Hows that tooth you might ask. After finishing off half a bottle of Martys wine, and sleeping on it not really any pain a little sensitive, but workable. Early morning luggage out by 6:30am, breakfast until 8:45am when we disembark. Usual breakfast, twice as many mimosas since I was cleared out of the room and the bill settled.
Lots of steps to get up to the buses since the river is low, something like 90-100, plus the eight floating barges we had to cross. Luckily it was just with my day pack.
Checked email got a response from my dentist about the crown. I have an appointment on the 16th at noon to get it hopefully put back on, or a temporary in its place. I asked about superglue he said no. Told me to find a local dentist that speaks English I need to email him back and say there is no time in the schedule (there would be if it was sensitive and throbbing.)
The tour this morning was a disappointment to me to the zoo in Chongqing to see the pandas. Couldnt get any decent shots of the red pandas for Dan and Lisa, and the one big panda we saw had to be enticed out with a bowl of milk. The rest of the zoo was just a bunch of hot caged animals, lots of birds, the occasional hippo. Like my mother once said to my friend Mary Willis we dont do zoos.
Also on the grounds was the Chongqing Art Institute but Chinese (or Japanese) landscapes really dont do it for me. There was an opportunity for shopping that I passed on.
Lunch at a local restaurant the Chongqing Carlton. Family style Chinese food. Good, convenient, free beer.
Next stop was the airport, which went amazingly smooth, for our flight to Xian considering that that there are something like 120 of us continuing on with the tour.
Got to the Sofitel Xian a little before 5pm and the dinner show bus leaves at 6:30pm. Enough time for a shower and working on the journal. Nice digs these rooms 28 x 32. Only problem was that it took three calls to the desk and intervention by David to get the extra roll-away bed out of my room, two calls for ice think there are some language problems on this new staff
In our welcome packets there are coupons for 2 for 1 drinks at the bar in the other wing of the hotel and a group of ten of us descend on the bar the minute it opens, everyone ordering fufu drinks (except me who ordered scotch on the rocks since it was quick) all in an attempt to have a cocktail before another bus ride.
The dinner was about six courses good, but not exceptional. Free bottle of water and all the Chinese rice wine (served warm) you could drink. We had about an hour and a half to get through dinner before the show started I wish it had started several hours earlier since Im flagging at this point.
The show itself was in four parts. Part China, part Las Vegas. Very talented musicians and dancers the show ran just a little over an hour. Luckily traffic had cleared out so we were back at the hotel in fifteen minutes rather than half an hour as it was on the way to the show.
Off to bed.
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