March 29, 2016

March 29  aboard the Viking Emerald   Lesser Three Gorges

   It was a cool, about 8 C, and misty morning with some rain having fallen overnight.  The 7 a.m. Tai chi was moved to the Observation Lounge rather than chance getting wet doing tai chi.  There were 16 participants today reviewing the moves that we learned over the past two days. We were still floating on the Yangtze River through the Wu (‟Witches”) Gorge. After showering we joined Jerry & Carolyn and Cindy & Dave for breakfast.  In the atrium of the ship which opens to a skylight above deck 5, it is decorated with red Chinese lanterns hanging from the railing of the decks.  So far we have walked a mile. 

    We docked at 9:30 at the point where the Goddess Stream enters the Yangtze River, for today’s excursion also known as the Lesser Three Gorges.  We did not need to take the audio receivers, but did need to get the passes from reception, as we do whenever leaving the ship. The waterway is much too narrow for our ship.  In a light drizzle, we boarded smaller boats that held about 30 passengers, where the guide, Eva gave us a 45 minute commentary as the driver guided the boat through some narrow channels.  The scenery was enchanting. During the voyage along the towering striated limestone canyons, trees clung to the rock and you could see where water would plunge away from the rock into the water below during a heavy rain.  This area is where an ancient culture, the Ba people, preserved their dead high up in narrow caves, known as hanging coffins. The contents have been moved to museums. You could also see remnants of an ancient plank road carved into the cliff side.

    The theme for today’s lunch was A Taste of China Buffet which include Chicken feet, pig’s ears and pig’s tails, which we ignored for spicy chicken, spicy beef, dumplings and steamed cauliflower, broccoli & carrot.

   This afternoon we are continuing through more Yangtze River scenery, finishing the Gorges portion from Wushen to Fengije which is 40 km.  The third gorge, Qutang Gorge only 8 km long, was also the narrowest and most dangerous. We sailed through it after lunch. In the mist, we stood out on the Deck 6, the Sun Deck, and listened to Noah’s 15 minute commentary as we sailed through the gorge in a light drizzle and about 15 C.

The cliffs have many shapes.  We passed one area where the landscape from water’s edge up the ridge was called the Dragon’s Tail.

   Back in our stateroom we noticed that today the movie on TV is “The Little Emperor” starring Peter O’Toole. It gave a good political view of the time from 1911 to 1950s in China.  We skipped the painting demo, about the Chinese style of painting with ink and watercolours, which we later heard was quite interesting.

   We sat with the couple from Burlington Ontario, Jo & her husband and a couple from England. We were later joined by Arnold, one of the Viking guides.  We had a fascinating conversation for 2 ½ hours. There was a cabaret performance by the Viking staff which we saw only the last bit.  Then we went to the Emerald Lounge and danced about 30 minutes to Swing, Tango, Foxtrot and Viennese Waltz before going to the stateroom about 10:45.

Total walked today, mainly along the ship’s corridors was 6.5 miles.