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As I am writing this we are just leaving Lock 2 of 4 to get over the Three Gorges Dam. It will take us about 3 to 4 hours to climb the 250 or so feet. To say it is an impressive engineering feat would be gross understatement.
Pat, the resident poet, is having a little problem with Limerick block, so I'll just provide a prose update.
Since we last updated, we took an overnight train from Beijing to Xi'an. We had a sleeper car to ourselves. It was quite nice and comfortable. Rocked to sleep by the motion of the train. The sun was up by 4:30 AM so we were able to see quite a lot of countryside. Much wheat farming and fairly mountainous.
In Xi'an we toured the Wild Goose Pagoda, had a Mongolian Hotpot dinner, saw a Tang dynasty dance review (more lively than the Beijing Opera).
The next day we went to see the Terra Cotta soldiers. Pretty amazing. So far they have identified more than 250 pits where they suspect there may be additional artifacts, tombs or soldiers. Considering that this stuff is over 2200 years old, the beauty and intricacy of what they achieved is amazing. The next day we toured the Shanxing Museum. We saw a skull of an early human that was 1.5 million years old!
On Thursday we went to a farmers village about 45 minutes from Xi'an. We met our family hosts, who spoke as much english as we speak chinese. With a phrase book, a smile and gestures we were able to introduce ourselves and carry on a rudimentary conversation. After a wonderful dinner of homemade noodles, stir-fried veggies, garlic shoots and some sort of chicken dish, we went to the town square where we danced with the townspeople. They showed us some traditional dances. It was a great time. After we returned to the house we managed to figure out how to ask if they played mah-jong. They had a great set, different than the ones in thes states. We played two games. Our host won one game and Pat the second. Good for international relations! The village that we stayed at is a model village that the Chinese government wants to use as a model for the farmers throughout China. The homes were 2000 square feet, high celings, cold-water, with tiled floors. Had the basics of a TV, freezer, dvd player, furniture, etc.
The next morning we toured the old village where our family had lived until they moved to the new village. Quite a change. The farmers there also started painting during the Cultural Revolution. Some very nice work.
From the Farmers village we went to the Xi'an airport and flew to Wuhan and then a bus ride to Yichang where we boarded our Yangtze River cruise boat. The farming is quite different in this area. Rice paddies, complet with water buffalo pulling the plows and fish farming, as opposed to the wheat and corn we saw around Beijing and Xi'an. The cruise ship, the Victoria Ana, is a very nice facility. Our first cruise other than the Ludington Ferry.
Today we went to the 3 Gorges Dam and toured. As I mentioned earlier - very impressive.
We have found the Chinese people to be quite friendly and happy. They speak freely about many subjects and are also interested in practicing english and finding out abou the USA. The place they all want to visit is Las Vegas.
I am sure I have missed something in the update. The internet connections don't support the easy download of pictures, so you'll have to wait until we get home to see the pictures.
Again, hope all is well with you and have a great Memorial Day weekend.
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WOW! Sounds like you guys are seeing a lot of great stuff! Get some gardening tips from those experts over there. Your sunflowers are coming up! :) Wendy