City of Ghosts and the Three Gorges

Greetings again to the faithful followers of the blog! Alot of folks have asked about pictures, but unfortunatley, we have tried to get some up there and were unsuccessful.

Our trip yesterday to the Ghost City was a tremendous experience. We declined the use of the ski lift like cable car, and hoofed it up the hill to the city. Apparently I misunderstood the guide before. The City represents the Chinese idea of heaven and hell, where they go when they die. They do not believe their ghosts actually go to that city. But we saw the three judgement tests, and also a Dante like interpretation of punishments in hell. We returned to the boat for lunch, and then got back underway. We were treated to a series of Chinese cultural lectures, and then in the evening, a fashion show by the crew showing different period costumes, as well as clothing for the different ethnic groups in China.

This morning after a healthy TaiChi workout, we passed through one of the Three Gorges. We then got onto a smaller boat, and took a cruise up a side river (stil in Chonqing province), where the scenery was breathtaking. We saw villages on the side of mountains, where they have terraced of farmland to grow food, and the famous hanging coffins. We then got onto an even smaller boat, to go a little further up to see even more breathtaking sights. If we would have had an extra day, we could have gone even further to do some white water rafting!

We again returned to the boat and got back underway to pass through the second Gorge, and will do the last of the Gorges. Tomorrow we will visit the Three Gorges Dam Project (we will try not to break anything).

Ths evening, the crew, all of who are very nice, will put on a caberet perfermance, and will invite up any guest who wishes to display their talent. Bob wanted me to break my leg so he could set the bone for the audience, but I declined to volunteer for this.

Until the next post...