It starts the same as Day 1.  I get up early enough for 6:30 coffee downstairs, and then Judy and I eat breakfast at 7:00.  There is an excursion this morning to another temple.  We’re pretty full of temples, so we opt out for the cabin balcony and relaxation.  The boat pulls out around 11:00 and we get to view the first of the Three Gorges, Qutang Gorge, from the sundeck.  It’s everything you think it will be, huge and dramatic.

After lunch, we have an excursion up a different river on smaller boats.  We sail through three smaller gorges, but the views are still beautiful and dramatic.  We get the chance to see some wild monkeys on the shoreline.  Our guide talks about the reconstruction that had to be done.  Whole cities were relocated up the mountains, above the predicted water line.  That explains why the buildings all look the same.  The government came in, built all the buildings, and relocated the townspeople and farmers.  I can only imagine the turmoil created by all the relocations.

Judy was a celebrity with two girls, wanting to practice their English. Their moms took video of Judy talking to them

Some wild rhesus monkeys on shore

A view of one of the rebuilt relocated cities, looking over the decks of some moored cruise ships.

Back on the cruise ship, we travel through the Wu Gorge.  It’s the 2^nd of the three gorges. Tonight is the Captain’s Farewell Dinner.  All our previous meals have been buffet style, but tonight’s meal will be served as a traditional Chinese table meal.  All the dishes are brought out and placed on a rotating disk in the middle of the table.  The whole table partakes, spinning the roundtable when you want something.  We’re served a huge variety of foods.  We’re able to try most of them.  They bring a large fish and set it on the table.  Our group begins to work on it, pulling the flesh from the bone.  One of the Chinese guests removes the skin.  I thought they were just cleaning the fish so the flesh was easier to get to.  Next thing, we noticed the guest was eating the skin with her chopsticks.

After dinner, we’re told we’ll be traveling through the locks of the Three Gorges Dam around 1:30 am.   I get up and watch as our boat pulls into the first of the 5 locks that lower the boats.  We finally complete the process around 5:00 am.  It’s really interesting the process that takes place as we pass through.

I wake up wondering if we’re still in Chongqing (5:00 am).  I don’t feel any movement at all.  I open the window and it’s pitch black.  We’re definitely down the river.  I start checking our telephone signal, and we still have 3G, so there must be civilization nearby.  I eventually head to the shower to get ready for the day.  I’m not missing the “Early Bird Coffee” at 6:30.  “Early Bird Coffee” is not a big tradition, apparently, as I’m the only one in the room, besides the attendant.  Everyone else must have stayed up late and waited for the boat to leave the city.

Back in the room, Judy is finishing getting ready, and I’m out on the balcony, seeing what a river cruise is all about.  As we pass a town, you can see a small crowd on the far bank, and then I noticed a bunch of people swimming, way out in the river.  They’re almost out where we are.  I don’t know if this is a special occasion, or just their usual Wednesday morning swim.

Breakfast is good, albeit a little different.  There are some fish dishes I’m not used to seeing on a breakfast buffet.  But there’s also fried eggs, toast, and cereal, so I’m not going to starve.  We’re seated with the only other foreign family on board (out of 420, total).  They’re German, but living in Beijing.  The husband works for Audi, and met and married his Chinese wife in Shanghai in 1995.  Audi lets him live in China for 5 years at a time, and then he must go back to Germany for 4 years.  He is then allowed to come back to China if he wants.  This is his third time back and he has a son and daughter.  His kids attend the German Embassy School, not far from UHN.  His kids speak Mandarin, German, and some English.  His wife is very good at all three languages.

We return to the room for final preparations and then downstairs to meet our excursion group.  We’re paired with the German family, along with several Chinese families.  There are a total of 16 people.  Our guide has to do all her narration in Chinese, followed by English.  It adds some length to the tour, but we usually need the rest.

We’re visiting the “Ghost City of Fengdu”.  It’s a temple, very high up on a hill (very very high), overlooking the river.  They keep telling us it’s 500 steps to the top.  That doesn’t include some steep ramps as well.  There are several temples as we work our way up to the home of the “King of the Underground”.  The main temple at the top honors the guy in charge of deciding where individuals spend eternity after death (in the “good” place or the “bad” place).  There are several tests we’ve taken during the climb to determine if we’re good or bad.  For those of you wondering, Judy and I both passed the tests for the “good” (although I thought Judy was a little iffy on the last one).  We’re relieved to have “passed”, but mostly relieved we don’t have to climb any more steps.

