Last China Post: Chongquing, Yangtze River Cruise and Shanghai

 

Chinese pig carving on the boat. We affectionately called the carving kuni kuni (Maori word for pig we felt super clever ).

  December 8, 2016 Today was our last day in Chengdu. We packed everything up again and met our tour guide in the lobby. We were taken to the metro station which was massive. It is a hub for regular trains, buses, and fast trains. Jack, our tour guide, recommended the red hat service, which are porters. You get to wait in a seperate area, and the main advantage is that you and your bags get to board the train first. It was well worth the 30 yuan (4.5 dollars). The porter was walking so fast on the train platform that Karen had to run! We got to our compartment which was a sleek modern looking compartment. We got to sit in the first class compartment as well!  The countryside started zooming by, but unfortunately the entire 2 hour (220 mile) journey only had one stop, but there was bad smog the entire way. The air quality in China is measured by something called the Air Quality Index (AQI). It ranges from 0-400. The past few days in Beijing was close to 250, and yesterday it was 220 in Chengdu. So needless to say the pollution was quite bad. The trip itself was smooth and seamless. Buying food on the train was a challenge as no one spoke english. I had to resort to using the attendants phone for the Chinese version of google translate (because google doesn't work in China).   

First class on the fast train!

  We pulled into Chongquing about 2 hours later. Our tour guide, Oliver, met us at the station and took us to the local Hutong(alley) called Ciqukou street (Cee-Q) which means porcelain street. It was a collection of older building that have been turned into shops, cafes and restaurants. The streets were packed with throngs of local tourists who were obviously enjoying the area. It was a great mix of the new technology as well as maintaining the old world feel.  There were people in the street making noodles as well as crying out and trying to get people to come to their shops. We stopped and window shopped for close to 2 hours. Then we went to dinner by the docks for a boilerplate dinner of the same three dishes (spicy chicken, steamed cabbage, and a beef and peppers) at a local restaurant.     

Top row: Karen eating mushrooms! Not really, they are steamed buns. Middle row: wall of chillis, view down porcelain street, street vendor making sweet potato noodles Bottom: Karen eating Turkish ice cream, DIY clay sculpting, and a picture of Cecil

 

This was one of the weirdest things we saw in China. You put your feet in the fish tanks, and the fish eat off your calluses...yum.

   The highlight of the day was definitely boarding the Yangtze River Cruise. It was a large riverboat that had close to 250 rooms and 5 decks. It is beautifully decorated and had a movie theater, a gym, spa and 2 restaurants. We found out that there were only 3 English speaking people on board and met with the tour directors. We booked some optional excursions and explored the ship. Afterward, we came back the the room and did laundry and watched as the city of Chongquing floated byes we started our 410 mile trip to the Three Gorges Dam and the city of Yinchan.  

Views of chongquing and views of the boat

  Dec 9th  Our first morning on the river cruise. We were woken up by the couple next door talking at 5:30 in the morning. Also it was freezing cold the night before and we had cranked the Heater up, so by this time in the morning it was roasting. Unlike when we went to bed, we couldn't hear the engine going and took a peak outside, the fog was as thick as clam chowder, we couldn't see 10 feet past the boat! So we got dressed and went down to breakfast. We found out that because of the fog we had to drop anchor and the first expedition was canceled. We would be reaching the second expedition later in the day. So we finished breakfast, and went to get changed to go and work out and spend a leisurely afternoon. We also moved rooms because the toilet stopped working. In case you're wondering, the next room was identical but much quieter.  The time came for our expedition to Feng Du, which means "ghost city". It is a collection of Buddhist and Daoist temples on a hillside. It has a lot of spiritual significance for the Chinese people. The pathway up the hill is considered to be of spiritual significance as well. The beginning of the path started with the tale of two taoist masters who found the mountain to have excellent feng shui and built a temple. Over time they mastered the Taoist arts and eventually became immortal, however people forgot that there were two masters and combined their names to ing-Wong. The next step was the "Ha-Humm" temple. This was two Buddhist guardians, one was to guard the heavens (and if you were worthy you would open your mouth and say "ha") the other was to guard hell (if you belonged in hell, you would say "hum") so naturally everyone in the group said "ha". 

