The China Chronicles

8/25/2004


early wakeup call for the ghost town no! kill the alarm boats tries to wake us up 3 times wake up breakfast walk to tea regroupiing in the 1st floor finding rick fleecing of america part 2 watching the river go by. fun chinese movies on tv bad pipe catching up. the yangtze is peaceful. outisde on the deck, the only sounds are the water, and the people talking and playing below. what is striking to me most is the mountains and hills we pass, all of them terraced, showing signs of current or past habitation. People have been living here a long time. . Some places have newer buildings at higher elevations, but most buidings look deserted, evidence of the massive relocation program at work Massive is a word i should become more familiar with, as we near the first of the three gorges and the inevitable dam. My shipmates are mostly chinese, as is the crew and all the amenities. It's an adventure, but it also means i can't read what's on the board for dinner, nor undertand the periodic shipwide announcements. We can guess the cities we dock at by our time, a compass and a map, but the rest is not understandable, at least they're not shouting abandon ship!! there's a couple from england (though the wife is produly columbian), and theys eem nice, though we've both been somewhat reserved this trip. Angela and i are in recovery/hibernation mode, and although we're not avoiding Rick, were not exactly seeking him out either. It nice, after all the mess, a quiet place to relax and nap.