Mooring for our visit to the “Ghost City”

The beginning of the climb (500 steps) to the Ghost City. It looks so restful at the entrance area.

The weather has been great today.  The crowds on the tour were brutal.  It’s a holiday, and this is “high” season for the cruises because of the weather.  That makes for clogged gate entrances, and lots of tour guides on amplified systems.  In spite of all of it, the temples are impressive, and the view is inspiring.  It’s so foggy today our pictures won’t begin to tell the story.

We get back to the cabin, and take a quick nap before lunch.  After lunch it’s back to the room for rest and relaxation out on our balcony.  As the boat travels downriver, there are so many contrasts.  The river is gorgeous and the surrounding valleys are as well.  The architecture is so drab.  Since the government owns everything, all the buildings along the river are square and painted gray or white.  There are no picturesque cleverly designed river properties.  Everything is the same.  If this were in the US, I can’t imagine the property values of some of these places.  It’ll be interesting what happens if the government ever turns loose and lets the economy take off.

We finish up the day with a meal, some deck sitting (very relaxing), and ultimately, bedtime.  All the cable television channels are Chinese, so we’re catching up on West Wing off my computer.  Thanks Courtney for getting that organized for us.  We can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Today, October 1, is the Chinese “National Day”.  It’s the beginning of a week-long holiday, celebrating the creation of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1, 1949.  That’s the history lesson for the day.  For us, it means we’re headed out for our cruise down the Yangtze River.

We have a flight from Beijing Capital Airport, so we finish packing and leave early.  I’m not sure how busy everything will be on a day like today, or how crowded it will be.  We grab a taxi and head to the airport.  Traffic seems normal, with no big delays.  We arrive at Terminal 3, for domestic flights in China.  It’s different than the International Terminal we used a couple of weeks ago as headed to Seoul.

It’s huge, and very new.  I think the International Terminal is undergoing renovation.  Crowds are very manageable, only 3 or 4 people ahead of us in any line we were in.  Security was easy, friendly, and thorough.  We get to the gate area, and eat a sandwich.  I even have a chance to Facetime Courtney and my parents from the airport, using airport wifi.  It’s crazy what technology allows us to do these days.

The flight is smooth.  We’re off the ground late, but I allowed plenty of time to board the boat, if we were late.  We arrive in Chongqing and are met by our arranged transportation.  As we drive to the river, I enjoy checking out the difference in Chongqing and Beijing.  Chongqing is actually bigger than Beijing.  I don’t see as much “old” stuff as we drive through.  There are many construction projects that look half-finished.  In a few years, this city looks like it going to be thriving.  Right now, it’s in transition, like much of the China we’ve seen.

We arrive where our boat is moored.  The approach isn’t modernized.  The concrete steps are very old, and steep.  We have a porter carry our bags down to the boat.  We’re not even sure it’s the correct boat.  Our cruise itinerary says “Gold Cruiser 2”, but the boat is clearly marked the “Gold Cruiser 7”.  Everyone I ask says “no problem, no problem”.

Boarding area for the cruise

We get checked in and upgrade our room to the top deck (an advantage of being early).  We also get the chance to upgrade to the top deck VIP dining room, which we also take advantage of.  As Judy says, “this is what I’ve been working 37 years for, and I’m still working for it”.  While we’re waiting to check-in, all the cruise staff line up for “assembly”.  They get a pep-talk and a uniform inspection.

Assembly and pep-talk for the crew before check-in begins

The room is nice, and comfortable.  We unload our bags, and walk the boat a little.  We eat dinner and walk up to the top deck to sit out and enjoy the view of Chongqing.  The river area is gorgeous at night, with bridges and buildings lit up.

I would love to see the boat depart Chongqing, but I don’t make it.  It’s off to la-la land for me.  Judy tells me later she woke up for it.  My excuse is I’m building up my energy for the excursion tomorrow.

I’m up early and over to BHSFIC to find the iPad. It’s right where I left it, so I turn around and head back home, relieved to have it back.  Total time on the trip is two hours.  The subway crowds are light.  When I get home, Judy is working on power points for classes after the holidays.  Her classes don’t meet everyday so there isn’t any time to waste.  Also, she’s going out on the road for 4 days with the second graders for “BISS on the Road”.  Lots of sub plans to get ready.

