8/5/15
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| Cabin View |
Ugh, when will this illness be over with?! I’m having
serious doubts that there’s anything potent in these Chinese pills I’ve been
given or that the symptoms of my ailment somehow got lost in translation with
the ship’s doctor. As I warily joined Nick for breakfast, I realized we had
taken on distinctly different roles among the tour group. Having chosen to
shutter myself inside my cabin and ride out this respiratory infection, I
hadn’t really been socializing with the group much. And even when I did, I
didn’t have much energy or interest in conversation and was really worried
about being contagious to the other people on the trip. I tried not to cough or
breathe on anyone, but much good may it do me, as I could tell a few other
people had started coughing too. :/
Nick, on the other hand, had flourished! Always the Chatty
Cathy, he had made friends with everyone and somewhat become the group’s class
clown – constantly cracking jokes with his “Brown sense of humor”. It makes me
laugh and roll my eyes at the same time. ;) Everyone else finds him funny and
charming (…just wait till they’ve had another week of this. ;P ) and all 3 kids
on the trip seem to gravitate towards him; they talk more to him than they do
any of the other adults. (NN: The kids were all 15 and we learned all born
within a month of each other, but they barely spoke to each other. But yeah,
each spoke to me.)
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| Sight-seeing Boat |
It was a leisurely morning, thankfully, and our first
excursion required no walking. We got on a small, covered sight-seeing boat and
headed up the Shennv Stream, a small tributary of the Yangtze. It was GORGEOUS.
The picturesque limestone cliffs rising out of the water, covered in lush
greenery against a dark blue sky took my breath away. The lovely young guide,
who called herself Chocolate (the French-Canadian’s old-man-charm was turned on
full blast the entire trip, teasing her several times about getting her phone
number, which was kind of funny but creepy at the same time), pointed out the
ruins just above the waterline, the last visible remains of the sunken cities
below, and the suspended coffins embedded in the cliffs above. It was lovely
and relaxing and only got better once it started raining. Coming from tropical
climates but living in LA, both Nick and I are starved for rain storms and we
relished in the sounds and smell of the current downpour. Nick, ever the
showman, entertained everyone when he walked out onto the uncovered stern of
the boat and let himself get soaked in the rain. (NN: It was a warm day and the
water was fabulous.) On the way back, Chocolate serenaded us with examples of
Chinese love songs that boys and girls in her local village would traditionally
sing to each other to indicate their interest in each other, since actually
voicing and showing affection is not part of traditional Chinese culture. (NN:
If a boy is interested in a girl, he sings his song within her earshot. If she
then starts signing herself, this indicates her love back. It is as simple as a
Disney cartoon musical.)
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| Headed to Shennv Stream |
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| Dragon Valley Gorge |
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| Dragon Valley Gorge |
Floating through the Dragon Valley Gorge
Chocolate singing a love song.
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| Patient Nick |
Once back on the ship, we had a much welcomed leisurely
afternoon. No great excursions, just a couple cultural lessons, the first of
which was on traditional Chinese medicine by the ship’s doctor and resident Tai
Chi instructor. He talked about pressure points and acupuncture, using Nick as
an example by sticking needles in his knee, (NN: Yeah the damn needles hurt as
they seemed to hit nerve points. There was tingling, kinda like my leg falling
asleep during the treatment, but I cannot say that I felt that the treatment
did anything.) the scars of which elicited oohs and ahhs and requests for
explanation from the older ladies in the group. So concerned ;)
The second
lesson was a cooking demo on how to prepare the spicy Sichuan hot pot. I can’t
say I cared much for the shrimp meatballs but having never tried lotus root before,
it was delicious! I was hoping the cupful of dried chilies the cook added would
help clear whatever head congestion I had but sadly, the hot pot wasn’t all
that spicy. The Mexicans in our group concurred, rating it only 2 out of 10 on
their spiciness scale.
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| Cooking Hot Pot |
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| Nick enjoying hot pot |
We later joined our Mexican friends for a late afternoon
excursion to the White Emperor City, which used to sit high atop a rocky peninsula
separating the Yangtze River and a small tributary, but now sits (due to the
dam flooding) atop a small island where the rivers now converge. The city was
originally built during the Han Dynasty (200 BCE) to honor General Gongsun Shu
who declared himself emperor of the Sichuan province when he found a well that
spewed white fog. He claimed the fog symbolized a dragon, specifically a white
dragon, and he was that dragon (hence emperor). The city contains several
life-size dioramas of the emperor conversing with his generals. The highlight
of the city, however, is the mountainous vista overlooking the Yangtze: it’s
the same image as on the 10 yuan bill.
Once back on board, I made my second trip to the doctor’s
office; clearly the medicine he gave me wasn’t helping. (NN: I don’t think
anything the doctor did helped much.) He didn’t really have much more he could
do for me other than suggest putting me on an IV. Are you serious?! A) there’s
tons of other medication that could be tried – namely antibiotics and b) why on
earth would I hook myself up to an IV in a makeshift clinic for one more night
on a river boat?! Thankfully, our Mexican friends had a stash of amoxicillin
that they had brought as a precaution and were kind enough to let me have some.
(NN: Again so thankful to them.) This will be the last time I travel abroad
without my own stash of “just in case” meds. I should know better.
While I went to sleep early, Nick joined the others for a cabaret
show hosted by the ship’s crew. The crew performed Chinese dancing including traditional
Beijing Opera and martial arts. Silly man took no pictures. :)
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