10-14-2005

Grey and drizzle. Waiting in the room for them to throw us off the boat. We were scheduled to go to the Chongqing zoo today for the obligatory panda viewing but there is a convention of Chinese mayors here today and will get the zoo all to themselves. We’ve been told that the Beijing zoo will be fitted into the itinerary. They have opted to take us to see some “interesting building” and a park instead of someplace historical. I read there is an island in the river that had been a Flying Tigers airfield during the war, which would have been interesting. Given the age of the men on board it would likely have been good for them too. The city has low mountains which are poking into the clouds. Hopefully I’ve managed some good photos of the effect. They also have an aerial tramway crossing the river. … Later this day 11:45 PM We made it to Xi’an, what a long day. The interesting building turned out to be an opera house. The Chinese were very proud of it for some reason or other. Mao and a bunch of other Chi-Coms had meetings there. Without a show it was pretty much just a nice empty opera house. Coincidentally there happened to be an adjacent shop selling water colors. More time was spent there than the opera house. We were then scheduled to go to a park… yes a park. For once the rain played into our hands. Across from the opera house was a huge new facility, the Three Gorges Museum. Our escort and the tour guide got the idea that maybe we could go there instead, but since it was not part of our prescribed itinerary we would have to pay the admission ourselves. Of course we all voted to go. After a daunting walk across the wet polished granite we entered a most spectacular museum. The architecture was stunning and the presentations were amazing. Our time there flew by. The museum contained many artifacts rescued from the now flooded regions of the Yangtze. They removed cliff sides that contained ancient etchings, all sorts of stuff like that that I can’t recall at the moment. There were galleries of ancient Chinese scrolls and artistic calligraphy, galleries of porcelain, the war period, money and more. From what I gather these scrolls were entertainment. You would go to your friend’s home and instead of watching TV, you’d look at some of his scroll. If you liked the scroll you would leave a comment on it and stamp your chop. Unfortunately my little camera’s battery was running low so I didn’t take many photos. We then bussed to the airport where we sat and sat waiting for our delayed flight. There was a group of 10 families from Canada who had just adopted children. I talked to a few of the new families and took some photos. They were all very excited and happy about their new family member. When we finally got to Xi’an I couldn’t believe my eyes (and nose); incredible pollution and haze.