Day 222 – Chongqing

We had breakfast and cleaned up and took a few minutes on the computer and when we went down at 7:50, Mr. Zhang was waiting for us.  We then went to pick-up the Pace’s from their place and headed to the airport.  We got there just before 9, got out tickets and then had to wait until 10:30 for our flight.  The flight was delayed from starting for about 20 minutes because they were waiting for a passenger to arrive. (Must have been some bigwig.) 

We arrived in Chongqing and there we were met by the guide who collected all the BYU teachers that had arrived and then we were driven to the Government Offices and also the Three Gorges Dam Museum.  We just looked at the office building from the outside and then walked over to the museum.  We watched a film that almost made us motion-sick.  It is a theater in the round and the film is shown in 360 degrees around the top of the theater.  Some of the shots of the river trip were from a helicopter and many of us had to stop watching because it was making us nauseous.  After another 30 minutes in the museum, we met back at the bus for a trip to the Flying Tigers Museum (aka The “Frying” Tigers). 

The Government Buildings in Chongqing.  They are on of the independent states in China and proud of it.

David fits in well with the sampan at the Museum of the Three Gorges Dam.

This was in the museum also.  Rather impressive.

At the Flying Tigers Museum, this artist painted this as we watched,  Loved his techniques.

Here we are at the "Flying Tigers" Museum.

During WWII, the Chinese were being attacked and bombarded by the Japanese.  A retire Air Force Officer was asked to help the Chinese build up their Air Force, so with the help of some other retired personnel, they started the Flying Tigers that were a great help to them.  They were able to do quite a bit of damage to the Japanese; 2600 Japanese planes destroyed and only 500 Flying Tigers. 

At the museum, we were told about the history of the “frying tigers” and then an art professor came in and demonstrated the Chinese painting techniques.  He did the painting in less than 5 minutes.   Then they want to sell the paintings to you, along with a lot of other stuff, too. 

Then we were taken to the sight of an old soccer stadium that they no longer use except as a practice field.  They had a new one they have built and use, so this one has grass growing among the bleachers now.  I didn’t go up the steps to see it.  The entire sitting today caused me to have a muscle cramp in the back of my left leg and I could hardly walk.  I stayed down and did some stretching.  I have had to be careful walking all evening.

We walked to a restaurant for dinner and then they took us to the cruise ship.  We had to walk quite a way to get to where our boat was docked.  We were told that we would be cruising on a five star vessel, but the vessels we first saw when we got to the dock did not impress us.  We were afraid of what the Chinese definition of five stars was!  Thankfully, when we did arrive at the correct boat, we were greeted with what would be very nice accommodations.

Making the long walk to the ship.  Besides the stairs, we had to walk a long, long pier to get to the steps.

We settled in our cabin and rested for a while, but at 8:30 we had to go to the lounge on the 5^th deck for an orientation meeting.  We visited with some of the others, explored some of the ship and then came back to the room.  It has been a long tiring day.

Our cabin on the cruise.  It was rather nice.  At least I slept well here, the beds were perfect! 

A view of the river in Chongqing as we were leaving the city.