China Yangtze River Cruise and Tujia Tribe

We next started the river cruise portion of our tour on the famous Yangtze River.

 This is the  Victoria Sophia, our cruise ship.  It was one of the older cruise lines but our tour guide said it was known for the best hospitality and service.

 The Yangtze River is the longest river in china and the third longest river in the world.  It flows through impressive gorges and large parts of China.  Three fourths of the population of China lives along the river, along large parts of the journey is through sparsely inhabited countryside then to very large cities.  The river provided the main means of transportation between these huge cities.

 Communist Chinese flag flying from the back of the cruise ship.  Most of the passengers were Chinese tourists rather than foreign tourists like in the past.

 The first off shore excursion was the Tribe of the Three Gorges tour, which was offered by the ship and not Gate 1.

 The Tujia Tribe lived along this tributary river and they met visitors while dressed in traditional tribal costumes.

 A single female waiting for her suitor in the traditional manner on a small boat.

 Jacquelyn and I were the only non-Chinese speaking people on the tour so we got our own private English speaking tour guide.

 We walked along a boardwalk next to the tributary river amidst the bamboo and ferns.

 They used birds to help fish.  The birds had ropes tied to their legs.  They would dive down and catch fish for the fishermen.

 At the tribal village center they put on a show, which was a traditional wedding ceremony.

 They picked someone out of the audience to play the groom, which was me, the only foreigner in the audience.

 Me alongside my bride and bridesmaids.

At the end of the show.  This was faked because actually I was a lot closer to the screen, but it looked like we were kissing.  Jacquelyn though it was funny.