The Long Journey Home

Traveling during May holiday without any prior reservations is not a fun thing to do. It would be a long journey, standing room only, with a sleepless night ahead.

After dinner, the journey would begin with a four hour bus ride to the nearest train station. The four hour ride was through the mountains in the dark. The Chinese engineers who accompanied me on the trip to the train station told me to get as much sleep as possible. In the darkness it was no problem and I was sleeping during most of the trip. This bus ride would prove to be the most quality sleep I would have the entire night.

When we arrived at the Xuzhou station, we went to the ticket office to buy my train ticket home. Because of the May holidays, everyone would be traveling home and no seats to Suzhou would be available. I would have to stand between two train cars for the whole nine hour train ride to Suzhou.

As I was waiting for the train, the Chinese engineers would keep telling me, "Remember, what ever you do, don't fall asleep." It was an eerie feeling to hear them tell me. They would repeat it several times just to make sure I completely understood. I felt like I was in "A Nightmare on Elm Street", and as soon as I would fall asleep, Freddy Kruger would jump into my dreams and tear me to shreds with those blades on his hands.

As soon as I got on the train, I found a place to stand and would stay there most of the time. It was a strange picture being the only foreigner on the train and on top of that, the only foreigner standing.

I started to talk to a young man who was also with a standing ticket. He was on his way to Suzhou from Guangzhou. His whole trip would be over 24 hours standing until he would arrive in Suzhou. Because of the economic crisis, he had lost his job and was moving to Suzhou to find a new job.

He had found a nice place above the conductor's safe where he could sit down, get some sleep even though he was with a standing room only ticket. I imagine, he must have been one of the first passengers to board the train. He was a very kind guy and he let me take turns sitting so I could at least get some sleep.

When we arrived to Suzhou, I helped him with all his belongings he had which was just two large suitcases and a backpack. It reminded me of the U2 album, "All You Can't Leave Behind", better said, the song "Walk On". One part of the lyrics states, "the only baggage you can bring is all you can't leave behind". It also makes me think what did he leave behind.

Recently, we packed and moved most of our belongings back to the States. We packed 84 boxes of things to ship to the US. I still have 17 boxes in China. I think we Americans have become too materialistic and if someone actually tells us, "the only baggage you can bring is all you can't leave behind", could we fit our life into two large suitcases and a backpack? What would be in your luggage?

Qing Ming Jie 清明节: Wuyuan 婺源

Well, it was the tomb sweeping holiday in China and we were invited to go to Wuyuan with the Shanghai Engineering group. We would spend three days out in the mountains walking, enjoying fresh air, and absorbing beautiful scenery. The whole weekend would cost 300 RMB ($43.79)per person, all expenses included.

The trip started out with an early morning five hour bus ride. When I wasn't attending meetings on the phone, I was either sleeping or listening to my mp3 player. We would stop for lunch in Huang Shan City. A week earlier I had been here for the most famous bike race in China. After lunch we would ride a few more hours to our destination.

Our first stop was a small town with some rape flowers. These flowers are used to make canola oil which is used in cooking. Also, it is used to manufacture bio diesel fuel for motor vehicles. This application is not that good considering the N2O bi product of this fuel is worse than CO2. Of course, the pollen coming from these flowers is not good for anyone with asthma or hay fever, but it is so beautiful to see endless fields of yellow.

After visiting this area, we would climb higher up the mountain and see a beautiful lake. The lake was beautiful situated between many mountains and we saw a fishermen on the lake casting his luck.

After a brief stop for pictures, we headed to the place we would spend the night. It was a little village at the footsteps of some mountains surrounded by beautiful yellow sea of rapeseed.

We had dinner and then the adventure wasn't meant to last. I received an emergency phone call and had to return to the office to work the following day.

Yangtze River Adventure

This National Holiday in China, we decided to take an adventure on one of the most famous rivers in China. It would be a three day adventure on the Yangtze River and a one day visit to the city of Chongqing.

Our adventure started with a flight from Shanghai to Wuhan. Once in Wuhan, we boarded a bus for a five hour trip to the beginning of our cruise in Yichang. We arrived like a ghost in the night and boarded the world famous Cruise Ship Splendid China Presidents No. 3. Below is the photo of this magnificant ship!

The first day begin in the early morning, we entered the Xiling Gorge. Unfortunetly I slept through the entrance of this gorge, but heard it was magnificant. The Xiling Gorge is 66 km long and is home to the world famous Three Gorges Project. Our morning excursion was a visit to this project.

The Three Gorges project was done to harness the power of the Yangtze River. Its benefits include flood control, power generation, and navigation improvement. The project includes a dam, a spillway dam, two power plants, a double-way and five-step ship lock, a ship lift, and navigation facilities.

This photo shows the Three Gorges Dam. The spillway is located in the center and the power plants are at each side of the dam.

This is the entrance to the upstream side of the double-way and five step ship lock. It would take us three hours to pass all locks and continue our adventure on the other side of the Yangtze River.

This is a picture of me entering the first lock. Doors close on each side of the lock. Then water fills to raise the boat to the level in the next lock. When the correct level is reached, the front doors open and we pass to the next lock. This process is repeated five times.

Isaac enjoying the scenery in the Xiling Gorge.

Another beautiful view in the Xiling Gorge.

The second day took us to the Shennong Xi River. It was in this river that trackers originally would fight the current and pull their pea pod boats upstream. Originally, these trackers would wear no clothes. The fabric would cause serious skin problems and irritations, so it was not used. Enclosed are two pictures of the trackers pulling us updtream and fighting the currents.

That same day we passed through the remaining two gorges. The second gorge we passed through as we travel upstream was the Wu Gorge. It is 45 km long and has many twist and turns. The most notable view of the Wu Gorge are the twelve peaks.

This photo shows the men of Delphi traveling through the Wu Gorge.

This is another beautiful photo of the scenary of the Wu Gorge. You can see that it seems that the river ends straight ahead, but it is one of the many twists and turns in this gorge.

The last gorge we passed through was the Qutang Gorge. It is the shortest of the three gorges and is only 8 km long. On both sides of this gorge are very high cliffs and the narrowest spot on this gorge is less than 100m.

This particular photo is at the exit of the Qutang Gorge. It is famous because it is pictured on the back side of the 10 Yuan bill. Here Sonia stands in front of those same mountains pictured on the bill.

Once we were through the three gorges, it was safe for a ship our size to sail through the night. It would be the first night and only night we would sleep on a moving boat. The next day included a visit to the FengDu Ghost Town and sailing to Chongqing.

In Chongqing we visited an area of town which makes the local treats. Enclosed is a picture of the busy streets, along with the making of peanut candy.

The cruise was a beautiful adventure. It is a perfect place to relax and view scenery. Just sit on the deck forget about the outside world and let the mountains pass. Take of your watch and let time pass because you are not going anywhere fast.