China Diaries – 3

Train to Yichang and the Yangtze River Cruise Boat – 20^thMay.

We travelled fourteen and half hours on the train from Xian to Yichang before arriving at 1 a.m. on the cruise boat, the Hua Xia Goddess.

The journey began in the early morning so we could see the passing countryside as we travelled. From my window on the train I could see construction going on everywhere, but the spaces in between is tilled earth, bursting with green beans and corn on the cob plants, feathery leaves and spring onions. High rises cluster together, housing hundreds and thousands of people. Our train chugged past and I couldn’t help wondering and imagining what domestic dramas were being enacted behind each window.

We arrived at the cruise boat in the dark; Frank, our stalwart guide, told us to be careful on the steep steps leading down to the boat or we may fall ‘tits over arse’ and it would cost ‘an arm and a leg’ to get fixed up with insurance etc. He has a fondness for picturesque language.

We are now moored on the great Yangtze river, pieces of our laundry are hanging from all sorts of hangers in our room. Quite colourful and very necessary.

Outside our cabin I am assaulted by sound. Chinese tourists chattering like parrots, shouting and shrilling at each other. Everything they say, even into a telephone, is shouted. Above us the sky is white with cloud but in the distance a watercolour of mountains nestle in pockets of cobwebby mist – utterly beautiful.

23^rdMay

Yangtze cruising has been such an unexpected experience. There are our group of Brits, a group of Australians and a huge number of excitable Chinese. We eat three meals a day in the western restaurant, the upgraded section where we enjoy free flowing beer and  coffee and load our plates with Sichuan chicken, aubergines, courgettes and pork. There is no chance of scurvy on this trip, and at last Helen has stopped demanding vegetables. On another table I saw more dishes, one of which looked like bacon. Hmm, it looked nice and had lots of cabbage with it, so I spooned some on to my plate. I chewed a piece, it was a bit stringy but I persisted.

‘How are you enjoying the pig’s ear?’ Frank asked whilst slurping his beside me. Aaargh! Rich took a liking to duck’s flippers. Too awful to contemplate.

We made two excursions off the ‘mother ship’ – one to the Three Gorges Dam Project, the largest hydroelectric dam on the planet. It was mighty and had a locking system similar to that on the Caledonian Canal in Scotland. This one obviously catered for much larger ships. This controversial dam is supposed to control the Yangtze’s occasional devastating floods and provide electricity for central China. 1.3 million people were forced to relocate when it was constructed.

We walked about and marvelled at the amazing engineering. The Chinese just wanted to photograph each other or take selfies. I took a shot of John and Dijon looking like demons on the roofs of buildings, deep in conversation.

Yesterday we took a trip through the Three Gorges with another tour guide, Gorgeous George. We sailed through towering mountains of 900m to Wushan, which means ‘Smoky Mountain’ and one of the Australian tourists, Lionel, sketched as we sailed.

The Chinese tourists continued to take selfies the whole way.  We bought tea made from bushes that grow on the mountain tops, John (with the help of Gorgeous George) fought valiantly through the throng of Chinese matrons to get some for us. It promises everything, probably life everlasting, as it is grown in a pollution-free mountain range. We shall see.

Gorgeous George told us they are building tunnels through the mountains for a high speed bullet train to come straight from Beijing. He was very excited about the project, and had bought some real estate in readiness for the area to just ‘take off’.

Meanwhile the boat chugged  off, past the fabled 3000 monkeys (we saw a dozen) and squinted up to the holes in the cliffs where coffins were placed 2000 years ago. God only knows how they got those stone coffins up there. Normally only nesting birds have access to such sheer faces. Of  course not in China, as all the pretty birds are in cages or on platters for supper. Only the magpies and sparrows seem to be allowed to live freely.

It was a beautiful morning. The rain cleared and for a few hours we just drifted through a moving Chinese painting. I could see fir trees standing along the tops of mountains, sort of reminiscent of iron filings.

We came down to earth again when we mingled with our fellow passengers, the spitters. I have tried to ignore them, avoiding splats of mucus on the pavements, looked away from the incessant hawking – but here on the boat it is literally in your face (so to speak). The sound is a bit like the last gallon of water leaving the bath. I queued on the boat amidst a gaggle of women waiting for the ‘squat’ and one made the loudest suctioning hoick and then spat into a receptacle by the door. Then she pulled up her slacks to clear her shoes, then waddled into the toilet. When she came out she was in the process of pulling up her pants. She gave me a grunt as she passed out into the milling throng. My thigh muscles are getting very good. I am getting fit in the oddest of places!

Today is the last day on the boat and the staff gave us a dancing show last night. Tonight is the turn of the passengers.

Ladies on the top deck have been practicing madly with their own personal ‘boom box’. Middle-aged ladies are reliving their dance moves; elegant arms, intricate steps with chubby tummies and pudding faces. They even had matching red and black outfits. I can’t wait to see them perform tonight.

No doubt there will be singing, lots of it. Our group is planning doing Old Macdonald had a Farm. Rich is a French Horn player in NY and he prides himself on his musical abilities; he plans to sing Love Me Tender. Janet thinks she was born to dance so I think I shall have a couple of beers to set myself up to enjoy the evening.  Hi di Hi campers!

But for now the boat sails on through the brown waters and the odd town and village passes by.  Shoddy looking blocks of flats dot the hillsides. China is such a contrast. Beautiful, beautiful natural beauty and a race of people hell bent on expanding, building and controlling.

After the Cultural revolution Deng Xiaoping invested hugely in universities and hospitals but not on roads, buildings or infrastructure, now I am seeing signs of change and as the boat glides around bends we see the ugliness of new towns emerging along this part of the Yangtze. Quite a contrast with the modern skyscrapers of the modern cities.

Things are changing, and modernisation will permeate eventually to the countryside, but for now I feel as though I am in a time warp.

Time for a cup of rejuvenating tea and back to ‘The Golden Lotus’.