Ghost City of Feng Du

  After going up close to 100 more stairs we came to the next two temples. They were on opposite ends of a square courtyard, one you prayed to the gods for good health, the other you prayed for wealth. Then it was on to the main courtyard where one of the biggest temples sat. This was a Buddhist temple that had three small foot bridges In the courtyard. The left most bridge was again for good health. We went left and penguin shuffled across. The middle bridge was for couples, so that if you crossed the bridge with your loved one hand in hand, you would be with the same person in your next life as well. The men had to step with their left foot first, and the women had to step onto the bridge with their right foot first. The right footbridge was for wealth, but interestingly enough, not too many people went on that one. In another section of the courtyard was a little cupola with two stones inside it. One of the stones looked like a miniature traffic cone with a Christmas tree skirt. The other stone looked like a coffee bean. Apparently if you are able to balance the coffee bean on top of the mini traffic cone, you are guaranteed prosperity. Oh and by the way, the coffee bean is made out of lead and weighs 400 pounds. Of course only the men were supposed to try and I did as well as two or three others and we all failed. Then this tiny chinese man about 40 years old started spinning the coffee bean and eventually used centrifugal force to get it to balance.    Then it was on to the next stage of the mountain. The next pathway led to 33 steps called the stairway to heaven. The goal is to run up to them in one breath and not look back. We ran up cec said he did it in one breath, Karen took 3. We went through a few more temples and saw both Buddhist and Taoist figures. One of my favorite temples was the temple of 100 babies. This had an elaborate carving of a group of babies over the main entrance. Our tour guide told us that there were 99 babies in the carving. Apparently, whenever a person enters the temple, they are the 100th baby, because all people should strive to have the innocence of a child. After this temple there was another staircase with stone sculptures of ghosts on both sides, some were good ghosts who were playing music and playing sports, some were evil and were drinking too much wine and other bad behaviors. We then approached the oldest temple on the mountain, where the Buddhist equivalent of Hades had his temple. At the entrance their was another test, you had to stand on a stone, and if you were able to balance on the stone for 3 seconds then you were a good person. The temple was blue because in China, blue is considered to be the color of death, and red is considered to be lucky. The entrance to the the temple had a very high doorstep, up to my knees! This was because it forced you to bow to the gods as you entered, as well as a test to see if you had a bad bone in your body. The Buddhist Hades was a large statue, about 30 feet high, with his ministers on either side of him as well. On the way out of the temple there was a small area of sculpture that showed what happened to people who were bad, people who had stolen had their ghost hands chopped off, and other such violent consequences for bad behavior. We were led back down the mountain and then back onto the boat.  The amount of boat traffic on the river is quite amazing. Not bumper to bumper traffic like on the roads, but there was barely an hour that would go by without us seeing a barge carrying ore/trucks/ cars. Also the pollution continued even out here as we kept on passing city after city with a dull haze over it. I ( Cecil ) have had to use my inhaler every single day six's we have been here and have been waking up at 5 am hacking and coughing because the air is so foul. The rest of the day was pretty low key, we ended up just going to dinner and then going to bed. 

Karen passing the last test by balancing on a stone BL and UR: good and bad ghosts BM: temple of 100 babies BR: last temple that shows examples of punishments

  December 10th The day started off early again, we got up at 5:30 to work out and went to the gym. Breakfast on the ship is buffet style and doesn't include salad here, so we have been trying to eat as healthy as possible. There was an excursion to the white emperor city. This was a city that was affected by the Three Gorges Dam. The water levels have risen close to 90 meters (295 feet). It actually used to be a peninsula but it needs w a true island that is connected by a bridge. There also used to be a stairway from the bottom of the hill that was over 1,000 steps, but is now only 350 steps. The temple itself was built on top of the hill so it wasn't affected. The town that surrounded white emperor city was greatly affected, though. Like all older Chinese towns it had a city wall and a city gate. With the dam, the water rose as well. So the people of the town wanted to preserve the gate and wall. So they labeled every single brick with a number, and assembled the gate and wall 300 feet up the bank!   After crossing the bridge we had to climb the 350 steps to get to the temple. On the way up we were able to go to a viewing platform for the first gorge (of the three gorges) although it was still a bit foggy, it made for some interesting scenery. We then went into the temple of the white emperor. This was a local general who took over the local province and started to govern. He did a good job and helped the farmers and local merchants. The actual emperor found out and came and confronted the white emperor and defeated him in battle. The people were so saddened and grateful for the leadership of the white emperor that they built a temple for him on top of the mountain. It was a beautiful monument to the white emperor, plenty of old statues and buildings. We also learned that after the white emperor was defeated in battle, he came down with a bad case of dysentery and knew he was going to die, he called his closest advisors to him and passed his power to his prime minister instead of his sons. The prime minister, Bo Wei, was given the authority to rule even after the emperors children came of age if he felt they weren't ready. Wei ruled for 13 years and was very trustworthy. He became a figure beloved to the Chinese people, he even invented steamed bread!   Dinner was fancy tonight, it was table service instead of a buffet and it was quite tasty. We did arrive at the three gorges dam at 11pm and started going through the ship locks. The ship locks are 100 feet wide by 400 feet long, and can fit 6 ships, which they did because the lock was packed with ships our size. Apparently it is free to take the three hour hour journey through the locks, but not popular with small vessels like fishing boats or pleasure boats.

