China Wu and Qutang Gorges and White Emperor City

Continuing along the river through the Wu and Qutang Gorges.

 Beautiful cliffs along both sides of the boat as we traveled down the river.

 It was fun to stand along the rail and take in the sights.   This area was not inhabited by people.

 We did see wild baboons once.

 Large peaks.  The water was emerald green.

 Wild mountain goats.

 Some hanging coffins.

 We had a stop and a tour up the Shannong Stream and a at the native village a show.

 China is 95% Han by ethnicity but the do have several minority tribes.  Many live along the river.

 We spent several nights on the cruise.  Misty weather at times.

 We we on another guided tour by the ship and this time there were four of us foreigners.  Again we had our own tour guide.

 This was at the White Emperor City, also known as the City of Poems, renowned for being a resort where famous Chinese poets went to contemplate nature and write poetry.  In Chinese the ancient poets were national celebrities.

 They had huge statues commemorating the poets.

 Jacquelyn in a lion guarded gateway to the city, called

 It was also a place of conflict where many historical battles were fought.

 Guanxing Pavilion.

 In the Tuogu Hall, a scene depicting Liu Bei entrusting his son and the who country to a famous prime minister Zhuge Liang.  Liu Bei was the first king of the Shu Kingdom and was defeated by the Wu Kingdom.  He retreated to the White Emperor City.  He became ill and his son was too young to govern, so he entrusted Zhuge Liang, who became very famous for his loyalty and integrity.

 Beautiful rock garden.  We saw this several times in China.  They bring in interesting rock formations to make a center piece of their garden.

 Me and a view from the top.

 Jacquelyn and a view from the top.

Both of us.  As you can tell, I really liked this view.