Day 11 -- Shibaozhai (Red Pagoda or Precious Stone Fortress) - November 20, 2015
It was another cloudy and misty morning as we sailed towards Shibaozhai, our first excursion on this cruise. I got up early to go to the Qigong practice on deck 5 and hoping that they will teach Tai Chi just like on the Victoria cruises. But throughout the four mornings on the cruise, they only did the Qigong exercise, which we called "8 Silken Exercise--Ba Duan Jin", and a shorten version of it. They probably figured that there was not enough time for people to learn Tai Chi on this cruise. Therefore I only attended the first two mornings and skipped the others.
After breakfast, we went to walk around the Gold 8 some more. There were some places we did not get to on the previous day because we couldn't figure out how to get there. I was interested to check out their swimming pool which is located at the back of the ship.
We found it at the back of deck 5. There is a fee to use this swimming pool. With the kind of weather that we had, I was not surprised that nobody was using it.
This top section was off-limit to passengers for some reason.
I believe that door leads to the VIP dining room on deck 6. The VIP dining room is like a specialty restaurant which you have to pay extra for. It was around 250 RMB per person for a meal. They posted the menu near the service desk but we did not try it. Personally I would not pay that kind of money to eat on the boat.
Going back inside deck 6 where we could enjoy the view of the river in comfort and yet not far from the group activities.
Down on Deck 5, the Acupuncture Lecture was still going on.
Then there was a Massage Demonstration after the Acupuncture Lecture as the boat went under a bridge.
After lunch we were ready for our excursion to Shibaozhai. I was excited to go on this excursion because we did not dock here on our previous two cruises on Victoria. This looks like a big city but we were only on the pagoda part of town.
We went past the pagoda and then made a turn to dock.
Everybody met at the dining room to get their boarding passes from their respective tour leaders and waited for the local guides to pick us up. We needed to have the boarding pass to get back on the boat at the end of the excursion.
Shibaozhai is a 12-storey pagoda built against the rock in the shape of an imperial seal. It was built in the Ming Dynasty (before 1644). It had been used as a fortress by the army and that's why it was named Zhai (fortress).
To get to the pagoda, we had to walk past many vendor stalls in town. This is THE place for shopping if one knows how to bargain. Almost everyone shopped here for Chinese style jackets, clothing, mah-jong sets, T-shirts, souvenirs, you name it. Lisa, who was our table-mate had been here previously, told us about this place before we got off so we were looking for good bargains as we walked towards the pagoda.
"Pearl on the River"
Shopping opportunities!
LOL! I really wanted to get this T-shirt but I knew no one would wear it.
We came to the "Shibaozao" gate.
More shopping here.
To get to the pagoda we had to cross this shaky hanging bridge. Our local guide told us to walk in the middle of the bridge to stay balanced.
an old bonsai
With our local guide for the day.
After crossing to the other side of the bridge.
Some people decided not to climb up the pagoda. If one decides to climb, there is only one way--up, and then get back down from the back side of the rock. We figured that we have made the climb up the dome at the Vatican, this can't be any worse.
The gate of the pagoda, with vivid colors.
Climbing the stairs inside.
The stairs and space get narrower as the higher floor is reached.
View of Gold 8 from one of the windows.
4th floor
against the rock
Arrived at the 10th floor and this was the leveled part with the temple.
MOR went up one more but gave up on the very top one because there were too many people trying to get up there.
Even more shopping at the entrance of the Lanruo temple.
At the back of the temple there was this ancient cannon reminding us of the original intend of this fortress.
Looking down at the hanging bridge from the top of the rock.
This was much easier than the dome in Vatican.
Let's get back down.
A beautifully decorated pavilion.
After purchasing a few items (excellent prices), we got back on the boat and saw the Gold 8's sister ship, #2 slowly approaching.
We saw a couple more boats arriving as we got ready to leave.
Local women doing their wash near the dock.
Our boat left Shibaozhai at around 4:00PM. Then afternoon tea was served on deck 5 from 4:30~5:00. Happy Hour from 5:00~6:30 with 20% discount on all cocktails.
The Captain's Welcome Party was held at 5:45, right before dinner.
Cruise Guide
Senior Officers
The Captain
"Cheers!"
All the passengers were on Sinorama tours on this cruise. There was a large Spanish group, a German group, a French-speaking group from Canada, and our two buses of English speaking travelers from Canada and the U.S.
Free-flowing wine and champagne at the party. Snacks were also served.
Crew members started dancing...
...everybody joined in.
They were certainly having a good time!
There was a "Crew Show" after dinner that night but we decided not to attend.
Instead, we enjoyed the quietness in our cabin watching TV.
That night, when I was ready for bed, I noticed there were bright lights outside and this was what I saw from our balcony. Not sure what city that was but certainly interesting!
Whoa!
**Just found out from Google Earth that this was Wanzhou. I remember we came here on our first Yangtze River cruise and it was just a small village town then. What a change!
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