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Day 151: Tuesday, April 27th, 2010.
Yangtze River Cruise:
Fengdu, China. We docked in
Badong, China at some point during the night so that's where we took off from today. We went thru the
Wu Gorge, had breakfast, and then docked at some city where we hopped on a ferry that would take us thru smaller gorge (called the "Lesser Gorges" or "Little Three Gorges"). Beautiful scenery. We then hop onto an even smaller boat to fit into the last and smallest gorge. During this boat trip, one of the guys on the boat demonstrates how we should wear their hat and "cape" thing and most of us give it a shot and have our picture taken (and tip him).
Along the way on the river (for both the ferry and the smaller boat), there are interesting little tid bits of life. One is that there are quite a few "casket caves". These are aptly named- they have caskets in them so that the departed have nice views still. Some of the caskets are gone, due to vandalism or flooding (some are quite close to the river). Also, at one point on the small boat there was someone up in their
hillside home (aka- a hut/tent thing) playing some whistle instrument for us little boats that drove by. No way to tip this person, they were just doing it to add to our enjoyment. Very nice. We start heading back to the MS Fortune and myself, Gloria, Bruce, Sue and Steve play some cards (a game that Bruce and Gloria taught us- fun, I'll teach ya!) Back on the MS Fortune, we pass thru a few more gorges and set our sites on destination Fengdu. One of the gorges was the inspiration for the background landscape on the 10 Yuan (RMB) so of course I had to have another picture taken with me holding a 10 (couldn't let the 20 Yuan picture feel special.)
That night, after dinner, myself, Sue and Gloria play some Mahjong. The boat has a room set up specifically for this and we have plenty of help to get us thru the game. Another passenger on the trip, Chinese lady, doesn't speak ANY English, sits down ands joins us and shows us how (reminds me) how to play with just her actions. She is so sweet and nice. Sue has one of the masseuse ladies standing
behind her and helping her out and Gloria has some male passenger helping her with her hand. I was on my own and lost. I blame it on not having a team of 2, but it could be 'cause I'm not good at the game. The jury is still out on that one.
After a few hands of Mahjong we have to wrap it up because tonight is the talent show. Paul is brave enough to get up and sings "If You're Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands" in Mandarin. Must have said it right because the other passengers applauded enthusiastically. Then, Sue and Steve participated in Musical Chairs and later in the final dance (which was the Chinese Bunny Hop). In between all that, the crew had little dance numbers that were interesting to watch. After the show, everyone heads back to their room but not before we snag a couple of shots of the group with Coco.
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