Friday, April 21. Cloudy morning. I check my watch and figure it's 6:30 so I wake up Ron, but after going to the washroom I realize that it's only 5:30. Ah well, we stay up and go to Qigong for 6:30. A lot of our group members are there and participating in the exercises also. Breakfast is at 7:00 so we go there after exercising. We are cruising through what looks like fjords. It's the gorges, so beautiful. This morning's excursion is to get closer to the gorges by boat. We meet our group at 8:30 and we have another local guide. This lady is a self-taught English speakers so she knows what to say, but has difficulty answering questions. Jack is there to interpret for us. It's about a 30 minute jaunt down the river where there is a platform to walk on. All of the other tourists are there as well. The guides and other people entertain us on the platform after our short walk.

The fjord looking gorges

Farmers working on the side of the mountain.

Our boats

                                                   

Walking on the platform.

Our entertainment

Goats on the side of the mountain.

Holes in the mountain where coffins were often placed. Not sure how they got them way up the mountain.

Example of boaters using the river.

Tombs along the mountainside.

On the return to our cruise ship our guide, Cathy, sings for us. She's very good.. She also sells bookmarks and photo books of the area.

We have a free afternoon so our table members decide to meet to go over our little number for the variety show. All passengers are asked to participate. Our group has two presentations. We are singing a new version of "Our land is your land" Three of us got together earlier to rewrite the song. We go out to the top deck where there is a description of the gorges. It's a bit windy and cool, but so picturesque. We then walk to the back of the ship where it is sheltered and very nice. We hang out with other members of our group. Later in the afternoon, we go relax in our cabin and then prepare for our evening. We make it down to the bar around 5:30 for Happy Hour. Our supper seating is at 6:30 and after that the crew will entertain us with song and dance.

 

Not sure why these characters are on the side of the mountain

Monkeys hanging around

So many bridges crossing the Yangtze river

Lots of farmland

Many fishermen/women

Margaret admiring the views

This view was in front of us the whole way into the gorges.

As dusk approaches, so does a city. It is well lit up so Ron attempts to take pictures. It is very difficult without a tripod. The bridge is particularly very cool.

Very pretty light show on the bridge.

The staff did a great job entertaining us. Afterwards some of the crew members stay on the dance floor and participate in line dances with the passengers.

Most people leave after the show and we head back to our room around 10pm. It's our last day tomorrow.