NOTE:  There is a video in this post, so please view this on the web by clicking on the title above.

I am writing this on Friday afternoon (Cinco de Mayo!).  We have been home for 4 days and are just now MAYBE starting to feel a little caught up.  But it’s important to us that we record our experiences from the trip while the memories are fresh.  THANK YOU for hanging in there with us.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Nihao!  That is Mandarin for hello (pronounced knee how).  I’m really glad I’m writing this down because learning a foreign language is not my forte.  For goodness sake, I can’t even manage SPANISH!  It was fun trying to learn some basic words from our tour guide Mary (the Dictator) while we traveled in our bus.  But I must admit that my mouth doesn’t even form the words correctly.  Oh ~ except for Ding ding hao …. which means very very good (pronounced ding ding how).

Which leads me into my very good experience at the Water Village Optional Tour. Dennis decided not to join me, as he wanted a few hours to chill on his own.  He ending up spending 3 hours sitting in the lobby of the ship uploading images and getting the blog to post.  Besides, his knee was still hurting a little from the acupressure treatment.  So off I went with some of my new travel friends who also purchased the tour.

It was a perfect weather day, as you can see from the ship picture (at the top of this blog post).  We walked along the river, then turned into a gorge and witnessed how the native people of this area lived and worked, back in the day.  We listened to how the people communicated across the water, we saw how young people met and courted each other, we witnessed what everyday life was like including fishing and doing laundry, and we even interacted with live monkeys!  The scenery was gorgeous including water wheels, bridges, waterfalls and lots of color.

I found this sign at the top of the gorge ~ it made me laugh!  I wish I knew how to “slip carefully”!

And today was the perfect opportunity to show my girls the Four T’s of posing

The climax of the tour was the Wedding Ceremony with beautiful costumes and music.  I had what I thought was a short video of the women singing, but apparently I never hit the STOP button and I got about 3 minutes of the back of the woman sitting in front of me.  Oh well at least I still have a visual.  Look at the tablet and phone cameras in the second image!

Interesting note:  when someone got married in their culture, they cried for 3 days before the wedding.  Only when someone died, did they celebrate.

It truly was a lovely morning and I’m so glad I went.

The rest of the day on the ship was part relaxing, and part getting organized to leave the ship early the next morning. We missed a few demonstrations in the afternoon and the Martini Happy Hour because we had our second Chinese medicine treatment at 3 pm. However, I am so glad we seized the moment, while in China, to work with Dr. Ryan.

The Captain’s Farewell Banquet was in the evening, but basically it was the same as every other meal …. just served to the table instead of a buffet.  It consisted of 17 different dishes but MOSTLY all still Chinese. See the french fries?

That evening was the Guest Talent Show.  NO ONE in our group was interested in participating, but our Dictator wouldn’t have it.  So she asked our entire 30 person group to participate in learning a Chinese song to perform at the Talent Show.  Of course, everyone from OUR table said yes, along with some other members of our group.  And I have to tell you, that during rehearsal, I LAUGHED SO HARD. Us, singing Mandarin …. REALLY?

Thanks to the grace of God himself, the recording of the entire performance did not record, but Nik got the last few moments.  The short video below IS ENOUGH …

What a great experience to float the Yangtze River AND with wonderful people.  We were both sad that the river cruise would end the next morning, but we were happy to Be In the Moment on the Eve of my 63rd birthday.  But wait, I was starting to feel a cold come on.  Was it allergies, or the cold being passed around the ship, or a result of toxins being released after my treatments? Maybe it was a little bit of everything combined.

Shi Shi …. Mandarin for “thank you”.

No matter what was ahead for us, we felt thankful and blessed, and eager to enjoy the remaining time on our journey to China.