Ive taken the last couple of days to making Nescafe in my room for that first cup of coffee for the day. Means that at least I can form words by the time I show up to the dining room. Mimosas, scrambled eggs, and sausage starting to get into a routine for breakfast. We have a little breakfast club going, all the gay men on the boat which would make five of us as far as I know.
Jinghou is what Marty would describe as the real China complete with squalor, bad roads, and rotting garbage. I tend to agree with her to a point I would say more like the less modernized China not to be confused with the large cities where modernization is happening at breakneck speed.
Todays field trip was to a primary school that is supported by Viking River Cruises out in the suburbs of this town of slightly over 1 million funny how over a million is just considered a town. Needless to say we were the only westerners within miles of that suburban school lots of people stopped what they were doing just to come and watch the westerners watching the school children who were brought in just for us since its summer break for the kids. Lots of singing by the kids (and our cruise folk). Of course, everyone (except me and a couple of others) were oohing and aahing over the kids.
Before getting back on the boat we had a chance to wonder around the dock area where Marty bought wine and Eric bought Jim Beam (US $25 approximately). I looked around but lost interest as I still have scotch in the room. Forgot to go to the Catholic Church right there at the dock apparently the stations of the cross pictures all have Chinese faces.
Lunch was the Veal Schnitzel with hot potato salad, a green salad, and a small Rueben. Ordered a couple of bottles of wine on special (Y 138, about US $17 a bottle). Great price for French wine hopefully that will last Marty and I through the end of the cruise.
Nap after lunch, then at 2:30pm is the lecture on the Three Gorges Dam.
The Three Gorges Dam project has displaced 1.3 million people but will provide 12% of the electrical needs for the entire country of China. There will be no fish ladder, but there will be a ship elevator by 2012 for now, all the ships must use the 5-stage series of locks. I cant wait to see it tomorrow wondering how it compared with Hoover Dam which Ive toured.
One difference between the dams is construction style Hoover is an arched dam, and the Three Gorges is a straight concrete weighted dam. For me, I think this will be the highlight of the trip, geek that I am.
Im going to skip the biographical film about Chairman Mao made by a US filmmaker that runs from 5-6pm but will go up for the next days briefing. No cocktail special today that Im interested in todays is a Slow Boat to China which has gin, brandy, orange juice and grapefruit juice sounds retched to me.
At this point I should mention yes, its a tad late who Marty and Eric are. In the photo to the right, Eric (real name Carroll) is the stoic one on the left in sunglasses. His wife Marty (real name Martha) is the one with the camera taking the picture of the school child that Marty just gave a postcard of Kentucky. I met Marty and Eric on my six-week cruise from Lisbon to Antarctica over the holidays of 2004-2005. Since then Ive visited them in Kentucky and rendezvoused with them in Victoria, British Columbia. I may be joining them in Australia late February next year as well. Funny how friendships begin who would have thought I be friends with a couple of retired Air Force coronals.
I should also mention at this point that we get a daily news sheet of the latest headlines, business, and sports news plus the in-room TVs get BBC and CNN along with HBO and a bunch of other stuff. I alternate between CNN and BBC during cocktail hour. I should also mention that Im hitting the cold/allergy pills regularly as my head has turned stuffy alternating with drippy. Not fun but not immobilizing.
Dinner was a nut (peanut) encrusted lamb I could have done without the nuts, plus the usual soups (I have the clear potato leek) and starters, along with dessert.
Around 10pm we passed through a lock at a power station down stream from the Three Gorges Dam. It was amazing how tightly they jammed the ships into the lock.
I think that was the latest that I and many of my fellow passengers had stayed up.
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