Yangtze Cruising

Saturday, October 19, 2013
We continued our cruise up the Yangtze, stopping for the morning at the Shibaozhai Pagoda.

This pagoda used to be on a hilltop along the shore but now it's on a little island at the end of a footbridge. There is a dike protecting the lower garden area which is now below the new river level. Most people on our boat walked about 20 minutes from the dock to the pagoda for a tour. Because our colds were pretty bad, this is the only excursion that Anita and I didn't go on. We just took a picture from the bow.

Near the dock, some people were doing laundry in the river, which was a bit of a surprise considering how fast China is modernizing.

 Our boat continued up the Yangtze for the rest of the day. Mostly, we enjoyed the view from our balcony.

 In the afternoon we were given a tour of the bridge, with strict orders not to touch anything. Clearly they didn't know that we both have Pleasure Craft Operator's certificates.

 Anita seems satisfied with the way the crew is driving the boat.

 That evening was the Captain's Farewell Dinner.

 The Captain and senior crew lined up as we entered the restaurant.

 Our dining group of Nazeera, Ram, me, Anita, Frank, Kathy, Mary and Kevin enjoyed another good meal. Rather than a buffet, it was a served dinner. This took a while since the servers were much too busy but it all worked out in the end.
We traveled through most of the night again, docking at Chongqing in the early morning.