Three Gorges Cruise: Day Two (Ghost City)

Sunrise in Fuling (this was about the only time I saw the sun. It was extremely foggy the whole trip):

"Princess Elaine":

Today was the first day the cruise officially started.  We got up around 7 am and ate breakfast in one of the dining halls.  We were considered to be foreigners on the cruise, so we were able to eat in a separate area from all the Mainlanders.  There were only two other foreigners on the ship: a couple ladies from France.  So we set sail along the Yangtze, and boy what a sight it was.  We were always surrounded on both sides by gorgeous mountains, beautiful landscapes, and interesting villages.  Today we our shore excursion was Fengdu, or otherwise known as the Ghost City.  The Chinese people believe that when people die, their spirits go to this city to be judged by the King of the Underworld, where they will either go to Heaven or Hell.  We stayed here for about three hours, climbing Mingshan mountain and visiting the different temples on the mountain.  There were numerous stories and legends about different parts of the temple and below are some pictures as well as descriptions.

Bridge to the Underworld:

This was the first test for spirits entering the underworld. Only good spirits can get across; the bad ones fall into the river of fire below. We had to take an odd number of steps across the middle bridge. Men start with their left foot, women with their right.

33 Steps to Heaven:

The Chinese believe there are 33 levels of heaven, and each of these steps represent one of the heavens; the best heaven is the top step and represents immortality. In order to obtain this, we had to walk all the way to the top while holding our breath. Again men start with their left foot, women with their right.

"Only Kindness Brings Peace":

There are four Chinese characters written here that say: "Only Kindness Brings Peace"

King of the Underworld:

Scary guy. Nuff said.

Three Gorges Cruise: Day One

We left Hangzhou around noon for our flight to Chongqing to go on the Three Gorges Cruise.  Our flight was pretty much on schedule, and we arrived at Chongqing around 6:45.  We were picked up from the airport to go to the loading dock, but it turns out the water was too shallow, so we had to get on the boat around 100 km(about 62.5 miles) downstream.  We were picked up by a bus and took a two hour drive to Fuling.  By the time we got on the boat, it was already 9:30, and we were all very tired from all the commuting.  Princess Elaine (the name of the boat) was docked for the night, and we didn't start moving until the next day.  Overall it was a tiring day of traveling but worth it for what was about to come.

Here's a picture of the room my dad and I stayed in (my mom and grandma stayed in a similar room across the hall):

Pre-Cruise

I will be leaving shortly for the Hangzhou airport to fly to Chongqing for a 4 day cruise on the Yangtze River (长江). I won't have internet access, so I will try to keep a journal of what I did each day and take lots of pictures. I will post my adventures when I get back. If you're interested, here's the website with information about the cruise: China Regal Cruises. Stay tuned!

Arrived!

After a 14 hour flight and 2.5 hour drive, I have arrived at Hangzhou at my Grandma's place.  I'm not too jet-lagged, which is nice.  I'm updating the blog via email right now, as I have not received the software from my cousin to get around the block.  Email (jamesanlee@gmail.com), AIM (ppa55ccatag, jamesanlee), Facebook Chat (via AIM) and Skype (jamesanlee) work just fine.  More adventures to come!

Edit:
Here's a picture of my room that I'll be staying in for most of the time:

My Camera

The camera I will be using in China is the Canon PowerShot SD780IS 12.1 MP Digital Camera. It's a very small camera so I'll be able to carry it around with me pretty much wherever I go. I've never been a big picture taker, but then again I've never had my own camera before. I'm excited to see what kind of pictures this camera can take (or more like what I can take). Hopefully it'll make it seem like you were there with me when I took the picture ;).

Introduction

Hello interested follower,

My name is James Lee, and I will be blogging my trip to China this Summer 2010. I will be on vacation starting May 7th until May 29th and then working in 杭州 (Hangzhou) until August 5th. I'll post pictures, tell stories, and let you know what's going on in my adventures in China. I hope you enjoy reading my blog!

-James