The rest of our day is spent organizing our stuff for the cruise.  It’s our first trip into the interior of China.  We won’t have access to a translator.  We’ll be on our own.  Here’s hoping we’re able to get where we’re supposed to be at the right time.  I’m worried about the possible crowds at the Beijing airport on the first day of the National Holiday.  I’m worried what we’ll find in Chongqing when we get off the plane.  I’m actually looking forward to the challenge.

Judy has decided Ikea deserves another visit.  There are a few items she still needs to make us comfortable in the apartment, and Ikea seems to have the answers.  She gets away in plenty of time to beat the crowds.

I’m headed to BHSFIC today for the government-designated makeup for the holiday a week ago.  It’s also the first day I’ll meet the “orchestra/band” class.  I’ve got some copying to finish to be ready, so I leave early to allow time to find the copier, and figure out how to work it.  Subway is smooth, and I arrive with no problems.  The copier is working, and with a few tries I’m able to maneuver through the buttons (in Chinese), and get some copies going.

Class goes well, and when the dismissal bell rings, I head for the auditorium for “orchestra”.  The orchestra president, Jason, seems to have dropped the ball on the announcements (the students are supposed to be in charge of these organizational activities, since it’s a club and I’m just the sponsor).  We have 13 students at the beginning of class, but a few more wander in as they figure out that we’re meeting.  Not everyone has their instrument, so our sparse instrumentation is even more sparse than normal.

With 2 violins, 1 flute, 1 clarinet, 3 saxes (one is a soprano), 2 trumpets, and 3 piano players, we are finally underway.  We warm-up a little bit on some very simple things, checking the students’ music reading skills.  About the time I think we’re ready for an easy tune, just for fun, visitors start wandering in.  It seems there is a parent meeting today, so we pack up hurriedly and get out of their way.  It’s not exactly how I would like to finish up our first rehearsal.  I didn’t even get a good assessment of their skills.  I know the violinists do a pretty good job, and the flute and one of the trumpets seem to have it figured out.  This is going to be interesting.

I get home in time to join Judy and a faculty friend, Shannon, and her husband Dom, for dinner.  We’re going to a nice Chinese restaurant tonight.  We really haven’t been to too many like this since we’ve arrived.  As I walk into the apartment, I realize that in my hurry to clear the auditorium for the meeting, I left my iPad back at BHSFIC.  It’s still showing up on “Find my iPad” on my computer, so it’s going to be an early morning return to BHSFIC for me.  Our dinner is really good, and we head home, learning a new shorter route through an apartment gate I wasn’t aware of.

At home, I head to bed, knowing I’ve got to get to school early before my iPad wanders off.  Judy is still decorating the apartment with the loot from her Ikea run.  I don’t see the finished product until the morning.  I’m asleep very quickly.

I woke up wondering what new banking adventures I would have today.  I login and I can still access my account.  That’s a nice improvement over the last few days.  Today is haircut day!  Judy and I both have appointments.  I ride in the taxi with Judy to her salon, and then walk over to mine, several blocks away.  I can get used to this kind of the fancy treatment at the salon, and the haircut is really good.  After a “before and after” shampoo (head massage), I’m looking for adventure.

I head toward a nearby golf course, curious about what I’ll find.  It’s a small course, with 9 holes.  The driving range is two-stories, and surrounded with netting.  There are enough spots for 60-70 golfers at one time.  The course looks short on the scorecard, but all the yardages are marked in meters, not yards.  It might take me some time to work out the distance conversions to my clubs.  At least I’ll have an excuse when my clubs finally do arrive.  There are no carts, but caddies are available.  As I’m watching, all the groups coming through have caddies.

I picked the wrong subway station when I was looking for the golf course, and ended up walking much further than expected.  Now I’ve decided to reward all my walking with Mexican food from QMex, near Sanlitun.  It’s another long walk, but worth it.  I check in with Judy who still needs a large digital clock in the bedroom, so I head to Sanlitun to see if I can find one.  I keep getting referred to the Yashow Market.  I’m not anxious to fend off those sales people, but I need an excuse for my Sanlitun excursion besides Mexican food.

I find the clock we need, and after bartering in three different shops, I get a price I can live with.  I take the train back, still requiring a lot of walking.  Today is probably the longest walking distance I’ve covered since we arrived in Beijing.  I’m tired when I get home, but a nap quickly gets my energy back up.  Judy has spent the afternoon doing schoolwork.  When I wake-up, I start making sure my classes for tomorrow are ready to go.  Tomorrow is the first “orchestra” class I’ll have, so I’m really anxious how it’s going to work out.

