Fengdu

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Geo: 29.88, 107.709

We are in the Fengdu area of the Yangzte River today. You pronounce that like fondue – like the melted cheese pot. It is, to me, the most beautiful area of the river. The plants are more lush, we are sailing closer to the riverbank, the mist is heavy over the tops of the mountains. There is no way a picture or words can describe how amazing the view is from our room – constantly. There is also a slight rain today but it adds to the misty mystery.

This morning was a relaxing but informative morning. After breakfast our tour guide had reserved a room for all of us to meet and have a discussion about the differences between Chinese culture and American culture. He has been a tour guide for 10 years now so he is, in my opinion, very westernized. He is also very honest. Our talk was about 90 minutes and incredibly interesting. To touch on some of the highlights… he said if you have a Chinese friend you should never give them three things: 1) A clock – because clock in Chinese means funeral so you are giving them death 2) Chrysanthemums (a specific type of flower) – because these are the only flowers used for funerals in China and 3) Never give them a green hat – because then you are telling that person that their spouse is cheating on them. He explained the reasoning behind the green hat and it was interesting. He also explained how the Chinese like to save face and they are incredibly indirect. They think Americans are very direct and brass… if we are thirsty we ask for a drink of water… if they are thirsty they ask about the type of water you may have in your hand, how much you paid for it, where you got it, etc – they wait for you to offer regardless of how thirsty they may be. They also do a lot of foolish things with one another in order to not let another think they are poor. Unpractical things, actually. For a culture that supposedly saves and nickels and dimes, they spend foolishly on foolish things. Hard to explain. There was much information shared this morning, some confusing to this American.

One thing I want to say that I see clearly and have learned we in America are VERY wrong about – China is NOWHERE NEAR the standards of the United States of America and there is no way they are the future superpower of the world. The people are poor, very poor. There is no middle class. There is only 9% wealthy Chinese and that is what we see on TV and what we think of but it is my viewpoint that China is still very much a third world country. Even our tour guide told us that some people who do have money still do not have manners – they are "ignorant" to the ways of the western world yet they buy Iphones and the latest cars but they spit in the cars and smoke in the cars and they treat women badly and push in lines, etc. Frankly, even if our tour guide had not discussed so much of this in detail, just driving from one attraction to another, from one airport to another, just looking on the streets – these people are POOR. I can only relate what I see along the Yangtze River to what you see in crime-ridden, filthy Jamaica. Sad but true. China is controlled by a wealthy few and the rest of the country does not even have heating or cooling most of the year.

We said goodbye to our waiter at lunch today and gave him a tip. He said he was "very proud" to serve us. He has been incredibly nice and we really like him but we are going to eat with the entire group downstairs at dinner today. We leave the ship tomorrow morning after a group breakfast.

This afternoon we took an excursion in the slow rain to see the Ghost City, to the new relocation village – a village where the government built apartments for 70,000 people who were relocated to Fengdu. This village is about 9 or 10 years old but it is so poor looking you would think it is 100 years old. To back-up, we first went to see a farmer in the older area of town whose former farm and home is now under water so he was given 100,000 Yuan (approximately $16,000 USD) to move from the land he had leased for many generations and give-up his thatch-roofed home by the shore and move up higher to lease a new plot of land from the government. He also built (himself) a new home. I took pictures. It's nothing like you and I have, not really. It's still without heat or air. The kitchen has no appliances. It is big because he wants to say he has 5,000 square feet but it's not really that big and frankly, it probably is one of the nicest farmer relocation homes ever because this man is paid by the government to tell us everything was great with the relocation. He was very politically correct which is a crock o' crap. This man also receives 20 Yuan each month for the rest of his life – and so do all 20 of his family members (he has four sons and one daughter) because they were all relocated even though only his wife, one son, son's wife, and two grandchildren live with him. His home was interesting, his "tales" were tales, and it was clear to everyone he was paid to say the things he said. He is by far the exception to the rule of people being relocated by the government and being better now than they were before, at least in this area. Perspectives can vary of course - you take a poor farmer leasing a poor shack on the river and tell him he's moving to an apartment building with thousands of others, he doesn't have to work the land anymore, he will get a small monthly stipend from the government and he possibly has running water now - washer, sink, bathroom -- mixed reviews - some farmers want to work they land, they don't want to move into a giant apartment building and they worry they cannot afford the electricity or rent while others are glad to move-on and get showers and not have to work so hard every day. It's a hit or miss. Either way, they had no choice.

Also, does anyone notice that we never speak to the women?? The women are not even allowed in the room or in our presence. This man spoke to us and said his home would be divided between his sons upon his death. His daughter is irrelevant. This is the old Chinese way but more often than not, all of the Chinese way. Our guide shared with us that most Chinese men "rule the roost" and tell their wives what to do and they mean nothing because that is the Chinese culture. Mother-in-laws mean nothing to a Chinese man, btw. A typical Chinese man will always take care of his family but not his wife's family. Our guide is not like this at all because he is more western and appreciates and loves his wife and her family.

