Yangtze River Cruise Part 2

Here's the next installment on our river cruise adventure. I wish we had taken some pictures of the cabins and inside views of the boat, but we didn't, sadly. The whole time we were on the boat I felt like we were staying in a glorified double wide trailer! It was nice enough, but still very Chinese. For example, under the low grade berber carpet, you could feel the welding seams of the deck! Some places were actually dimpled and our whole stateroom was kind of on a tilt. We upgraded our room, for a nominal fee, of course. I can't imagine what our original cabins would have been like to stay in! Our staterooms were on the highest deck, just under the sundeck, which meant that we got to hear all the feet of everyone who took a trip topside. We also were in the very very front of the boat and had a sitting room with bulkhead to bulkhead ( ok, in common language that's wall to wall) windows with a great view of everything.

So here are a few pictures from the Three Gorges that we passed through. There were so many amazing views. If you are interested in seeing more pictures, you can go to our picasa site and check them out at:   http://picasaweb.google.com/lkcannon1 .

One of our absolute favorite things about the river cruise was getting to see all the little villages along the way. It was so neat (for lack of a better word) to see how the rest of China lives. We are so sheltered in Shanghai because it is so urban. After we got back from our trip, a long time China expat, who has been in China for 8 years (I think) and has travelled extensively, said to me that she was glad that I finally got to see the real China. I can't imagine living the way these people live, just surviving must take every ounce of strength and every bit of living breath to make it day to day. How blessed we are! What a sheltered and fortunate life we live!

I hope you have enjoyed some of my favorite pictures from our trip. I will probably add two more postings sharing our river cruise experience. Stay tuned....