And Now For the River Cruise

This morning was our last in Xian. We took a trip to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (not to be confused with the Small Wild Goose Pagoda), which is an active Buddhist Temple, so we tried to be respectful of that while we where there. The temple and gardens are quite breath taking, and well worth the visit. There are also some renovations going on, so we got to witness some good old fashioned hand craftmanship. Xian is also the only city still having its old city wall and we concluded our trip with a visit to that.

We took a one hour flight to Chonqing, which served as the captial of China during WWII, or as they call it, the Anti Japanese War. We visited two museums relating to that war, one for General Stillwell, who was an American General attached there, and another for the Flying Tigers. We are now aboard the cruise ship "Victoria Rose", and steaming down the Yangtze River. In addition to the excursions, they will be hosting a series of cultural lectures, which should be interesting.

Tomorrow's excursion will be to the Ghost City, where we have been told that many Chinese believe their spirits go when they die. Hope to have another exciting installment tomorrow.