Day 10: Yangtze River Cruise & Shibaozhai Temple

Last night, we were given the itinerary for today.

Breakfast was from 7 until 8am and was a buffet which included pancakes and very strong coffee! 

There was a mandatory welcome aboard briefing at 8am which we had to take our life jackets too; we all had to make sure our life jackets were working, just in case! After the briefing, there was an optional tour but we decided to relax instead. We did go to a lecture on the Yangtze River which was really interesting although the chinese guys jokes were horrendous! We also tried to sit outside on the top deck but it was far too hot, we lasted about 10 minutes! We decided to go to a few of the shops on board instead.

We had a buffet lunch from 12 until 1pm and by this point we had started moving. We went back to our cabin to sit on the balcony and watch the world go by. 







There was a few places we passed and it looked like they were letting fireworks go off; very strange but we just assumed it was to welcome us; either that or it was dynamite! We passed under numerous bridges and before we knew it, it was 3.30pm and time for the Captains Welcome Reception. We were offered sparkling wine, I think it was Asti, before we were introduced to the key people on the ship; it was good but not sure the captain should have been drinking!

At 4.45pm, we were due to go on a shore excursion which was included in our package; it was to Shibaozhai Temple. The temple was built at the top of a nine-storey pavilion clinging to the south bank near Qutang Gorge; it is named after the hill on which it stands and was built during the the Xianfeng Emperors reign in the 18th century. The temple was a 20 minute walk away followed by a climb of 100 steps inside the pavilion. We also had to walk over a suspension bridge to get to the plateau; apparently it cost 100million Yuan. It was so hot and humid, everyone, including the Australians were struggling; we would definitely need a shower once we got back to the boat! At the top of hill, there is also a bridge within the temple area; it is called the Lovers Bridge. If you walk over it together, you will have happiness forever. We walked over it and as we got to the top, everyone clapped; definitely enough cheesiness for one day. As we walked back, we tried to peruse the market stalls; it is called the “hello” market as every person says hello, lookie, lookie when you walk past. We bought a few beers but nothing else.













Once we got back to the boat, we showered and headed to the restaurant for happy hour! Due to our upgraded package, we get free drinks one hour before dinner so we took advantage. Funny enough, the wine was Australian! We were then seated at our table and served the 4 course meal that we had chosen at lunch. I had shrimp wrapped in bacon, french onion soup, lamb chops and walnut pie; we both had Buddha bellies afterwards. There was a show on in the bar area at 9pm so we decided to go to it; we didn’t think I would be particularly good but it was really entertaining! We sat with a few of our group during the show and a few more joined us afterwards. We sat there until 12.30am, drinking Chinese spirit and wine. We are still to find out what it is called but I will report back later....probably after the bar tonight and if I remember.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anniversary Holiday

Image
Every year, around December 8th, I look to see what we can do or where we can go to celebrate "surviving" another year of marriage.   Over the last few years, we've been back to our wedding venue for an overnight stay, had an all-inclusive holiday in Ras al Khaimah in the UAE, visited New Orleans and had a Michelin tasting menu at The Kitchin in Leith. This year, we decided to stick with Europe and head to Riga, the capital of Latvia. Back in April 2020, we were supposed to visit Riga, but the trip was cancelled due to Covid. I'm not sure why its taken us so long for us to rebook, but the prospect of a traditional Christmas market and some Glühwein convinced us. We flew Ryanair from Edinburgh to Riga on Sunday 3rd December; the flight was 2 hours late, but thankfully we had paid for a lounge so we weren't too bothered. I had pre-booked a taxi on arrival and was delighted given the delay; the journey was only 15 minutes, but it was midnight and -10 when we arrived ...
Read more

Bucharest & Dracula

Image
This is another one of these holidays that we had booked in 2020, for my birthday to be precise. It's only now, April 2024, that we managed to rebook and make our way to the Capital, Bucharest and the mountains and countryside of Transylvania. It was the usual deal, British Airways via London using a companion voucher and Avios to upgrade to business class; I'm pretty sure the flights cost us £2. The flight to London was early, and it was absolutely beautiful coming into London; we had fabulous views of the city.  We arrived in Romania late afternoon, and had a taxi waiting to take us to the hotel. I had booked The Mansion Boutique Hotel, a 4 star hotel in the centre of the pedestrian district; we had to be let off by the side of the cobbled streets but thankfully it was only a 2 minute walk. Check-in was great, we got a glass of fizz each and taken to our room which was called "Zen". We actually didn't have too long, so unpacked quickly and made our way out of th...
Read more

366 Steps with a Hangover!

Image
Surprisingly, we weren’t feeling quite so fresh this morning. We decided to delay breakfast and go straight to the Belfry of Bruges, a medieval bell tower. There are 366 steps which lead you to the top of the 83 metre high building. Normally, this would be fine but with the cold and a hangover, I was not feeling the best. The spiral staircase is very steep at the top so they only allow 50 people up at a time; we had to wait at the bottom for a few minutes which was a bit of an inconvenience, but now I understand why they have these restrictions. We made it to the top and only had a 10 minute wait until 11am which would signal a lot of bells chiming. I’m sure you can imagine how my head was feeling at the end of it! After descending the tower, we headed to the Church of our Lady Bruges as there is a Michelangelo sculpture located there. Unfortunately, you had to buy a museum ticket in order to see it so we decided it wasn’t worth it. Instead, we went for lunch at a very quaint tea room....
Read more