3/31 – Arrived Hong Kong this morning, an hour late, so we missed our connection to Beijing. It was a very long flight, but did sleep some. When we got off the plane we were met by a Cathay Pacific rep who told us we would not be able to get a flight to Beijing until 6PM tonight. She gave us a voucher for the Regal Hotel next to the airport, rooms to freshen up and rest in, and free breakfast and lunch vouchers. Walked over to hotel, freshened up in our room, had breakfast, and we decided to take off and make the best of missing our flight. So we miss a few hours in Beijing we will make up for it here. We took the shuttle to where cable car takes us up and over the mountain to the largest sitting Buddha in the world. Fantastic views, good weather, and we got in some sightseeing. The Buddha and cable car ride was on the same island as the airport, we did not go into Hong Kong itself, will do that at end of trip. Came back to hotel, showered, changed and had a late lunch. Now we will go back to airport and catch our flight. Should arrive Beijing around 10PM, and hopefully bags will be there, and we will get picked up. We did call Ritz Tours to let them know where we were and when we would arrive.
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| Giant Budha |
Bruce and Barbara are our age, traveling with them is their daughter and grandson, who is 15. Tony loaded us into a van this morning and we went to the Forbidden City, Tinnamen Square and then had lunch. After lunch we went to the Temple of Heaven, followed by a stop for shopping at the Pearl Market, and then we went to a martial art drama show, which was pretty fantastic. Then we had a Peking Duck banquet. Very good.
4/2 - Today we drove out of the city to the Ming Tombs, and the Sacred Way. After lunch we tackled the Great Wall. Boy, did not know it would be such a climb!! We were huffing and puffing. Bonnie says that whenever she gets tired when she is climbing, that she has an imaginary friend, who she has named Carol. She turns around and yells back “I'll wait for you here Carol!” That way everyone thinks she's waiting for someone and not actually too tired to climb. Today I think I was Carol for Bonnie. Anyway, we were worn out at the end of our climb. We know we climbed at least 800 meters, however far that is. Weather has been really good, windy and a little chilly, but clear, so far.
After we got back into Beijing, Bonnie and I took an opportunity to explore Beijing on our own. We were dropped off in downtown Beijing. Found some interesting shops and a street with food vendors that was fantastic. Got back to the hotel for dinner. We decided we needed to take advantage of a full body massage at the hotel, worked the sore muscles out. We are feeling very relaxed.
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| Food Stall in Beijing |
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| Bonnie at the Summer Palace |
4/4 – Definitely have a cold. Asked at the front desk for a pharmacy so that I could get some daytime cold medicine. Nothing available but the front desk guy went to the hotel medicine cabinet and brought me back some Tylenol cold tablets and a funny Chinese herb remedy for colds. I wasn't too sure about it, but Jesse said it was good and that I should mix it with water and drink it, so I did. Foul tasting, but within a few hours I was over my cold, so can't complain. We did the Xian Warriors. They were fantastic. So many of them, and all the faces different. Mostly well preserved. After lunch we went to the Wild Goose Pagoda which was really great, beautiful gardens and lots of cherry blossoms in bloom. In the evening we had a fantastic Dumpling Banquet followed by a Tang Dynasty show.
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| Xian Warriors |
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| Tai Chi at the Wild Goose Pagoda |
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| Fengdu |
My feet and ankles are really swollen still from the flights, and now worse from all the walking and climbing. Decided to get a foot massage today when we came back. Felt good. And it was fairly cheap.
4/7 – Still Sailing down the Yangtze, but today we entered the first of the 3 gorges. They are quite spectacular. We listened to the guide telling about the area, and then after lunch we took a small ferry into one of the tributary rivers, and saw one of the lesser gorges. It was really just as spectacular as the ones on the Yangtze. As the river got too small to negotiate on the ferry we transferred to sampan type boats and went farther. We were gone about 4 hours. This evening we actually entered the locks of the dam. We were told to keep the doors to our balconies locked as we were crammed into the locks with other boats, and someone could climb from another boat onto a balcony. It was interesting to be inside the locks with so many other types of boats. It will take all night to go through the locks, so went to sleep with the sound of the locks.
4/8 – After passing through the locks last night, we docked just below the dam and then this morning we were taken by bus to do a tour of the Three Gorges Dam. It is the third largest dam in the world, and quite an impressive project. The grounds around the dam are quite pretty and of course there was a shopping opportunity. I bought myself a very nice silk jacket with embroidery. A good bargain, and I couldn't resist.
After the tour we went back to the ship and we sailed through the third gorge, which is below the dam and has not been changed due to the dam. When we arrived in Yichang we disembarked and were met by a Ritz Tours guide who took us to the airport where we flew to Shanghai. Linda (our Shanghai guide) met us there and took us to our hotel.
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| Shanghai |
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| Yu Gardens, Shanghai |
4/10 - Today we said good-bye to the others in our group. They are flying home. We had booked an extension in Hong Kong. We are taken to the airport and catch our flight to Hong Kong. We check into our hotel and head out to do some sightseeing. I had been in Hong Kong in 1979 while it was under British rule. I thought I would know my way around, but this is not the city I remember. We find the main shopping area, Nathan Road, and purchase some things for gifts to take home. Tonight we decide to have our first non-Chinese meal. We had dinner at an Irish pub.
4/11 – Today we had a half day city tour. We met the tour guide in the lobby of the hotel and went off with her. It was a private tour, we were the only people with her. She took us all over the city, and out to Aberdeen where we had a short boat ride in the harbor. Saw the boat people, what few there are left, and the floating restaurants. When I was here in 1979 there were many sampans in the harbor. Thn past Repulse Bay (sadly the hotel is no longer there, it was a favorite of ours), and up to Victoria Peak. It was so foggy that there wasn't much of a view from there. She also took us to Stanley Market where we had an hour to do a little shopping. We made a decision to also sign up for a tour this evening, but first spent a little time on Nathan Road doing some shopping. Then in the evening we took the shuttle from the hotel to the other hotel where we were picked up by the tour company for the evening tour. First we went to a tall building that has a revolving restaurant. Had dinner at the top and had a spectacular view of the city as the lights came on. Hong Kong does a laser show every night for 15 min. at 8PM, most of the buildings in the city join in. We were able to watch that from up there. Then we took a boat ride in Hong Kong harbor, followed by a stop at the Night Market. It was a fun evening. The only disappointment was that it was suppose to be a boat tour on a junk and it was just a regular boat. I have only seen one junk on the water, unlike when we were here in 1979, they were everywhere.
4/12 – Our last day. First we took the shuttle downtown and took the Star Ferry across to Hong Kong island. Then from there we took the Elevators up to the top of the city. We walked quite a ways through the SoHo area to the Man Po Temple, and looked around there. Then started walking down the hill on little side streets filled with funny little shops. This was more the Hong Kong I remembered from 30 years ago, it had not changed hardly at all. Found the cutest little bottle with frogs on it at a little street shop. Finally got back to the ferry and went back to Kowloon. Shopped a little more on Nathan Road and then had tea at the Peninsula Hotel. That was quite elegant and very tasty. Headed back to the hotel to finish packing. Lots of stuff to try and fit into our suitcases.
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| High Tea at the Penisula Hotel, Hong Kong |
