Up again at 6 am this morning as we had booked the optional ‘White
Emperor City’ tour which left at 8 am. Good breakfast again at our table
attended too by the always smiling Jenny who continually called Jane lady; “Lady
want another coffee” etc, which was a little disconcerting.
Downstairs to level 2 to get our tags and then off the boat
which was moored 3 out from the landing so we had to walk through 2 other
vessels and a barge before getting onto land and once again up the steep steps
to the bus depot. Our guide was Max for this morning who was a local of this
city, Fengjie and expounded the virtues of relocation for the 1.3 million
displaced people (official figure) by the flooding of the river. We finally
arrived at the temple complex of Baidicheng (White Emperor City) about 8kms
south and had a guided tour of this complex dating back to 25AD. I’m sorry but
getting a little over temples now and although interesting, just a tad same,
same and as usual most rebuilt. Interesting though were the hanging coffins on display
which the locals buried their dead in and suspended from the cliffs. Many had
to be removed when the flooding occurred and this one was on display. The most
interesting part of the tour was the fantastic vista at the end of the tour from
a knoll of the entrance to Qutang Gorge off the Yangzte called Kui Gate. A beautiful
sight and well worth the tour in itself. It was then back onto the bus and a
ride back to the boat
As the cruise is very punctual we set sail and on the dot of
11.45 am as listed in the itinerary, we approached the entrance to the Kui Gate
and into the first gorge; Qutang Gorge. It really was pretty and quite
impressive except for the hordes of locals that as usual had no idea of
personal space or manners and just hogged or pushed through to the front
railings to get the best views; some even with their parasols up to protect
from the sun and obscure every other bastards view. #%@&@* We did manage (
with patience) to get around this and get some views ourselves before retiring
to the cabin for a while and then up to the dining room and the lovely Jenny
for lunch; more food !!
We arrived at Wu Gorge around 1.30 pm and after passing “Goddess
Peak” we eventually docked alongside other vessels and disembarked for a small ferry
boat tour up one of the tributaries called Goddess Stream. The weather was
perfect but there were masses of people and feeling a little bit too over run
and commercialized for what was supposed to be a “serene” experience. We
followed the flotilla of small ferries up stream to a floating dock ( like
large floating square lego blocks stuck together) where everyone got off,
walked to the end, took a few photos and then went back to the ferries, all in
20 minutes. Then we headed back to the MV Anna and it was beautiful. They
seemed to stagger the boats much more on the way and you saw only 1, maybe 2 other
ferries and the sun was behind us and it was majestic. A little similar to the
Franklin River I feel but narrower and surrounded by steep cliffs. The return
journey certainly made up for the earlier experience. I even sat in the back chatting
with Warren and Sharon ( Wazza & Shazza) from Sydney and some Americans
from Texas who were definitely not Trump supporters.
Back on the Anna we joined Wazza and Shazza for Happy hour
and were warned about drinking with Peter and Lisa from Gympie as they had done
the previous evening. They joined us and Pete immediately got the bottle of
white for the table(everyone else was just getting a glass) and the evening was
all downhill from there. Moved onto the dining room for an excellent dinner and
we all sat together chatting and consuming more wine, more like too much, I’d say. The worst thing was we had to
settle our account and have our bags packed and at reception by 11pm tonight
and only have our hand luggage overnight and for tomorrow as we would leave the
boat at 8 am and not return. So packing and settling was done in a well pickled
state at some time, but who remembers? Just know it was a great night with fun
company. Just watch out for Pete and Lisa from Gympie if you ever run across
them in your travels. Another great day on our China trip.
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