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Published: December 19th 2016
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It was about mid-afternoon when I reached the docking area list from another travel help site I decided using to find my hotel and list of attractions to visit. I had been told by my friend Terry about this and a few other sites that could give me the address in Chinese to make it easier for me to reach. I stood before the large colorful main dock for the Pearl River Boat Tours. I quickly went to buy my ticket to discovered that 4 different companies worked from this docking area with each offering different styles of ships. The price range was only depending on the size of the ship and which deck you were seated on. I took a rather normal looking large boat with 3 decks making sure I would be on the middle one. I still had not become nervous about being on the water yet, but I remember the reaction I had on the boat ride in Fenghuang. Nervous as I boarded and nervously rushing to disembark once the ride was done. But the moment in between was surprisingly pleasant for me. This time around I had much more time to prepare myself for this ride
because the tours did not start running until nearly 7 o’clock in the evening.
I took that opportunity to walk around the area and to have a much needed meal. I discovered very quickly that this was a textile part of town as I found multiple stores all selling fabrics and household items made from fabric. It was a slightly odd situation for me since this was the first time I’d notices something like this in a Chinese city. It took me about three-quarters of the 5 hours I had left before I found a small restaurant I could eat at. I slowly returned to the dock feeling full which could have turned into a problem if I became nervous. I made it through the lineup, down the cement dock to the assigned boarding area, and back into a waiting line before the hints of nervousness showed. I glanced at the water next to the high dock and felt my stomach churn slowly. I looked away while breathing in a slow rhythmic pattern to calm myself. It did not take long for the ship to pull in, disembark the other passengers, and have us board it. I sat at
the table looking at the menu for this ride focusing only on not going into a full panic attack. I felt the engine start churning the water under the ship and all the nervousness dissipated while the excitement of being on a new adventure took a hold of me.
This was not a fast moving ship as it glided over the water giving all the passengers time to take leisurely photos of the many buildings that bordered the river. I have mentioned before how Paris has the title “The City of Lights” but the city of Guangzhou (like many of the cities of China) could give them a run for their money nowadays. Every building and the ships on the Pearl River waterway glowed brightly giving the ride a fantasy trip in a world of rainbow lights. It was a slow paced ride that made you feel relaxed, at peace, and slightly dreamy, if you were not as excited as I was seeing all this glowing world. It helped me to target where I would be going in the future on excursions. The pinnacle of this watery trip would be seeing the Canton Radio Tower glowing like a living
rainbow standing at the far end of the trip.
Rare glances of this monumental tower could be seen every now and then teasing you to what was still coming. Other towers and buildings are still incredible sights to see from the water as well as on land but nothing compares to the view of the Canton Tower which is a marvel of both construction and ingenuity. I still state that the Viking styled ship is the one I should have tried to board but to no avail. The ship I boarded was more than adequate for such a wonderful fantasy sail in a valley of rainbow lights. As we approached the first bridge now that night had fallen fully, I saw that even the bridges are set with colorful lights. On some the color would shift along the rainbow spectrum while other held a single solid color that compliment the building colors of that area.
The light show in itself was a great idea since it also acted as beacons for visitors to guide themselves as easily in the dark as the landmarks guided them in daylight hours. I discovered also that many smaller
rivers that snake through the city all joined to become the Pearl River as I spotted glowing boats joining the parade behind and in front of the slow moving vessel I was on. It was a very beautiful parade of all types of glowing ships including some smaller private boats. And this was a bidirectional parade as ships returning from the last point of the voyage glided past us toward their docking area. One river with so many different sized ships filling it with light that was answered by the riverside walkways’ lights and the lights from the tall buildings beyond the shoreline. The water of the river reflected the patches of light making them meld softly around vessels and shoreline. The ships glided on a river of light heading toward the rainbow tower like some fantasy novel.
It was a trip of dreams but all dreams must eventually end. We returned too soon (in my opinion) to the dock we had left from originally. The rainbow colored harbor structure seemed so pale after witnessing all the lights surrounding the Pearl River. I disembarked slowly without a nervous reaction haunting me. I slowly walked back to the road and
hailed a taxi back to the hotel to sleep and a chance to re-find the rainbow dream I had just sailed through.
Addendum: over a year later.
I did get the chance over a year later to ride the Red Dragon marked boat (Viking-ish). It was a wonderful ride even with the rain squall that forced most of the passengers off the opened top deck. I held my ground against the heavy rain drops with my trusty hat on my head and cell phone in hand. It did make for some oddly stunning photos in the warm rain. It was exactly what I had imaged it would be with only one small difference.
At this point in the year, the river was much higher than during my first boat ride and my dream ship was taller than all the others. As we passed under the first of many bridges, I had a small moment of panic because of how close the top of the ship was to the bottom of the bridge. The fear quickly disappeared as we popped out the other side unharmed. And I must state this again that the Pearl River shores, bridges, and
adjacent buildings are lit up bright enough to rival Paris’ claim to the title of “City of Lights”. It was a good way to rekindle my adventurers’ flame which was half asleep since my return to China. The wonderful feeling of exploring, the thrill of finding a new place to visit, or realizing you are not as lost as you think you are is a marvelous moment in anyone’s life.
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