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Sunday - 20 May - Up as usual at 0540 -
sunrise was at 0505 - Breakfast at 0600 -Then we depart at 0700 by taxi to the
Xiijahui Catholic Cathedral for Mass. It is an interesting large brick building
with Gothic style exterior and columns inside and a Roman Cross transept. The
chancellery is next door. The service is in Chinese of course - very crowded -
It is a high mass sung with organ. There are TV screens set on pillars along
both side aisles of the nave - the main prayers are flashed on screen in
Chinese with some also in English. There are many vocal responses to the
prayers and communion is provided. Back to the hotel by taxi costing 15 Y. At
0930 we depart by bus to visit a children's arts and crafts educational school.
There we watch youngsters starting to learn ballet, drama, piano. strings and
drawing. There is one class of acrobatics preparing students for opera. Many of
the children are pre-school age except for those learning piano and stringed
instruments. A typical gift shop beckons with high class and expensive art
works. Back again to the hotel, we depart for
Yichang at 1330. The airport is nice and
clean and very busy with many stores. Again, we notice that some other groups
of foreign (American?) tourists are handling their own luggage through the
check in counters and to the aircraft. What a pleasant convenience that Vantage
has taken care of the bags that we will not see again until we board the cruise
ship. And the company also has our aircraft boarding passes in hand. The flight
is on a Boeing 737. They serve a small snack and soda.
The view of the Yichang airport includes the wide Yangtze river and many hills.
The airport is small and not so busy, but modern and clean. The waiting bus
takes us down a valley road and conveniently stops for us to get off and take
photos of the rice paddies and farmers with water buffalo and oxen. The road
turns into a 6-lane highway that becomes a city street along the river. We pass
new apartments and gated communities with fine homes. The local guide is full
of information as we drive along. The city boasts a population of one million
living in a long corridor between the river and hills. We miss photo
opportunities new as the bus does not stop until we arrive at a resort hotel
complex. We pass three large bridges over the river. There is much industry
along the river and manhy barges and vessels. The city center is a mix of old
apartments and new construction. We have a sit down dinner is a resort
restaurant - 13 courses plus birth day cake for one of the group. It seems
there are several new dishes including excellent meat and a fruit desert. After
dinner the bus drives us down a twisty narrow road and a very long way up the
river to the river port. It is quite dark, with no moon, but Venus shining in
the western sky. The ship is larger and more luxurious than I had expected.
Definitely much more elegant than any ship I have seen in Russia. We board at
2030 and attend an orientation lecture at 2100. It is nice to find our luggage
already at the cabin. More tourist groups are still arriving later. The cabin
is large, much larger than on a Russian ship, with two hard beds, a desk, tub
and shower and an outside balcony through a glass door. We have time to
reorganize the luggage contents for the cruise.
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