Chapter 10- From October 13, 2008

I think it’s Monday today. I’m not really sure. When you’re on vacation, everything kind of all blends together after a while. It’s hard to keep all of the monuments and attractions, food, people, and events all straightened out.

We made it to the boat as I mentioned before, after a harrowing and nerve wracking drive. It was interesting boarding the ship. Every time a busload of passengers arrived and debarked from the buses, there was a marching band that was there to greet everyone with songs like Old Susannah, or Yankee Doodle. I tend to like to march to either “Marching to Pretoria,” or a tried and trusty Sousa march. We made it to our cabin. The cabin is very clean and tidy, and is about the size of my bedroom I used to have when I lived at home, as it was about 10 x 10. It’s certainly not for the claustrophobic. Of course the first thing the Empress had to check on was to have a larger room. After all, she has a lot of shit with her, which seems to be accumulating every day. She said to the head desk that she wanted to be upgraded to a suite, because otherwise with all of their luggage, they wouldn’t have enough space.

At this point, I can care less.

We left them to make someone else’s life more complicated than it needed to be, and let them (or others) fend for themselves. But, eventually after the big production in the lobby, the drama with the front desk, and the reality of the additional amount ($800 USD) that they would have to pay for a suite, they now have a cabin next to ours. We feel so fortunate.

Mom and I then went to the welcoming orientation, where we met the cruise director Campbell Her. As we got listening to him more and more, and remembering the documentary we saw at the Sundance Movie Theater in Madison, I told my mom that I think he was the one that was featured in the documentary, “Up the Yangtze,” before we came to China. Of course we didn’t really ask right away, we eventually had a moment to ask him about it, and he said that he was, and was really surprised that we remembered that. He is VERY nice, and amazingly he knows mom’s and my name now!

We woke up this morning, and went to breakfast. Dr. Hu (yes, I giggle too about the PBS series reference), has tai chi in the morning, but, it’s like at the butt crack of dawn, and last night was the first night where I actually had a great night’s sleep. Anyhow, we got some shots of the Xiling Gorge along the Yangtze River, and the fogginess made for some pretty cool photos. The mountains and the cliffs are truly breath-taking, and as we sailed along, we saw a hotel perched on top of a cliff, a shipyard, a man netting for fish, and then lo-and-behold, we arrived at the Three Gorges Dam Project. It is absolutely HUGE!!! We then got off the boat in Sandouping, and took a tour around the locks and the dam.

Much like the “boss of the rope” in Morocco, To Wong Fu and the Empress totally went off in a completely separate direction from everyone else. Hell, at least they’re consistent.

Anyhow, we toured the dam, and in the process met a really nice older couple, Ian and Ruth from Brisbane, Australia. We also met Denise from Chicago, and like the tour we had in Morocco, there is a contingent of wild Australians.

Let me just say at this point, I love Australians! They’re fun, unpretentious, and honest, and certainly are a breath of fresh air (as opposed to an inebriated one).

After touring the dam project, we headed back to the boat. We started off on the ship toward the locks, and went upstairs to learn about the Yangtze River. Mom and I readily took advantage of the bloody mary drink special, and then went to lunch.

Again, the food was good. The great thing was that we get to share it with other people besides you know who. Judy, Peter, Barbara, and John are friends and all live in Washington, D.C. Peter’s very nice, and I enjoy having intelligent conversations with him as I appreciate his intellect. It is very refreshing. I am trying very hard not to bring up political discussions, as I find that I need to filter my responses so as not to get argumentative. Judy’s very nice and I love how funny she is. And Barbara and John are very down to earth, and are a joy to be around. We're truly blessed to have them on this boat tour, since it's nice to talk to people that don't put down other cultures, or talk negatively about things, but rather are there to learn, appreciate, and live for the moment.

Interesting to note is that for all three meal times, the Empress and TWF are never on time, or never show up. Judy is beginning to wonder if mom and I are high, since she didn’t believe that they existed. My response, “trust me, they exist.” Judy then said, “well I’m going to just have to stay here until they show up to get a good look at them.”

And a look she did.

As we walked out of the dining room (with the Empress and TWF still eating), Judy asked “so what are they? Are they friends, mother/son?” Mom mentioned the fact that they met on a cruise in the Mediterranean, and that the Empress was travelling alone. Tim was with two of his friends from Liverpool, and they just now like to travel together. Mom thinks there’s some hanky panky going on there, but I think TWF is as gay as a maypole.

Anyhow, Judy’s response to my mom, “looks like he won the lottery.”

The locks were really cool at the Three Gorges Dam, and the engineering feat they possess are truly remarkable. We also saw an unusual accupuncture and Chinese medicine demonstration by Dr. Hu, and mom got a one-on-one tutorial on bottle painting. All this was going on while going through the locks, as it takes about 4 hours to go through 5 locks. I just thought it was nice to relax, and despite the issues with our traveling counterparts, it’s been truly enjoyable.
Rudy would have been proud of mom, as mom took advantage of a kite flying demonstration on the observation deck. Roger Swenson would have been proud of mom, since it was a kite in the shape of an eagle. A couple of times the kite lost altitude. I kept telling mom she needed to run fast in the other direction to keep it aloft.

I thought she was going to flip me off.

We then had dinner. Amazingly, TWF and the Empress showed up for that, and it was interesting watching Peter dissect the conversation. After they had to leave to have a cigarette (after all, they can’t seem to make it through dinner without having two or three), Judy asked “how old do you think she is?” My response (after about 4 glasses of sparkling wine and some appetizers) was “I’m thinking Ming Dynasty.” They laughed, and of course mom kicked me under the table.

After dinner we went up and saw a Chinese period costume fashion show, before we retired for the evening. In all, the first full day on the river has been fun, and we look forward to more interesting things to share.