Day 08 March 13, 2017
We awoke this morning around 5:30 am on Monday morning. I checked my watch and saw that Auburn and LSU were just starting game 3 of their week end softball series. Auburn had won the first game and LSU the second game. This game was for the series win. I turned on the computer and the first voice I heard was our friend, Mike Cooper. Mike was inspiring the Auburn fans to support the Tigers vocally. Auburn was ahead 2 to 0 at that time. I sent Mike a text and told him we were on a river cruise ship, somewhere in China, on the Yangtze River. His voice was heard world wide. I must admit it made me a little homesick. After an exciting game, Auburn won in the 7th inning. I called Mike after the game was over and told him we enjoyed hearing his voice. He said “where are you? Wetumpka? I said, no. We are in China. He was talking to Coach Meyers at the time and put Coach Meyers on the phone. We had a nice talk and are looking forward to being at the game for the next home stand. It was pretty neat. I told Mike goodbye and to be sure and tell the Perkins and Matthews we said hello.
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| Schibaozhai |
After breakfast we disembarked in the city of Shibaozhai. This is the home of an ancient stone fortress built on a hill along the bank of the Yangtze River. It was used as early as the 1300's. A Yangtze River cruise in China has many highlights--beautiful scenery, fascinating history, interesting culture, and features like the Shibaozhai Temple. This temple was threatened by the rising waters of the Three Gorge Dam Project. At a cost of $12,000,000, a wall was built around the fortress to preserve it for future generations.
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| Fortress from our cruise ship |
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| Enclosed stairway to the fortress |
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| Entrance to stairway to top of fortress |
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| Wash day at the river |
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| Lady washing clothes by the Yangtze River |
Built in the Ming Dynasty, Shibaozhai consists of a gate, a pavilion, and a temple. The gate is carved with some vivid reliefs. Within the gate is the 184 feet high 12-story wooden pavilion. It is the tallest specimen of ancient architecture with the most stories in China and reputed as one of the eight fantastic examples of architecture in the world.
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| Damien and Edyth |
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| Suspension bridge to the fortress |
Like most everything else on this trip, it is a walk through Chinese history. The cruise portion of our trip is winding down. We have to go by the bursars office tonight and settle our accounts. We will have a farewell dinner tonight, followed by a talent show by the passengers. I will let you know tomorrow which talents Jerry Hankins puts on display. We will disembark in the morning around 8:00am and go to the airport in Chongqing and take a flight to Shanghai.
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| Mary Ann and Jerry crossing the suspension bridge |
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| Lee and Judy, Bridge of Love |
This trip has lived up to our expectations and we are looking to the next phase......more later
Looks like you are all having a wonderful time. Great pictures.
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