China Red Pagoda

Continuing along the Yangtze River on our river cruise we came to the Red Pagoda.

 This was the third day of the river cruise when we docked at Shi Bao Bhai and had a tour of the Red Pagoda.

 We had to cross this long footbridge to get to the island.

 The Red Pagoda is referred to as one of the eight construction wonders fo the world, built into the side of a rocky clift face and constructed without the use of nails.  It's 12 stories and stands over 100 feet high.  Lots of interesting Chinese figures.

 We had quite a climb up to the top.  It's the largest Pagoda in the world that was built without nails. There was a spectacular view of the river and valley below through this circular Chinese window.

 Inside the and on the grounds lots of interesting statues of Chinese warriors and emperors.

 This was an area where the Chinese would retreat to when one dynasty of another got into defeat and had to withdraw.  Also General Chiang Kai Shek retreated to here when the Japanese took over China and they held out here.

 A view of the bridge from the top.  Shows how high up we had to climb in the Pagoda.

 Our tour guide told the group this was a Chinese eternity bridge.  Very hard to get up on.  But if a couple crossed over it they would be together for eternity and just till death.  We thought that interesting.  After the group moved on, we hung back, and then we crossed over the Eternity Bridge.

Later we got separated with when I had to go back for my umbrella that I'd left in the observation tower.  They wouldn't let me catch up to where Jacquelyn was waiting because the grounds were closing.  So we went down separately not know where the other was.  But we found each other at the bottom near the bridge.

 The cruise continued on and we saw some many interesting sights, but have no idea what this giant head was.  Also we saw an interesting movie, "Last Emperor," that gave us a lot of the history of what happened when they stopped having emperors and had a democracy for a while, then communism.

 That evening was the Captain's Farewell Banquet.  It was really nice and there was this big dinner show.  These are dancing Chinese Dragons.

 The show was put on by the crew and staff, they didn't have seperate entertainers.  They were very good.

We really liked the dinner show.  Our Gate 1 group even got up and did a Texas Line Dance for the Chinese tourists that we had practiced.

China End of Yangtze River Cruise

Our river cruise ended at Chang Qing where we disembarked.  The river trip has been a fun part of the tour.

 This is a major emerging city in China.  Notice all the tall buildings in the background.  We were seeing these all over China.  They are apartment buildings.  At first they were being built exclusively by the government, not they they even have some private contractors building them.  They are doing a lot to raise the standard of living for the average people who lived in primitive villages and homes.  The tour guide told about when he grew up they had to go to the neighborhood shower or bathroom down the street.  These have one on each floor and each family can usually have their own room and have heating too.  We saw millions of these buildings all over and especially in big cities.

 This was a square where we saw some children with scooters.

 We got to tour the National Museum.

 Next to a Buddha statue.  There are only a few Pagodas and Temples left in China because they were almost all destroyed during the Cultural Revolution but they played a major role in Chinese history.

 Various costumes from the recognized Chinese minorities.

 The bed of the last empress.

 Ming Dynasty vases.

 Statue of Sun Yat Sen the father of Chinese democracy who led the revolution breaking away from the feudal system of royal emperors.

 And we found a Walmart.  This was fun.  We ran in for a quick look.  It was very crowded.  Our guide said it was very popular with the Chinese.  The only thing we bought some American candy bars.

 We had some free time at a modern town shopping area which had some high end stores.  Also a Chinese movie star was making an appearance so there were a lot of teens there to see him.  It reminded us of how people act back home like in Los Angeles.

Next we took a bus to Xian, which was the ancient capital of 11 dynasties.  On our way to dinner we stopped at the Muslim district, a very crowded popular shopping street.  It was wall to wall people and we almost had to push our way through.

 Food booths were one of the main attractions.

 Lots of fruits.

 A view of how crowded it was.

 A pig hanging up to sell meat.

 A beautiful building lit with lights.

 This is us wit our tour group.  Most of our meals were at group tables like this.  They would bring out a dish and we would each get some of it.  At this resturant they are famous for their Chinese dumplings.  We had the dumpling dinner with 18 different ones to sample.

Outside the restaurant.

China Xian

We spent the day in Xian which is an ancient capital city of China before Beijing.

 We spent the morning at a park with the residents.  Most people live in apartment so the parks are a popular place to go.  We went to Xingqing Park and saw some people doing Tai Chi and joined in for a while.  It's a good way to get some exercise.

 We also saw people even dressed up for different dancing activities.  Jacquelyn joined in with some people doing fan dancing.

 More dancing with umbrellas and lots of color.

 Some people were playing different instruments in different bands and groups.

 This is our whole tour group posed for a picture.

 Our hotel here was the Ambassador International Hotel.  It was a very nice luxury hotel.

 The main lobby.

 In the evening we went to an optional dinner show.  This is the music performers during the six course dinner.  It was called the Tang Dynasty Dinner Show.

 A close up of one of the performers.

 The orchestra.

 Then the show started, with lots of color and costumes and music.

 It told the story of a Chinese geisha girl who actually rose to become of the few female empress rulers of China.

 We really enjoyed the show, lots of spectacle.

 Dancing and singing.

It was great.

China Terracotta Army

We took a bus out to the park where they found the Terracotta figures surrounding the tomb mound of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang.

 First stop at the entrance was at a shop where you could buy souvenirs and statues (not the ones found there, but newly made ones).

 There was a lacquer store where you could see them making Chinese furniture, like the big screen we have in our living room.  It was interesting.  We saw much smaller ones that were several thousand dollars.

 Finally we got to see the terracotta warriors.  They have these huge covered warehouses they've built over the diggings to protect them from the weather.

 It was quite amazing.  They are all life size and there are approximately 8,000 of them.

 They were found by a farmer in 1974.  They were placed in trenches around the burial site of the Emperor Qin Shi Huang.  And they've only looked on the south side of the tomb so there could be more on the other sides.  The trenches had roofs and then they were covered by dirt.  So they remained buried for centuries.

 They're life size and all represent actual people or horses and each has a different face.

 They were originally in color, but shortly after being uncovered and exposed to the air they oxidize and loose their color.

 The roofs had caved in and they were all in pieces when found.  Here you can see what they look like in pieces and some that have been restored.

 It was amazing how many there were.  Can you imagine the work that went into this.  It's really kind of sad when you think of the resources that went into this project just to bury it.  Historians estimate one third of the population was used to build and make all this and it took 40 years..  Just to be buried with that emperor.  Think of what they could have done with that manpower, money and effort in the way of road and bridges and public buildings.  Sad.  According to Chinese folk legend, Emperor Qin Shi Huang died of a people's curse due to his tyrannical government.

This is a staging area when they are reassembling the fragments back into their original shape and form.

Each warrior has to be put back together individually.

A close up of some of their faces where you can see actual facial features of individuals.

A few, right outside the entrance to the tomb, were chariots and warriors of bronze and gold.

Palace guards.

It was all just amazing what they built way back then over 2,200 years ago (from 246 BC to 208 BC).

we feel fortunate to have seen this, considered by some to be the great wonders of the world.