The cruise, continued

We're in Shanghai now, which is an amazingly cool city, but I'd like to wrap up the cruise first.

The second day of the cruise was the most active. We went through the Three Gorges area, which is one of the most scenic places in China. They were very beautiful, especially the second one. Sheer limestone cliffs with cypress trees poking themselves out the side wherever there's some water seeping through. The cliffs rise several hundred feet on both sides. I can only imagine what it looked like when the water was 400 feet shallower and full of rapids and big rocks. We went through a place called "Empty Boat Shoal," which was so shallow and dangerous that everyone and all the cargo had to get off the boat and go by donkey for a mile or so while hundreds of "trackers," guys with poles and bamboo ropes, got down in the river and push and pulled and guided the boats through. A German boat hit a rock and sank, killing 100 people in 1903, causing that section of the river to be closed to traffic for the next 7 years. The government blasted the rocks out with dynamite in the late 40's.

We got off the ship and onto smaller boats to go up one of the tributaries of the Yangtze. Very beautiful up there. Most of the people around there had to be moved because of the dam.

Cruise

So what do I think about going on a cruise? (This is very Chinese style. The guides all tell you about things by asking questions and then answering them- typically, "why is it called this? Because 100o years ago..." Then we say, "Is this original?" and they say, "No the original was destroyed in the Cultural Revolution.") I'm probably not really a cruise person, though if I have a good book and some music I can be pretty contented anywhere. We didn't have to socialize too much, and we did enjoy the company of one of the couples at our table. It's just a bit claustrophobic, and I sometimes can't sit still that much. They had a small workout room, but not really anything adequate. I like the book I'm reading, The Yiddish Policeman's Ball by Michael Chabon, but it's just not quite enough. I'm glad to be in a big city.

Okay, time for a snack and then off to see the Shanghai Acrobats.