T: city gate M: white emperor city B: left is the foggy gorge, it is on the 10 yuan bill

  December11th  Today was our last day on the river cruise. We had gone thorough the dam locks and been docked for a while. It was time for our last excursion on the river cruise, the trip to the three gorges dam. It was foggy like it had been for the past two days, we were informed that because of the dam and all the excess water in the region, it was foggy for 300 days of the year. We enjoyed a nice buffet breakfast and got loaded up on a bus and took a 5 minute ride to visitors center. We had our bags scanned and went through metal detectors (once again everyone beeped but no one cared) and then immediately loaded the buses again. We first went to an overlook where we could see the dam as well as the ship locks. It was a massive sight! It took 17 years to build and is the second highest producer of hydroelectric power in the world. Pretty impressive to think about the sheer scale of the project. The main reason for the dam was to prevent the usual flooding and loss of life that seemed to happen every year downriver. There are also two separate power plants in the dam as well. We walked down to another observation area that was behind the dam and took some pictures and then loaded up and went back to the boat. There were a few areas that were guarded by armed soldiers, and it didn't seem like anyone was getting a tour of the inside of the dam or the hydroelectric plant insides. We packed up and relaxed in our room for the last few hours and waited for the ship to dock. 

Overlook of the dam and the surrounding area

 

Its gorgeous! (Get it? Because it's Three Gorges Dam)

