Alicia
and Bob trying to pick up marbles
with chopsticks ... she lost! |
For
our last night on board the Princess Elaine we would be treated
to a farewell show by the crew and some contests for the guests.
Both the welcome and farewell shows by the crew were enjoyable.
Certainly not up to Broadway standards, or even that of the other
larger ocean cruises, but enjoyable to watch nonetheless. In fact,
with the amateurs among the crew included it was all the more fun.
I particularly got a kick out of the ship's photographer. He appeared
in a number of traditional dance segments and, unfortunately, he
wasn't a dancer. Sorry!
After
the show it was back to the cabin to pack. The bags had to be packed
and placed outside the cabin door before going to bed.
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The
ship's band played
a good-bye melody |
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My
bags are packed
and I'm ready to go!
Photo by John |
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The
luggage being offloaded |
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| Our
visit to Chongqing was scheduled to be a short one with barely enough
time to visit the General Stillwell Museum and city hall before heading
off to the airport and our flight to Xi'an. But we were in for an
unexpected surprise. Our flight to Xi'an, scheduled for late afternoon,
was canceled and we were booked on a late evening flight. The good
news was the extra time would allow us to visit the zoo and see some
Giant Pandas. We were all thrilled. I mean, who goes to China and
doesn't get to see at least one Panda?!? |
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Three
wheelers, I imagine taxis, waiting for passengers
off the boats that dock
in Chongqing |
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A
wall commemorating General Stillwell
Photo by John |
Our
first stop was the General Stillwell Museum. Stillwell headquarters
during much of WWII were here in Chongqing and it was here that the
legendary Flying Tigers were born. With my love of airplanes I looked
forward to the visit only to be disappointed. The museum wasn't very
interesting and had limited exhibits. I did manage to buy a nice T-shirt
with the Flying Tiger emblem on it. |
A
portrait of one of
the Flying Tiger aircraft |
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| From
the Stillwell Museum we headed to what I'll call Chongqing's City
Hall, a large plaza with several interesting buildings and a large
theater. Chongqing is one of China's largest cities. Formerly part
of Sichuan Province it is now, like Beijing and Shanghai, its own
municipality. The city was built on a rocky promontory where two rivers,
the Yangtze and the Jialing, meet. Because of its hilly location you
hardly see a bicycle in Chongqing, not at all like Beijing where they
are everywhere. |
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The
theater building and art exhibition and sale. |
The
plaza and Chongqing skyline in the background |
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Anne
standing by the plaza |
Having
spent a few minutes roaming around the art exhibit the building
was hit by a power failure and went totally dark. We were, thank
goodness, near an exit so we made our way outside to wait for the
others. When we finally regrouped we decided to walk to a local
market nearby. Unlike the previous markets we'd visited this one
was inside and not outside. It was, however, exactly like all the
other markets in other respects so I won't bore you with redundant
pictures. There was one picture I found interesting and am including
(below).
Walking
into the market we saw a large sign hanging in the walkway (below
left). A no smoking sign reading: "Smoking is prohibited for
your and others' health. I found this comical. A sign expressing
interest in public health when all you had to do was look around
at the sanitary condition and safekeeping methods, or lack thereof,
for food in the market. I can only imagine that this, in itself,
was a major health risk.
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Delivery
for the market |
A
health risk!?! |
The
No Smoking Sign |
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Bright
flags near
the market |
Busy
activity outside the market |
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Two
dogs roaming by the market |
Outside
the market we saw a couple of dogs roaming in the street (picture
left). This is an unusual sight in China. Dogs, as I've mentioned
before, are not common pets for the Chinese. You see them only occasionally
while walking the streets.
Leaving
the market we headed for the zoo. We were all excited Knowing we'd
see some of the Giant Pandas. This was an unscheduled stop for us.
Believe, it or not the entire itinerary never called for us to visit
a zoo or Panda refuge anywhere. Of course seeing the Pandas and
the late flight to Xi'an would make for a tiring day to follow,
but we didn't care. We were off to the zoo to see China's Ambassador
to the world, the Giant Panda ...
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Adjacent
to the Giant Pandas we found this little guy, the Lesser Panda.
Cute isn't he/she? |
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Our
visit to the zoo concluded our extended tour of Chongqing and it was
now time to set our sights on another of our major objectives for
the trip ... our visit to the tomb of Emperor Qin and its 8,000+ Terra-cotta
army. Following dinner we headed to the airport for our flight to
Xi'an. Join us on the next page to see pictures of Emperor Qin's army
... |
