Goddess Stream

There was a good deal of noise throughout the night since the Viking Emerald was traveling through locks. I awoke a couple of times in the night but was able to go back to sleep. We slept nearly until 6 am then got our showers for the day. Mary and Cindy went to Tai Chi, Mark rode an exercise bike and I read on the sun deck. It was a beautiful morning with fog on the tops of the hills around the gorge. I took a few snapshots and appreciated the day. We went to breakfast around 7:30 siting with Peter and Jane from Fort Collins and Bob and Rod, a couple from Hawaii. Bob is quite a character and kept the table in stitches throughout our breakfast although his husband, Rod, was much more subdued. Of course, Peter and Jane argued the entire meal, as usual.

Tourist Sampan in the Goddess Stream area of the Yangtze

After packing our things for the day we left the Viking Emerald and walked along a series of docks to board Sampans which are traditional Chinese small boats. Of course the ones we were on are modern and produced specifically to transport tourists. Each of the Sampans held about 20 of us to travel up the Goddess Stream of the Three Gorges area. This part of the gorge is very narrow with deep water. The sheer cliffs were covered with vegetation some of which was still blooming with orange and purple flowers. It was a beautiful ride. The local guide told us a lot of the local legends about the goddess for whom the area is named and a little of the geology of the formation of the area. This area appears to be very popular with Chinese tourists since there were many tour boats in the area with Chinese people. Most of the visitors were anxious to greet us in the English phrases that they knew.

Goddess Stream area of the Yangtze River

On the short walk back to the Viking Emerald there were a number of vendors set up at tables although they appeared to be marketing to the Chinese visitors. We did notice a great deal more floating garbage in this section of the Yangtze River than we had seen in prior days. There were floating rafts of Styrofoam, bottles and other debris that are nearly an acre in size.

Pagoda along the Yangtze

We took lunch soon after returning to the ship. There were a number of Chinese and western choices, but I decided to go with the fish and chips with mushie peas on the side. It wasn’t spectacular but what English food is all that great? We ate with Keith and Virginia from Australia and they were very good lunch company.

Our afternoon was pretty lazy. There were a number of talks available on various decks and lounges of the ship, but we opted to take a brief power nap then sit on our stateroom veranda to sight-see as we continued up the Yangtze. We went by a place where the ancient Ba people placed their dead in burial chambers that are small caves in the rock face. Many homes or villages had small shrines facing the river. There were a number of temples visible to us as we sailed by. At one temple we saw what we thought were squirrels playing on the roofs and walls. On closer examination with the binoculars we learned they were rhesus monkeys romping and doing what monkeys do. We traveled along and saw a number of factories some of which were under construction and several places that appeared to be mines or quarries.

We attended a discussion by the program director on plans for Thursday then met with our tour escort, Patrick, to plan for Friday morning’s disembarkation and flight to Chongqing. Dinner was very good as usual. We were joined by Bob, Tammy and her 24 year old son, AJ. They are from the DC area and were good dinner companions. Mary had sesame chicken, and I had a very spicy beef with chili peppers. For dessert I had the blueberry ice cream, and Mary had fried rice balls with a cream sauce. We exchanged halves and enjoyed both choices.

We didn’t stay up too long after dinner. Mary and Cindy played cribbage, Mark read and I chatted with Hamish on the ship’s bow as we traveled. Hamish had some great stories of serving in the Scottish Navy stationed in the Middle East for much of his career. We skipped the crew variety show and the late musical entertainment in favor of turning in early.