Chinese people do not kiss in public. Ever. Chinese parents do not kiss their kids. Ever. Kissing is something you learn when the time comes. A Chinese man and woman would go in a room and hug and kiss but only behind closed doors. Children would never see their parents kiss, even on the cheek. When our tour guide was seven years old he was riding his bike and saw two lovers kissing on a park bench in the late dusk. He was riding and realized he just saw something odd so he thought maybe the man was giving the woman first aid so he hurried back and offered his assistance. LOL The couple cussed him out and ran after him so he biked home and told his mom. His mom said he was in the right, they were in the wrong, and some day it would come naturally to him to know when to kiss in private.

Chinese people have a nickname for all of us – "big noses" because we tilt when we kiss in movies – because our noses are so big.

I got off subject. There are so many lessons learned on this trip it would be impossible to even share half of them but some are worth a grin.

After the relocated farmer visit we went to the relocation city of Fengdu – built by the Chinese government basically. This was an interesting trip because the locals never see white/western people. They were so shocked to see us they kept staring and had odd looks on their faces. Our tour guide took us through the meat market downstairs to the vegetable market. We were divided into groups on the bus and had to buy something, in Chinese, with 5 Yuan. My group had to buy "wat gen po ya" – which is apparently two pounds of string beans – but they could not understand our accent and sold us lotus root instead. This game was hilarious! Our guide was laughing at everyone as each group had a different pronunciation to buy – some groups bought peppers, others cauliflower, others garlic but in the end, no group bought the correct item! HA

We walked back through the meat market and then down the main shopping street and it was soooo interesting. They were selling chicken feet on sticks today. We did not try them. We were looking at items to buy and the people were standing-around staring at us. They must have thought we were filthy rich because Kamie and I tried to buy some room spray (like Febreeze) because the fishy smells here are making us practically vomit and they wanted 280 Yuan for a can of room spray – that's about 47 US dollars! I'm sure it was rude but we just laughed our butts off and left after they only came down to 200 Yuan. I offered 2 Yuan. I did buy a scarf a few doors down, however. Seems to be my souvenir of choice this trip.

After the city trip we went to see the Ghost City also called City of Spirits. This is a place of ancient Chinese religion – a mix of Daoism and Buddhism. Many Chinese believe all souls will go for judgment to Fengdu (before going to hell of course). Basically, this guy called himself the Ghost Emperor and built a monument to himself and a cemetery. Now it is a place of worship almost.

We returned to the boat after a long walk along slick and thin, rusty walkways. Nobody fell in the green Yangtze River but you know I was waiting for the inevitable again.

We had a group talk around 5:15pm and our tour guide explained everything we are doing tomorrow and there were not one, not two, but THREE big surprises for us! We are going to have an awesome day tomorrow. We are spending the morning in Chongquing, flying to Shanghai, and spending the evening out on the town in Shanghai! Whoot Whoot

Tonight, around 6:45pm, we are cruising our way into Chongquing – a city of 38 million people! The cities and sites we have passed has been amazing!!! I wish I could have gotten a good picture but my camera just could not capture how it looked!! It looked like I imagine New York City must look from a boat. I've never seen anything like it before from a cruise ship, that is for sure!!

Dinner was long and celebratory tonight. We sat down to champagne and ended with spongey-type cake. It was over 90 minutes long. It was the cruise line saying Thank You and Goodbye and blah blah blah. Frankly, I was falling asleep. The food was on spinny tables tonight and it was all authentic Chinese. You know I hated it. I barely ate and that's okay – there is always a western breakfast before we leave tomorrow! Ha The offerings tonight were fishy-smelling bread with chestnut seeds, red-skinned peanuts, cold Chinese bbq pork, cold black mushrooms, sweet & sour fish, sesame beef (goat) with bones and potatoes, green beans (I liked them), Chinese fried rice (which always includes cut-up pieces of ham by the way – groddo), roasted duck, and more junk. I'm read to get to Shanghai and have some noodles. Beijing is known for rice, Shanghai for noodles. Though, I will say, last night I had noodles for dinner – that was my main entrée – noodles – they were awesome. I even ate them with chop sticks! Chop sticks are fairly easy to use when that is your only option.

It is approximately 9:00pm now and I'm heading to bed early. We have to have our suitcases sitting outside our rooms by 7am tomorrow.

One last note: every time (almost) we come back to our room on the cruise they have opened our safe and not locked it behind them. They have never taken anything, they just go through it for some unknown reason. Tonight, they opened both of our perfectly packed suitcases I had almost ready to go tomorrow morning – they didn't even both hiding it – they left them open on our beds. What are they looking for? Do they think we might steal a cup from the cruise line or a bottle of water?? Puhleease. You seriously can only come to China if you just accept that you have no privacy. It's so useless however. They should spend their time fixing the smells in the hallways and not worrying about what is in our suitcases.

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Photos

Long shopping streets
The shops are the first floor, they live in the apartments above the shops.