Shibaozhai

May 14, 2014

After my shower, I head for the self-serve coffee machine and return to enjoy my brew on our cabin's tiny veranda.  We've sailed through the night, and are still sailing this morning.  Unfortunately, my hopes for cleaner air on the river are not fulfilled;  it's still smoggy.

During our ship orientation yesterday, Bob (not his Chinese name) had mentioned that some women still wash their clothes in the river, and when our ship docks, I see several doing just that.

After lunch, we disembark for a walking tour of the Shibaozhai Pagoda.  This gorgeous 12-story pagoda was built into the side of a mountain in 1650.  It's a nice walk just to get there, up a long hill and then across a suspended bridge that wobbles under our feet.  As soon as we get off the ship, we're greeted by vendors who want to offer us a chair ride to the pagoda.  They seem particularly concerned about me, as I'm wearing sandals instead of the sturdy sneakers of my companions.  Harumph!  They don't know that my sandals are Clarks, and they're made for this type of walking.  No thank you;  I can walk just fine.  In fact, here's proof that I made it to the absolute top of that pagoda.

At every stop along our cruise, we're greeted by vendors who are anxious to sell us real silk, real hand embroidery, real jade, and genuine antiques.  Jack has warned us that in most cases these items are not real anything, other than real fakes.  Not being a shopper, I'm not tempted by these items, and have become very good at the Chinese phrase, Bu Yao, which means, in not so many words, "I'm not going to buy anything."  The day that Jack taught us that phrase, one of the vendors heard him, and went into a tirade, berating him for teaching us to say that.  The markets we walk past on our way to the pagoda contain items for both tourists and local residents.

And here are a few shots of the gorgeous pagoda, along with our gorgeous group.