I’m up at 4:00 am today, concerned about the wire transfer to our moving company.  After the login, I’M SUSPENDED AGAIN!  I contact Courtney again, and we do another Facetime conversation with the bank.  After working through all the security clearances and being cleared, etc., the “senior” representative tells me I can access my bank, and reset the wire transfer, but that it probably won’t go through.  WHAT?  He tells us that they really don’t like working with anything coming from China that is a little out of the ordinary.  I start asking for his boss, and we’re put on hold.  5 minutes later, the bank hangs up on us.  Courtney decides to go to a bank in person.

I’m beginning to lose faith that I’m going to be able to patiently work through this issue.  Sure enough, at the bank, Courtney doesn’t have any better luck.  We decide, I’ll send her the money and let her set up the bank transfer through her bank.  Now, here’s hoping she can get it working from her end.

Judy heads out to school.  She has a full day of classes and an assembly she’s helping with, as well.  When she arrives, she finds out that both 6^th grade teachers are home sick, and she and a Chinese teacher, Lynn, who also travelled with the 6^th graders, are in charge of the class in their absence.  The students are supposed to be making an iMovie of their “On The Road” experiences.  Judy has classes all day, and so does Lynn.  They hurriedly work out a “coverage” plan, running back and forth from their classes to the 6^th grade classroom, making sure the 6^th graders are on task.  It actually works out ok.  The students finished their project successfully, with few problems.  Lynn and Judy are worn out, but still on their feet.

My classes go well.  I get home and Lillie comes in a little while later.  As she leaves, Judy arrives.  The “pub” group is meeting tonight.  As tired as she is, she knows she’ll enjoy the group, so we walk over.  It’s about a mile.  Many of the group traveled with their students this week.  One of the grade levels was camping, and the women teachers were less than pleased with the accommodations.  It makes for some great stories.  In every instance though, you can hear the love for their students come out as they talk about the rapport they built with each other.

I spend most of my evening talking to Mark, a Brit.  He’s the antithesis to many to the itinerant international school educators.  He taught in the Dominican Republic for seventeen years before moving to Beijing and BISS, ten years ago.  Twenty-seven years, and he’s only been in two spots.  He has great stories about the many changes he’s seen in Beijing in just the 10 years he’s been here.  When he arrived, there were only 3 subway lines.  Now there are 13 completed lines, with several others under construction and nearing completion.  He talks about the build-up to the 2008 Olympics and the impact that had.

Walking back to UHN afterwards provides a fun end to the evening.  One of the street corners has suddenly become a portable market.  It wasn’t like this when we came by the first time.  There is cooking at several of the carts.  Also, clothes and electronics are for sale everywhere.  We see rabbits and turtles for sale.  I don’t think they’re going to be pets.  This is the contrast of Beijing.  The big city bustle and the street life all jumbled together.

A fun day of banking issues lies ahead.  I woke up early, concerned about the wire transfer progress.  I can’t access my online account.  GREAT!!!!  There’s a note when I try to login saying the account has been suspended, and lists a phone number to call.  Since it costs a “ton of money” to have an international calling plan, I can’t call anybody in the US with my phone.  I “Facetime” Courtney, and she’s a huge help.

She makes the call to the bank, holding her phone up to me (on the computer), so I can hear and be heard.  We’re a really high tech operation.  After much explanation and answering of questions, the account suspension is withdrawn, and I’m able to set up the wire transfer for a 3^rd time (it’s been rejected twice prior).  Now I get to wait patiently to see if it’s rejected for a third time.

Jingshan Temple Buddha, from Day 1

View from Jingshan Park into the Forbidden City, “BISS on the Road” day 1

Judy’s out traveling with the 6^th graders on “BISS on the Road, Day 2”.  It’s day 2 for her, but day 4 for the group.  After she had so much fun yesterday, she’s excited to see what today’s travel will bring.  They are taken to a very large courtyard area next to the “Forbidden City”, and the student’s get a chance to take Kung-Fu lessons from a master teacher.  They also take a calligraphy lesson from a famous teacher.   They travel to a culinary school and learn how to make dumplings.  She’s seen and done so many different things when they’re out like this, I’m jealous.  She’s making a lists of sites for us to visit together.

Judy’s name in Chinese figures.

