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We woke up at 6:30 a.m. The sunrise over the Yangtze was gorgeous from our balcony. The sky was orange and the landscape emerged from the morning fog in different depths of field. We could see women washing clothes in the river on the nearby jetty. As the sun grew higher in the sky, its reflection sparkled in the river water.
We went to breakfast at around 7:30: eggs, omelets, sausage, steamed pumpkin bread, orange juice, coffee, and toast. Stephan and Birgit skipped breakfast again as they had plenty of fresh fruit in their cabin. We chatted with Brian about travel (We talked Bhutan and Galapagos, he talked Andaman Islands). We enjoyed comparing notes, and each of us left the dining room with the desire to visit the places that the other had described. At 8:15, we went ashore for our final excursion: Shi Bao Zhai, which is an island that we could see from the balcony of our cabin. It houses a Buddhist temple and an architecturally stunning wooden pagoda. The actual ancient city is submerged as a result of the dam project, but the temple sat atop a 120-foot cliff, so it remained unsubmerged. A retaining wall was built surrounding the island to keep the seasonal high water away from consuming the lower levels of the pagoda. We heard many stories about the flooding - villages which are now underwater, farmers who now live in sibsidized apartments in the cities, etc. It is difficult to wrap your brain around the scale of the whole project. You just see the river, with no hint of what lies beneath it. Having no frame of reference with regard to what the area looked like before. Upon coming home, I did some research for this post. I looked up Shi Bao Zhai on Google Maps, and was sure that I must have the wrong place. The map shows it to be a ways north of the Yangtze. But what we saw was an island in the river. I was puzzled. Did someone enter the wrong coordinates? Then it dawned on me - this is an old map. This was the location of Shi Bao Zhai in relation to the river before the Three Gorges Dam project! Sure enough, I clicked on the satellite view of the map, and there was Shi Bao Zhai as an island in the Yangtze River. I looked at Wikipedia and found a photo of the area prior to the flooding. The before and after comparison really highlights the immensity of the project and the scale of the changes that took place. The Buddhist temple at Shi Bao Zhai was built in the 18th century under Emperor Qianlong. At the time, monks could only climb to the temple by using chains to help them to ascend the cliff face. In 1819, a 9-story pagoda was built with 11 steps per story (99 steps total, since 9 is a lucky number in Buddhism) as a stairway to heaven of sorts to make the ascent easier and less dangerous for the monks who worshipped there. The pagoda was built out of mulberry wood for its resistence to insects (it is poisonous to them). No nails were used in its costruction. In 1956, 3 more stories were added. The topmost one just has a metal ladder for access. In 2008 following the massive earthquake which struck teh area, nails were added as reinforcement to strengthen it. Our guide was named Cathy, and she was very knowledgeable about the site. After disembarking from the boat, we walked up a hill past shops and through a nice courtyard area. We crossed the "drunken bridge", which has a floor of wooden planks which undulate up and down like a fun house attraction when you cross it. When we reached the island, we had a beautiful view of the cheerful red pagoda clinging to the cliff face, and the white temple perched at the top of the cliff above it. As they had been on all of the excursions, the ship's photographers (two young Chinese men who went by the nicknames Tom and Jerry) were documenting the trip. They took candid as well as posed shots of the guests at various sites. Here, they took one of us in front of the pagoda. Some guests opted not to climb the pagoda. Craig was feeling good, and we wanted to see the inside of the pagoda as well as the temple, so we decided to go for it. We passed through a fancy yellow gate and entered the pagoda. We climbed the steep wooden steps, and each story was narrower than the last. Each story contained large round window openings which faced the river, framing the scenery beautifully. There were holes carved into the cliffside, where the climbing chains had previously been attached. Inside were statues and altars, as well as some art that was carved out of the cliffside. One tableau depicted a general who was ordered to give up three cities. Instead of doing so, he offered his own head to the emperor. The emperor was impressed by his sacrifice and accepted the offer. The general cut off his own head (!!!) rather than cede the cities, and is viewed to this day as a hero martyr. We climbed up a metal ladder through a narrow trapdoor to the very top (12th floor), and had great views back at the Yangtze River and the ship. When we climbed back down, we met up with Stephan and Birgit and visited the Buddhist temple. There were statues inside, and there was a small courtyard which contained a little stone bridge and some beautiful carvings. Foot traffic in the pagoda is one way only (up), due to the narrowness of the staircases. To get back down the hill, there are stairs on the back side of the "island." We passed an old cannon and descended back to river level. We walked back over the drunken bridge. Some of the guides were concerned that we wouldn't make it back to the boat in time for our 10:30 departure. But it was extremely hot and sunny, so Craig had to take it slow. But we were always mindful of the