  Once the ship docked at the Yichang we were met by our guide and taken to lunch. Wen, our guide told us that Yichang was famous as the first place to grow kiwi fruit, but is now better known for electricity that is created at a local hydroelectric power plant, as well as the production of baby grand and grand pianos. Yichang has about 6 million people and is pretty forgettable. The docks led uphill up a very narrow road to the site of the now decrepit housing for the local dam back from the 1970's. we did pass a very old cave that was home to some Chinese monks 1,500 years ago and is now a tourist trap, as well as the first Chinese bungy jump I have seen (I didn't try it). We went to lunch at a Moroccan decorated Chinese restaurant, the food was good, but still really fatty and oily. Karen and I had both been having an upset stomach and we mainly ate the rice. Then it was off the airport for our flight. Interestingly enough we did hear "Its a Small World After All" and thought it was a ice cream truck (we had heard this in Xian as well) we found it was a street cleaning truck. On our way to the airport we passed another massive train station, apparently there was a fast electric train line from here to Chongquing that was quite expensive to build, about 10 million yuan per kilometer. But it was deemed necessary to build the 150 tunnels and 64 bridges for economic development. We arrived at the airport with what we thought was plenty of time, but things became tight. The line wasn't moving very fast and we were starting to get worried. Time went on and we were about 2 minutes away from our boarding time. Then, about three people pushed passed us and just went to the security and got through, they must have had an earlier flight. Some people in our line protested and I was boiling mad, but they were allowed to go through. We finally made it through security and made it to the gate on time.  The flight to Shanghai was without incident and we met our guide, Eddy. This was a mega city! There are two large airports, one is both domestic and international, the other is purely an international airport. Close to 25 million people with a city area of 75,000 square feet. There aren't too many cultural items in Shanghai, mainly because there was so much flooding and destruction from the cultural revolution. Apparently Shanghai is great place to do some shopping as well production of submarines, and aircraft carriers.  Walking outside it was a lot clearer and cleaner. Apparently the air quality index was only in the 50's, compared to 250 in Beijing. There is a magnetic levitation railway that travels the entire 20 miles in 7 minutes and costs a whopping $7.50 for a one way ticket.  We learned a lot about Shanghai on our drive from the airport. It has a Disneyland! It only has 3 ring roads even though it is the biggest city in China, but it has a lot less cars. This is because only 8,000 license plates a month are placed on "the market" for a lottery. Oh, and there are 150,000 applications per month for the 8,000 plates. If you win the right to buy a plate, then you have to spend 25,000 yuan (4,000 dollars) to purchase the plate. So a lot of cars on the street are really nice cars, because why would you spend 25,000 yuan to put the plate on a Toyota? It usually takes 3 years to get a plate. Also there is a really extensive subway system here as well as buses. You can't even drive in the city during rush hour traffic unless you have a Shanghai ID card. How do you get a Shanghai ID card? You have to have documentation showing that you paid taxes for SEVEN consecutive years. So if you move to Shanghai, it could be 10 years until you are allowed to drive down the highway at 9am. Eddy told us that sometimes it is quite hard to recognize the city. This is because companies are now putting together 30-40 story buildings in the course of 1 month thanks to large scale prefabrication.   The lights of the city were amazing. It was crisp and clear, no visible pollution that we could see, and a lot of well lit buildings as well as amazing displays of LED by the office buildings. We got to our hotel within the hour and unpacked and went to bed.  December 12th Today was our last full day in China. We started at 9:45am to miss the morning rush hour. We went to a great garden called the Yu Gardens. It was a local garden that has been through many dynasties and is over 1,000 years old. Of course there used to be houses nearby that have now converted into shops and restaurants. There were many water features and statues. There was also the largest koi pond I (Cecil ) have seen. It was the size of half a football field and had about 100 koi in it. It also had beautiful buildings as well. One of the most unique pieces of furniture was a set of table and chairs made from a banyan tree. You can't just carve a banyan tree like you can pine or oak, it has to be sculpted and put together in a very specific manner. Apparently it is a lost art form and no one has been able to do this for the past 300-400 years. If there was someone who had this skill and could take care of all of the banyan museum pieces, they could make millions of dollars a year according to r guide. Because the garden was adjacent to shops, we went browsing through some local shops and a silk market. I even got a taste of home and got a dipped chocolate cone from Dairy Queen for $1.23 dollars. It literally was a single scoop and was a perfect size. They of course had different flavors, but I decided not to get the green tea or fish flavored blizzard. We went shopping some more in the weirdest mall ever. There was a building that was 6 stories tall that had tiny stores the width of storage containers in them that sold all kinds of junk. From stores that just sold stuffed toys, to keychains, if you wanted any kind of novelty item, you could find it in there. We only went through 2 floors and felt like we were trapped in shopping hell. The best part was, according to our guide that there were 6 buildings in 2 blocks that were the exact same thing. We then went to lunch at a completely forgettable meal and then to our next stop. We then went to a 3 mile park by the river called the Bund. It was across the river from the financial district and offered a great view of the impressive skyscrapers across the river. The Bund itself felt and looked very colonial because it was built by the British And Germans. We then went to the French Quarter, which looked like we were walking in a French marketplace. This was a very high end marketplace, there were very expensive stores and cafes. We even went walking in the Shanghai equivalent of a hutong and local life. Afterward we got dropped off at our hotel. The issue was that it was only 2:30 in the afternoon. So we decided to walk down the street and explore a bit. After about an hour we went back to the hotel and packed up for our flight to London. 

Us in Shanghai and the big Airbus

   The morning came quickly  and we got up early and worked out. We grabbed breakfast and then finished packing. We hopped in the car and Eddy and the driver started to head us to the Pudong International airport an hour away. Our bags went though security without issue and we finally got to hand in the departure cards to Chinese customs that we had been holding onto for the past 15 days. We got to the gate and got some Burger King for lunch. Then the plane pulled up and it was huge! It was a Lufthansa Airbus A380 and is big! It has two rows of seats, like a main row of seats and an upper deck of seats as well. It easily dwarfed the other planes on the tarmac. The plane was strangely not booked up and there were 250 empty seats on our flight. So Karen is downstairs right now in her own row of seats so that she could sleep. The next stop is Frankfurt, Germany and after a 2 hour layover it will be on to Heathrow airport and London!   

Karen"Really glad to have flush toilets instead of a squatty potty. I missed normal toilets!"