China Day 9: Yangtze River & Goddess Stream

I slept in (after 5 am) this morning!  We have the Goddess Stream excursion this morning without restrooms available so everyone was encouraged to cut back on liquids this morning.  I did limit my coffee to just two cups.

My tip for omelette lovers is to pick up cheese at the cold section of the buffet and add that to your freshly made omelette.  Apparently, the Chinese do not put cheese in theirs.

A few minutes before 9 am, those taking the excursion gathered in the main dining room.  We sit and our assigned tables and are sent off  in groups with enough time between that there’s no lines or people getting in with the wrong tour guide.

We walked past 3-4 boats on the way to the loading area. On the dock by one of the boats we saw this cute little goat.

This is what we saw when we returned. 🙁

Once loaded on the small glass boats we were off into the Goddess Stream.

Our local guide is Chocolate.

The scenery was incredible with the different peaks.

It was about an hour of nonstop scenery.

I spent a lot of time on the back viewing area for unobstructed views.

All too soon the excursion was over and we walked back to our boat.

Once back on board we were greeted with hot towels and cups of tea.

There was a big crowd in the foyer as they were having a sale. I ended up buying a couple of scarves but waited until the French women were out of the way.

I then relaxed in my room and took pictures of the Wu gorge until it was time for lunch.

I went right at noon and took video of the spread (see below). Sushi lovers would have been happy!

After finishing the meal wiht a couple of cream puffs I went to the sun deck to take pictures of Wushan.

Our tour leader, John, lives here and he showed us his building.  He and his family were part of the dam project relocation. John said being a tour guide is easier than teaching grade school. With the one child policy in effect when he taught, children were so spoiled it made it hard to deal with.

I then went to the cabin and napped for a couple of hours until the announcement that we were approaching the third and final gorge, Qutang.

 

Lots of us were on the sun deck taking photographs and videos.

I can’t believe I’m in this beautiful place!

We pass cliffs which were used to hang coffins of the dead.

Is there a coffin in there?

The Chinese currency has pictures of some of the great sights in China.  Here is the 10 yuan note back.

Here is that sight, Kui Gate in the Qutang Gorge, in real life.

Next we passed the island for White Emperor City without the shore excursion stop.

The cruise staff said no one was interested which wasn’t true.  I had signed up as did a few others I knew personally.  They seemed to not want to do it for some reason.

The journey through the two gorges today were narrated by the French and English speaking river guides on the sun deck.

Afterwards I went to the tea station and had a tea tasting with a few others from my group and learned a lot about teas from Iron.

He’s adorable and worked for Princess Cruises for two years.

I ended up buying the lychee tea and ginseng tea.  I also bought a tea pet.

The one in the video tells you if the water is hot enough by the strength of his pee and is called pee boy.

Other tea tips:

1. Rinse the cups and pot with hot water first.
2. Never put milk or sugar in tea; use honey for sweetening.
3. Hotter water for herbal teas than used for black or green teas.

 

Other than going to dinner and the doctor for my second treatment, I have no idea what I did this evening as there are no notes or pictures.  Just relaxing and enjoying the experience I guess!

Don’t miss the previous China posts linked below.

Going to China (tour and visa)
China: Trip Preparations
November 12-13, 2016: Travel to Beijing
November 14, 2016: Beijing and Great Wall
November 14, 2016: Ming Tombs and Peking Duck Dinner
West International Trade Hotel Beijing
November 15, 2016: Hutong and Temple of Heaven
November 15, 2016: Tiananmen Square, Fobidden City and Beijing Opera
November 16, 2016: Pearl Factory and Summer Palace
November 16, 2016: Traveling to Xi’an
November 17, 2016: Jade Factory and Terra Cotta Warriors
November 17, 2016: Dumpling Dinner and Tang Dynasty Opera
Grand Barony Xian Hotel
November 18, 2016: Traveling to Wuhan
Howard Johnson Pearl Plaza Wuhan
November 19, 2016: Wuhan to Jingzhou
November 19, 2016: Boarding the Century Diamond
November 20, 2016: Yangtze River and Three Gorges Dam