Old Man River

Most of you know that I post a lot of sunsets...lots. 
But, I want you to know, I was up before SUNRISE several times
during this trip!  So, this is sunrise over the Yangtze River
on our 2nd day on the boat.  It was very quiet...and life was
just getting started for the day.  We passed under this
great bridge.  And then that barge passed by a few minutes
later.  It was awesome to be on such a large river,
and see all the other boats and barges hard at work.
It reminded me a lot of the Mississippi, and what a
hard working river that is also. 

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Ghost City-Fengdu

Here we are leaving the ship to come on shore to visit
the "Ghost City" of Fengdu

To save us a few steps, they carried us a little closer to the mountain,
and the steps up to the city.

These are just a few of the stairs that led up to
the city...ugh

And this is the first set of buildings that we came to.  They are the
typical Chinese architecture...lots of curves and colors.  This was a
Buddhist shrine with several of them inside.

Here are several of the buddhas...they have many, one for every situation
or need.  These have been restored, that is why they look so new.

On another path, that lead farther up the hill, these statues lined
the walkway, each one more gruesome than the last.

These statues are part of the ghost legend.  They are
supposed to frighten away the evil spirits that
the ancient people believed lived here.  There were
lots of these sculptures..and here I am with my best
scary face!

I am back in the country now.  We had a great time.
I was not able to blog while there however.  So, my son
in law agreed to do a few posts of the pics I could send him.
I was without internet access at times, but the Chinese
gov't blocks Blogger.  They do not allow access to sites where
people can express their opinion or make statements.  This was
just one small evidence of the Communist control.  The people,
however, didn't seem to let any of that bother them...it is all they have
ever known.  Interesting...
I will post a few more of the interesting things we saw, and
continue to work on finishing up my travel sketchbook.

Thanks!
sheltongail@hotmail.com

The Great Wall

 You can't go to China without going to the Great Wall.  

It runs 4000 miles across northern China.

This is the Badaling section.  

The steps were very uneven...some short, 

and some as tall as my knee.  

The flat sections ran across the ridges and there were guard towers every so often.  

It was quite a climb, but I am so glad I got to do it!!

The Great Wall - Fort area

The Great Wall & Tower

The Great Wall

The Great Wall 

The Great Wall

Gail and The Great Wall

The Yangtze

 
There are lots of boats...everywhere we go.  

They use them for fishing...there are several types.  

The Chinese junk has the sails.  

The next two are called long boats, 

which we rode up into a tributary of the Yangtze.  

We also rode a ferry (the one with the flag) to go to excursions off of the cruise ship. 
The last little boat is like a buoy, that marks where the boats can go.  

Those are fish traps in the water.

Chinese Junk

Chinese 'Longboat'

Chinese 'Longboat'

Yangtze Tributary from the bow of a Chinese 'Longboat'

Chinese Ferry

Buoy demarcating fishing areas.  Notice the fish traps. 

The Zoo

 We visited a zoo in Chongqing.  

We were able to see a small red panda and three panda bears.  

They are in a breeding program there at the zoo, 

and they have had great results.  

They even had a hippo!  

There is a white pelican,
exactly like the ones we have in Louisiana.  

Red Panda

Panda

Panda

Panda

Hippo

White Pelican

Waterfalls

We hiked back along a tributary of the Yangtze,

 all the way to this waterfall, called Dragon Falls.  

The water comes down from springs up in the mountains,

 and flows into the big river. 
The water was ice cold.  

Dragon Falls

Dragon Falls

Dragon Falls

Chinese Dragonfly

Beijing

These are the famous rickshaws.  
We took them into an old neighborhood called a "hutong" which means narrow alley.  
These are some of the original homes in the city...most are over 150 years old.  
Multiple generations all share the homes that share a central courtyard.  

And vendors are everywhere...trying to sell us stuff.

Ricksaws waiting for customers. 

Ricksaw

This ricksaw has a customer!  Who could that be?

 This man was playing this flute like gourd.  He was hilarious.

Images of Beijing

Beijing

Tiamenen Square

 

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City

Packed and Ready

I hope to be seeing more of these in their native country...really soon!
We start our first leg today, driving to New Orleans to catch the plane
tomorrow morning.  Everyone in my group seems to be ready and excited.
I hope it will be a great trip.

I have already booked next summer's trip to the Galapagos Islands, leaving
July 14th for 10 days.  This is a fascinating place, loaded with lots of
unique and amazing animals and birds.  We will fly into Quito, Ecuador,
and tour there, and then board a small cruise ship to the islands.
We will sail several days around each island, going ashore to see
the great tortoises, blue-footed boobies (a rare bird), and lots of
other sea life and aquatic animals.  We are scheduled to snorkel with
the sea turtles, and possibly swim with some dolphins.  It
sounds really great...any of you that think you might like to go,
please let me know.  The sooner you get signed up, the better.  You can
begin paying monthly on your trip, and that always makes it easier.
Don't miss this chance to go somewhere really special.  I would love to
have you along.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Postcard Fun

I have been doing a few little postcards to take along on the
trip...to get ahead a little!  I sell these to other travelers in
the large group tour, and I wanted to stock pile some. 

I used some watercolor, and some ink.  I also used a circle
cut out to splatter paint around to make the moon shape.  I used a
stiff brush to splatter the paint with.    I also got to use my
little signature stamp!  Not long now!!

sheltongail@hotmail.com