Three Gorges Dam

Heading on a rainy day to the Dam. On a bus where I can’t hear the local Guide. Not good. Talking about his relatives selling oranges through WeChat and online. Oranges are big in this area
ThisLeia mais
Docked at Badong Entrance to Three Gorge

Entrance point to Three Gorges
Shenong Stream

Our 2.5 hr excursion up through the Three Gorges. Got lucky with a sunny day
Wu Gorge

Continuing our voyage up the Gorges
Jade Emperor Scenic Area - Fengdu

Per Gate 1 , a slight change in our itinerary today
“Based on customer feedback, the Shibaozhai excursion has been replaced with an excursion to the Jade Emperor Scenic Area in Fengdu in order toLeia mais
Jade Emperor Temple

A rather kitschy representation of the Buddha and an actual little town built up around this area which reminds me of Gatlinburg or something. Would have preferred what they originally had on theLeia mais
Last night on Victoria Anna

After a nice stroll along a city park where we were greeted with great curiosity and lots of stares and a few friendly hellos, Janet and I returned to the ship where we chilled till dinner time, justLeia mais
Chongqing - visit to Stillwell museum

A link to info on Stilwell - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stilwell…
33 million people in this city. Whew!!
Exploring old town Chongquin

Fantastic market place with tons of people. Tom led us to a nice place for lunch where we all shared about 6 different dishes. Good thing he was there as no one spoke English. Used my google translateLeia mais
Chongquin airport

Waiting on 1 hr flight to Xian, home to the Terra Cotta Warriors. Scheduled to depart at 4:50. Time for a Starbucks.
Janet has caught a cold. Not good.
Landed at 6:08 pm. Grey,overcast - bit foggy
Excelsior International Hotel - Xian

Jessica is our tour guide for Xian. She talked non stop on the way from the airport. Hotel is awesome. Gate1 is knocking it out of the park with these hotels. We checked in and then we went out for aLeia mais
At the exercise park

Great time this morning exercising with the Chinese ! Lots of videos later. Beautiful park. The Chinese are doing things we should all be doing
At the terracotta warrior factory

Where they make replicas of the terra-cotta warriors, the way they were originally made. Interesting visit. Did a video of how they were made - will have to post that later. Also bought a small oneLeia mais
Lunch at hotel

Stopped at fancy hotel for lunch. For some reason they decided we needed an American meal. No we didn’t and it was only fair at best, so hopefully they scratch that one off the itinerary in theLeia mais
At the Terracotta Warriors

Now this is a huge operation. Visited by some 3.5 million yearly. Fascinating exhibit. Spent about 3 hrs here. Tons of pics here. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army…Leia mais
Dinner theater

6 course dinner than an hour long theater presentation. Will follow up with videos once we get to Beijing and I have WiFi. Good time. Great costumes, music
Dinner Theater

to Xian airport - flight to Beijing

Had to have luggage out last night at 10:30 after we got back from the dinner theater. Breakfast at 5:45. Flight at 9 am
Arrived airport at 7:40am. Onboard at 8:36. Landed at 11:05 am. Had someLeia mais
Beijing airport

21 million people live in Beijing -4x the size of NYC. Some of the pollution coming from the sand of the Gobi Desert that blows through in the form of sandstorms. They’re planting more and moreLeia mais
Restaurant

Great restaurant - authentic stuff here - they just keep bringing it and we keep spinning that big lazy Susan.
Hutong area and Rickshaw ride

Novotel Hotel

Arrived here at 5:30 pm. Going for a city walk with Tom in 30 minutes long day. Beautiful hotel - central location. After a 1 hr rest, we went out to explore the main shopping area. Lot of high findLeia mais
On way to the Great Wall

Beautiful day out. Air quality 67 vs 176 yesterday - actual blue skies!! Note of interest - the bricks in the Great Wall would circle the world twice. Also the one thing visible from space or so theLeia mais
Jade shop

Beautiful jade!
At the Great Wall !
