GETTING TO THE YANGTZE RIVER

Wednesday, 19 April. We were up at 5:15 a.m., had breakfast at 6:00, and were on our way to the airport by 6:30. (That's 4:30 sun time.) It was then that we learned that our bus had no heater. It was freezing cold, the sun was still not up, and the bus never did warm up. We got to the airport at 8:00 and found that wasn't heated either. To top it off, the plane got in over an hour late. We took off at 10:00 and landed in Chengdu about 11:30.

The weather there was very hot and humid. There was no local guide or bus to meet us. Li finally found them after phoning and searching for half an hour. The lack of any explanation or apology did nothing to improve our opinion of Polly, the local guide. Our first stop was a nice restaurant for lunch. Normally we really would have appreciated the good food as a welcome change from Tibet, but we'd just had a big snack on the plane.

We pulled out of Chengdu about 1:30 for the five-hour drive to Chongqing. We passed through rich farmland on steep, oddly-shaped hills. In spite of the slope, every inch was either cultivated or planted in trees. Many of the hills were terraced. All the plots were small and hand-cultivated. As we drove, the hills gradually became less steep. Rice paddies appeared among the hills, usually terraced to retain water.

There was an interesting incident along the way. The bus made a rest stop, and Polly announced it would be ten minutes. After checking my watch, I went for a short walk in a small park right next to the stop. I was just approaching the bus at the eight-minute point when the door suddenly closed and it drove off. It immediately looped back and picked me up, but the incident didn't do much to instill confidence in Polly.

Speaking of rest stops, the facilities in most of the public restrooms are quite primitive by American standards, often just a hole in the floor with a place for a foot on each side. By contrast, places built for foreign tourists and businessmen, such as hotels and restaurants, generally have modern Western-style facilities. China is building infrastructure at an astonishing rate, and most of it appears to meet the latest Western standards for both quality and appearance.

Anyway, we got to Chongqing before 6:30. This is said to be the third largest city in the world, with more than 30 million people in the municipal area. Our first stop was at the Peoples' Assembly Hall, a modern building (1951) in the Ming Dynasty style. Afterwards we drove to the VIP Guesthouse for a very good dinner. About 8:00 p.m. we drove down to the river to board the Victoria Pearl for our four-day Yangtze River cruise. (The Chinese name for the river is Changjiang.) 

Gate to Peoples' Assembly Hall

Peoples' Assembly Hall

The Victoria Pearl

When we got off the bus, we had to force our way through the dozens of "porters" who tried to grab our carry-ons to earn a tip. We finally got on board, got our cabin (#227), and unpacked when our suitcases caught up with us. We went on deck about 9:30 p.m. to see the city at night. Chongqing is very hilly and loomed high above the river, but we could see fewer lights than we had expected. We finally went to bed without waiting for the Pearl to sail. It had been another exhausting day, and we were looking forward to some relaxation on the cruise.