Sunny side up with toast and sausages and the every present mimosa. Sort of sitting in my stomach as a rock as we begin our morning outing to the Hubei Provincial Museum and Bells performance.
The museum itself is the contents of one tomb they found in 1978 from the Waring States period, which is I believe about 1400. Lots of drinking vessels, eating equipment, and musical instruments in addition to the twelve or so offerings of 14-28 year-old females. Sounds like he was planning for a happy afterlife.
In the middle of the museum visit was a performance on replicas of all the musical instruments found in the tomb. All the pieces they played were ancient Chinese pieces, except for the last piece which was Ode of Joy a very interesting rendition of that tune.
All the bell musical instruments were cast from bronze and rang in two different tones. The most interesting to me was the marimba like device made from pieces of stone. The shot on the next page shows a detail of that instrument that is to the right hand side of the stage showing the rest of the instruments.
After lunch the options are Flower and Pet market, just at the end of the pier, a 10-minute walk to the pedestrian shopping area, or the 30-minute walk to the WalMart not the WalMart Superstore, that was on the way to the museum on the other side of the Yangtze just a regular Chinese WalMart. Eric heads for what he thought was a liquor store in the opposite direction of where the rest of us are headed and Marty and I break off from the group after she gets a photo of the menu board and the McDonalds and used their happy house.
We had come from the pedestrian shopping area, and headed back a different way to see a little more Chinese reality that Chinese Western reality.
Getting back to the ship we detoured through the Flower and Pet market which was much better and more authentic than the pedestrian shopping plaza which could have been an outdoor mall anywhere in the US. After surviving the stench getting into the place (seems that it was garbage day or maybe everyday is garbage day) we got to look at lots of fish, puppies, bonsai, pottery, and these miniature landscapes made from some sort of shale like rock. The photo to the left is of all the carp in various sizes at one stall other stalls were all turtles in different sizes, another, sand crabs.
Marty was interested in Mahjong and we found both men and women playing at many tables throughout the market. With one group, Marty was given a stool so she could watch a hand. She also was adopted by a mother and child mother trying to get the little girl to say hello in English. Marty took their picture and showed it to the little girl who then said hello as it was time for us to leave. After all, I had my pedicure and massage to get back to the boat for.
Although it had sprinkled throughout our walk by the time we hit the gangplank it had turned to rain and only got worse for the next couple of hours complete with lightning that delayed our departure by about an hour.
Time for a shower Im up to two or three a day with this humidity, need to get those feet clean before they get worked on. My pedicure was a nice relaxing time with the language difference, there was no conversation. I just sat and read my book while she worked on my feet. The downside of the language thing is that I couldnt get her to put any color on my nails she kept saying no worry, no color with me saying yes, color.
The Traditional Chinese Massage (TCM) was different than I was expecting and different than any other massage Ive ever had. First of all it was clothes on. Second of all it was face up. Third, there was very little work on my back and shoulders (well, how can you face up?) All that said it was relaxing.
The rest of the afternoon was spent drinking scotch and looking out along the river banks. Im starting to get a scratchy throat but none of the other symptoms of a cold starting to think that its the air quality or lack there of. The sheer amount of coal fired plants (electrical generator, cement, paper) along the banks of the Yangtze combined with the humidity of summer leaves it looking constantly overcast imagine a hundreds mile long temperature inversion and you get a clue. The photograph above was taken at four or five in the afternoon. Sunset is at 7:25pm, and it had been raining, but you get an idea of the industrialization in this region of China.
Made it for the Whats On For Tomorrow lecture at 6pm, and dinner tonight was Chinese served family style. It was a nice change from the Western food but didnt much care for this gelatinous white dessert but then again, Id rather drink my dessert, which I did in the cabin before falling asleep at 9pm before I even got a page read in my book.
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