Tuesday – On the river: Wanxian excursion, farmer’s market.
Arrive at Wanxian. Big town; lots of high rises, but people on shore washing their clothing on rocks and brushing their teeth in the muddy river.

The slope from the dock to the city was steep with hundreds of stairs. There were two sets of funiculars, but neither was working, so up we walked.

The city was amazing. The population was almost a million, many newly arrived. This city is a relocation area for those displaced by the Three Gorges project. There was construction and destruction everywhere. New apartment high rises were going up and old buildings and whole neighborhoods were being taken down in preparation for the rise in the Yangtze water level.

But lots of unemployment, with people idle in the streets.

There weren't many bikes but mostly mopeds, motor bikes and cars because of the hills.

Our first stop was to the home of a woman whose family was relocated and apparently the government wanted to show off how they were managing the relocation. It was a big house, an apartment actually, with a day care next door. Very noisy. Children's day party.

The woman used to live in a rural area downstream but relocated. Her husband ran a construction company with, she said, 35 workers under him. We asked her if she was happy with the new house and she said, through the interpreter, that she was. But when asked if she preferred the peace of the country to the noise of the city she admitted she missed the country.

Next to the Farmer's Market downtown. An incredible experience: meats, fish, exotic foods.

At one point a crowd was gathered around a television, watching some sort of drama, maybe a soap opera.

There were virtually no westerners in the city and walking around, I felt slightly conspicuous, but not in a bad way.

I took lots of photos. I asked one man if I could take his photo and afterward gave him a Yuan. A woman who saw him take the money apparently chastised him and he chased me down to give it back rather than face her wrath.

Then to the third Three Gorges museum. Again, not well maintained. Then back to the ship for an afternoon on the river.

Lots of photos from the deck, including farmers tilling fields, and the towering Shibaozhai pagoda.

Wednesday – Docking in Chongcqing, flight to Guilan.

Busy day. Red carpet and band playing as we left the boat for the last time. The city of Chongching, formerly Chung King, was immense. It's divided into three parts, each seperated by the Yangtze and Jialing rivers which meet there. Each section looks as big as New York. Stunning scale. Thirty million people live in the city, it's own province. It was hot, in the eighties, an unusually clear day for the local climate we were told. It got hazier later in the morning.

First stop, the zoo. Today is International Children's Day so the buses and sidewalks are teaming with parents and children. There were lots of people at the zoo. We were the only westerners in sight. Actually we saw very few in the entire city. Scores of children walked up to us with a "hello" and we replied with"nee hao."

We went directly to the pandas but there were none were in sight. Then one came out and then another. We saw three in all. When one would emerge, pandemonium broke out as kids and parents (and us) rushed the wall surrounding the pit.

Next stop, Chongching city hall, a historic building that was used for party meetings but now was a performance center. Across the street was yet another Three Gorges museum, which we skipped.

We went to a restaurant downtown for lunch instead.

Chongching is the home of Szechwan cooking and we had a great spicy lunch. It was great for me, anyway. Some in the group were put off by the hot food, although nearly all were now accustomed to Chinese food.

Driving away from the restaurant we saw a giant new convention center that was under construction for the Pacific Rim meeting in the fall. As in the other cities, construction was everywhere.

Also under construction was a big building that we were told would be a -- you guessed it --Three Gorges museum.

We stopped at the Stillwell museum, were the WW2 general resided and conducted business. Some of the museum was well maintained, but as many museums in China, there were parts that were deteriorating.

As we drove around the city, several bomb shelters were pointed out to us. The center of the city is built on a great rock hill and during the war shelters were carved into it to protect against the Japanese who regularly bombed the town. Many were now used as shops.

As in Wanxain, there were few bicycles in Chongching because of the hills. It was said that you don't ride a bike in the city, the bike rides you, because of the need to carry it up the steep hilly streets.

The apartment buildings in the city are generally seven or more stories. More than ten warrants an elevator, less are walkups. To get groceries or other heavy items up the stairs, people use porters, called bam-bam men, for the bamboo baskets that they use to carry items. Apparently many are rural people who come to the city to improve their lives but end up waiting to be hired. We saw lots.

At the top of the highest hill, we visited Eling Park for a stunning, albeit hazy view of the city.

(That's Charlie relaxing.)

Then we were directed into yet another Three Gorges museum. This one was actually very informative with a long painting of the river with statistics noting which towns were or would be inundated and how many people would be displaced.

We had some slack time, so Mary and I wandered around downtown Chongching and took some photos, again an exotic sight to the local people.

We bought a pair of scissors in a department store and it was an interesting experiment in pantomime to get the purchase completed as I mimed trimming my beard for the salesgirl.

Then dinner at the Hilton (western style buffet: pizza, etc.) and off to the airport north of the city. I still had one bottle of Great Wall wine in my carry-on and lost it during the security check. The scissors got through though.