and you know it...with the last verse using a Chinese saying'. Richard will speak in Chinese to ask the crowd to participate. We're wearing our bathrobes and Canadian pins as costumes. We'll give out Canadian pins and pencils to the crowds afterwards. After lunch we climbed into a smaller boat to tour 2 of the three gorges. The view is spectacular. I know my photos will not be able to capture the immensity of the mountains and view. Tour took 4 hours. Saw a monkey, 2 goats, a buddhist retreat and some 'hanging' coffins. many coffins and grave sights were re-located after the damn was built. After dinner we were preparing for the Talent night when sandy came to our door and stole mary away...something about being an Empress!. She
'performed' with another member of our group. They were wearing traditional clothes of the Emperor and Empress and had to model them in an elegant walking fashion. The Chinese in the room stood up when Mary and Richard di their thing. I hope Mary posts this somewhere! Our skit went off well. Went to bed expecting a very early wake up call.

March 30,2012...travelling down the Yangtze river to Fengdu

Went to another Taoist Temple on top of Mingshan Hill (400 steps seems to be a comfortable chinese excusion) Lots of levels of many beautiful temples. very foggy and wet. 3 hours.. lunch on the boat, then organized the viewing of 'Pursuit of happiness' in cinema after lunch...needed  a quiet down day..been on the go 10 hours a day...toured the boat, did laundry, slept, read, went to the captain's Welcome party...champagne and finger foods...met the captain and crew...lovely...went to dinner and then met with our group to plan our part of the 'talent' show for the next night. Went to the room to write my blogs in my book. No internet for anyone on the boat. When we were in Xi'an couldn't get Y5 at all...we were worried that our family would be worried....

March 29, 2012 Shanxi Provincial Museum

Went to an art gallery/museum and saw both ancient and contemporary Chinese art. Lots of info on Yin/Yang symbol...Had a calligraphy lesson...purchased some local naive and traditional art...flew to (fill in town name later) and went to a 300 year old Tao temple. Beautiful...centre for the community especially immigrants for other provinces...housed there for a while until houses were built. Boarded the Yangtze River 2 (ship) We have a balcony that looks over the river. Ship had pool, bar, movie theatre, hair dressing salon, massage rooms, wet sauna, and buffet breakfast. top deck has lounge chairs and a great view. went to bed exhausted

March 28, 2012 Terracotta Warriors

On our way to the hotel in Xi'an we noticed how drab and dark the streets and buildings are. This is a very old city whose only tourist attraction are the terracotta warriors...please don't get me wrong..I was overwhelmed by the scale and magnitude of 'Pit 1' or the largest excavation so far. One of the only 3 remaining farmers who dug a well and discovered shards of these figures and the tomb of the Chin Emperor signed the book I purchased about the works. This two football fields wide by 4 football fields long. There is still alot of work to do and it will take decades to unearth all the figures. The city itself is low tech and ancient, very different from what we've seen in both Beijing and southern China. It took 37 years to finish the tomb...long after the Emperor had died. Some parts of the tomb have not been excavated because they know the Emperor filled the tombs with Mercury to keep out thieves. They haven't yet figured out how to open the tomb safely. Initially the figures were brightly coloured but faded very quickly after exposure to the air. we saw pictures of the initial finds. Went to a famous dumpling restaurant and watched a Tang Dynasty Show (dance and musical performances) after dinner in the same restaurant. packed for airport trip for tomorrow.

March 27 2012 Temple of heaven

Sorry everyone. I'm writing this blog on April 1st. We've not been able to get Y5 for 4 days. I'm going to be brief and add more later. Went to the Taoist 'Temple of heaven' Today...400 steps up but worth it. Lots of dieties that crossover many other faiths..saw a 'torture' chamber that reminded me of Hieronymous Bosch. Went to a 323 year old Asian Pharmacy. he 'read' my health by feeling my pulse on both wrists..prescribed herbs for cholesterol.Mary needed a prescription for high blood pressure. We didn't fill out our prescriptions but I enjoyed his talk about not just using medicines to mask the symptoms but improving the healthiness of your liver, spleen and kidneys. Went to see the Panda at the Beijing zoo. One adult in an outside cage was lethargic but two cubs were playing. One carried a 'blankie'. Flew to Xi'an tonight.