time, making it back with 10 minutes to spare. We were a hot sweaty mess, so we went back to our cabin to relax in teh air conditioning. Craig enjoyed a beer and I took a bubble bath. The ship started to move and I could feel the motion as the bath water developed a few small waves. It was such a luxury to have a full-sized tub on a cruise! After an hour and a half of downtime, we went to lunch. Birgit, being a food journalist, had interviewed the chef. She had said that she would like it if there was more spice available. He said that he knew just what she wanted (we suspect that really spicy chilies are not usually eaten by Western tourists, so they don't normally provide it). He whipped up a special batch of chilies just for our table. Thanks, Birgit!! We are fans of spicy food, and this was just what was needed to add some zing to the buffet food. There was an awesome curry chicken salad, duck, chicken tenders, egg salad, pizza (which was great with the chilies that Birgit procured), pasta salad, bread, and cauliflower in cream sauce. We enjoyed chatting with our tablemates. We were always some of the last people to leave the dining room, since we always spent so much time in pleasant conversation. At around 1:45, we went to the observation deck with Birgit and Stephan. We were the only ones up there. We were starting to approach Chongqing, which is known as one of the Three Furnaces of the Yangtze River valley due to its hot and humid weather. We could feel it. The sun was blazing down on us. The hot sun is exactly what Craig should be avoiding with his MS sensitivity to heat, but when we were here in the moment, we couldn't resist the fresh air and beautiful views that the observation deck afforded. And we were having such an enjoyble time chatting! But by 3 o'clock, none of us could take the heat for a moment longer, and we retired to our cabins. Craig took a nap while I sent e-mails and wrote in the journal. Then Craig took a shower while I took photos around the boat. We would be disembarking tomorrow morning, and I wanted to make sure that we had all the pictures that we needed. At 6 p.m., we watched Tom and Jerry's photos on the internal TV channel. We saw a cute one of us in front of the Shi Bao Zhai pagoda, so I went down to the photo studio on deck 3 to order a laminated print for 20 yuan (about $3). There was no pressure to buy, and no pre-printed photos. You simply sat down at a computer, browsed the photos, and wrote down the one(s) that you wanted. Then then printed them up and laminated them. We got dressed up and headed up to the dining room at 6:45 for our only non-buffet meal: the captain's farewell dinner. The servers were all dressed up in their fancy traditional Chinese dress. When we all arrived, the lazy susan on our rable was filled with appetizers: duck, sushi, black mushrooms, salad, chicken in a spicy sauce, bread, etc. And the chef brought our table an even spicier chili sauce than at lunch! Thanks again, Birgit, for enabling that! We enjoyed sparkling white wine. Captain Li came in, along with the cruise director and river guides. He addressed us and proposed a toast. It had been a lovely cruise and it was bittersweet to be leaving tomorrow, and saying goodbye to our new friends Birgit and Stephan. After devouring the appetizers, our lazy susan was once again loaded up: steamed duck, panko encrusted shrimp, beef with peppers, sweet and sour tempura fish, and sticky rice with spare ribs. We had a great night and lots of laughs. It was several passengers' birthday (including Myran, whom we had befriended as a fellow patient of the ship's doctor), so there were birthday cakes for dessert at every table. We had some coffee. We enjoyed talking to our tablemates so much that we were almost the last ones out of the dining room again. Craig and I went to the lounge and got a beer and mai tai. We said goodbye to the bar staff. Like many cruises, the staff are generally very young. They get the opportunity to learn English and meet people from all around the workd. They work very hard for many hours per day, and they live aboard the ship, being away from home for long periods of time. We certainly appreciated their hard work and lovely hospitality. Passengers were dressing up as emperor / empress costumes, and we decided to participate. We donned the bright yellow robes and associated headgear and sat on the stage. A nice Australian woman took our photos with our camera for us. We settled up our bill at the reception desk, then met Stephan and Birgit on the observation deck for one last evening together. They invited us for dinner in Chongqing tomorrow night before they headed back to Norway, but because we would be with a guide and didn't know our schedule ahead of time, we had to decline their offer. We enjoyed the moonlight and the cool breeze on the deck as we passed industry and infrastructure as we headed into the massive city of Chongqing. Shortly after 11 o'clock, we said goodnight and went to our rooms. We packed up to leave in the morning, and went to bed at midnight.  (Photo courtesy of Richardelainechambers at the English language Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons) |
 Sunrise over the Yangtze River  Shi Bao Zhai  Shi Bao Zhai pagoda and Buddhist temple  Pagoda at Shi Bao Zhai  Shi Bao Zhai Buddhist temple  View from the top window of the Shi Bao Zhai pagoda  At the top of Shi Bau Zhai pagoda (Photo courtesy of Birgit Kolboe)  Craig enjoys a beer on the observation deck  Birgit and Stephan kicking back on the observation deck  Brian, Yung, and Jang  Dressed as Empress and Emperor 
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