One day, two stops

Grinding corn at the mud house

Saturday we had stops in two different "villages". At the first we climbed up the nine levels of the red pagoda called Shibozhai. It was really amazing to see a wooden structure built onto the side of a mountain without the use of any nails.

At the second stop, in Fengdu, Josie and I went on an extra tour to visit some local residents and a market. The home visits were a contrast between a 50 year old mud home that predated the flooding for the Three Gorges dam reservoir and a 17 year old brick home built to accommodate a family relocated because of the dam. The market visit following was especially interesting thanks to the great range of products available and the amazing quality of the vegetables on display. (If I could grow a cauliflower as pretty as what I saw I might be too pleased to eat it!) I've enjoyed seeing all the terraced gardens and fields so it was fun to see stall after stall of fresh eggs and produce.

Other than the tours, we've had lots of down time these days on the boat. It's given us more time with our fellow tour members and it's been especially fun to travel with so many people from Ontario (half the group or so?) After two years of not knowing anything about most MN cities people reference, it's been a treat to have a conversation with someone born and raised in Sudbury and currently living in Niagara on the Lake and know where those places are and have memories there myself. I've found a fellow Pelee Island fan and another University of Windsor grad in the group! Josie and Seth were the only two kids on the boat (and the only kids we saw most days in the ports) which has been an interesting social experiment. Seth is getting plenty of practice in adult dinner conversation and our tour mates are getting insight into the randomness of an 11 year old male mind with his topics of conversation ranging from King Tut to cat poop in quick succession. Getting off the boat there's the promise of wifi and electronic connection with some friends.

We're at the airport now to move on to the next city and ready to wear ourselves out a bit more walking for the rest of the trip.

Kathleen