Normally, Thursday would be a teaching day for me, but my afternoon classes have been cancelled so the 11^th graders can take an assessment test of some sort.  I go to school any way to get some copying done for the “orchestra” class on Sunday.  Sunday will be another make-up day.  This time it will be the makeup for the Thursday we missed last week.  I also have the Guitar Club after lunch today.  I’m trying to figure out how to print to one of the campus printers.  Ink is too expensive and hard to find for more me to print on our home printer.  I end up copying the material to a USB thumb drive, loading it into a school computer, and printing it.  I still don’t have my own room yet.  I’m told I’ll have it after the upcoming National Day holiday.  The classroom I have is OK, but I don’t have anywhere to store stuff.  Everything I use must be carried back and forth from the apartment in a backpack.  I’ve got a great backpack, but it’s really heavy some days.

The banking story continues.  There are many layers and steps to the story, but ultimately, I believe I’ve got the problem solved, the account is set-up, and the transfer is sent.  Now, we wait to see if it goes through.

Judy is spending her day traveling with “BISS on the Road”.  It’s an activity where each grade level goes out of the school and does field trips all over town.  The older grades go out of Beijing and spend several nights out.  It’s an effort to get the kids out into the town and the countryside and to “see” China.  On Friday of the “week”, each grade level combines their photos and videos and put together a video presentation of their experiences.

Judy is with 6^th grade this week, for two days.  When we get back from the holiday that’s coming up, she’ll go out with the 2^nd graders.  She has four students assigned to her when they’re out.  Today they visited several really great sites located around The Forbidden City.  They did a scavenger hunt in a Hutong (small traditional neighborhood) that specializes in shops full of antiques, rare coins, etc.  They visited a gorgeous park with great views of the entire city.  They ate traditional Peking Duck in a restaurant Judy says we’ve must revisit.  They visited an exhibition center with a huge map of Beijing, under glass.  The students are able to walk on top of it.  Sections of it not under the glass had models, to scale, of the city.  They were able to find their school.

The view into the Forbidden City from JingShan ParkHuge Beijing City Map, under glass.

Beijing map, buildings to scale.

Beijing map, building models to scale. BISS is the school in the bottom left corner. If you look close, you can seek the track.

MONDAY, 9/23/13

The day starts slow but build up as it progresses.  Judy takes off for school, and I settle in to begin writing the website entries for Thursday through Sunday.  Lillie calls and says the dryer repair guy is coming from 10:00 to 10:30.  He shows up at 10:30 and goes right to work.  He replaces a broken belt and we now have air circulating through the dryer.  After running a load I begin to hear a squeal.  It sounds like a belt squealing, so maybe I’m not through with dryer repair guy after all.

Judy gets the official fapiao (tax statement) on our apartment, so we head to the police station when she gets home.  We have passports, copy of the lease, and the fapiao on the apartment lease from BISS.  We guide the taxi to the station, which is way off the beaten path.  Only two people in line ahead of us, and 15 minutes later, we’re walking out, with our official “Residence Registration”.  I’m so excited to get that over with, successfully, I want to celebrate (that means eat a big dinner).  However, we “celebrated” with a lot of food in Korea, so it’s back to the apartment and sandwiches tonight.

We bought some tea on one of our excursions a few weeks back, but hadn’t tried it yet.  I purchased a cheap electric teapot, and we experiment with our tea.  It’s a nice change from our regular diet coke.  Time will tell if we actually become “tea” (as in hot) drinkers.  We’re already iced tea drinkers.  One of the little cultural things you learn here is to ask for cold water.  If you don’t, it’s hot water, and I mean scalding hot.

TUESDAY, 9/24/13

Lillie has rescheduled the apartment cleaning for Wed./Fri. this week, so no visitors.  I spend most of the day, working on solutions for two problems.  The first is where to travel during our Chinese New Years Holiday, the last week of January.  I think we’ve settled on the beaches in Phuket, Thailand.  The main question is the quality of our hotel property, and whether or not to add a day or two in another city, close to Phuket.  We’ll probably end up in Bangkok for a few days.  I’m not sure what we’ll do, but there are bound to be some city tours, etc.

The 2^nd problem to be solved is how to send a wire transfer to our moving company.  They’re almost ready to bring our stuff (23 boxes of stuff, not sure where we’re going to put it).  I can’t seem to set it up through Chase.  They want to send me a confirmation code to establish the wire account.  They want to call or text it to me, but they won’t call or text China.  The only number they’ll call or text are our US phone numbers, which are non-functioning.  I’ll finish the story tomorrow on the bank, when I know more myself.  As you might expect, this is really frustrating since I worked hard before we left the US to assure we wouldn’t have these kinds of problems.