The Cruise

When I lived in Spain we used to make fun of groups of Japanese tourists who would come to Toledo, following their guides with a flag and crowding through the narrow cobblestone streets. At that time – over 8 years ago now, I decided that I would never be a part of one of those groups – following the leader, waiting for the bus and looking for the little flag. The last step of our China trip, I had to eat my words.

The cruise that we went on down the Yangtze River was gorgeous. The scenery and gorges called for photos as we drifted down the river. The first full cruising day mom and I went on the shore excursion – along with 80 of our closest friends. We had cruise ID badges, obediently waited for our bus, and were tagged after by the ship’s photographers (who were really cute) as we explored a temple at the top of the hill. Travel fatigue was setting in for me – the site was nice, but not the same magnitude as Xi’an or Beijing and I wound up with a lot of mosquito bites!

That day at lunch we met our dining companions for the next several days – a family from Egypt (mom, dad, daughter and grandmother). They were very interesting tablemates and had taken a trip to India last year that was very similar to ours two years ago, so we had lots of travel stories in common. Our table was always one of the last to finish meals as we shared stories.

As we went through each of the Three Gorges, there would be commentary over the public address system detailing what we were seeing. First we listened in English, then in Chinese, then in German which formed a cycle. I could understand the English, kind of the Chinese and kind of the German – so I felt like I could give the commentary by the end.
The second day we took another excursion in small boats that were rowed by local people up stream where our large cruise ship could not travel. It gave me a better idea of the size of the natural formations and our guide (once again we had cruise ID badges) sang us several folk songs. We sang “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” back at her and our oarsmen raced another boat, getting us wet in the process.

On the final day of the trip the boat traversed the locks at the Three Gorges Dam and then we were able to take a tour (with yet another ID badge) of the site itself. The size of the dam and the amount of water that it is able to control is astonishing. The dam will be finished next year – causing the water level to rise another 20 meters upstream. I heard numbers that the amount of power generated will be over 10% of China’s total. My sister found a technical book that explained the building and plans of the dam and my mom bought another that detailed the impact of the dam. It was a fitting way to end the trip with this technological marvel after we looked at the beauty of the gorges.

China is a fascinating country – the old and the new coexist. Ancient customs and traditions are being preserved (at least for tourists) as infrastructure and commerce are pushing on the boundaries set for the last 60 years. I want to see what happens in the next 60.

Question: Have you been part of a tour group before and followed a guide’s flag? Where were you? Was it voluntary? Tell me a story about your favorite guide.
I have cruise pictures to post and then one more post to wrap things up (and maybe begin again). Thank you for reading.

G