Boarding the boat

So, by this time we are feeling pretty comfortable with the whole river cruising thing. We were looking forward to a leisurely boarding, especially since we had been told by all of our new friends on the Russian cruise that “in China- there isn’t all of this carryyourownluggage business- on the China cruise, it’s all done for you”. So even after the 3 ½ bus ride from the Wuhan airport to the port site, we were still OK. Even after the one and only pit stop (sorry- “happy room stop”) at a low rent roadside “Public Toilet”. Ouch. For those of you women not yet acquainted with the phenomena known as the “eastern toilet”- this would have been a nice intro to the hole in a floor loved by us all. Actually- there was ONE Western toilet, but it was out of order and when a toilet in Asia is out of order it is really not a good thing. Picture: contents flowing across the floor. So most of us decided we could easily wait another 90 minutes and off we went.

Arrival at the slip was an interesting experience. After all, this was not the usual docking site, but one chosen because it was the nearest one up river that was useable (Read this: not under 10 feet of water). So we were taken through the back streets of China, and this view does NOT look like the 5 star Grand Hyatt in Shanghai. (Have I mentioned our room there was easily the nicest I have ever been in? Ever?) Finally, we pushed past the slums and people and pulled up in front of the Century Sun- civilization, at last! (And Western toilets). So we unload from the bus (and yes, we could leave our luggage to be brought asap by the Viking staff), start across the gangplank…….and realize that the muddy waters of the mighty Yangtze are full of…..bathers. Local bathers.

Up to their knees in icky river water. We stared at them, they stared back….and we went on in to take care of our business while they took care of theirs.

OK- so a small setback on our enlightened road (or bus trip) to fabulosity, but we took it in stride, especially after a trip to the “happy room”. In my next life I’m coming back as a male of the species. Women were NOT built to pee over their dangling pant legs into a nasty hole in the ground….anyway, we covered that already.

But- as we entered the ship (ship, boat, whatever- we used the terms interchangeably) we noticed a strange odor. Mildew, to be exact. Seems that the recent heavy rains and flooding had soaked more than just the surrounding flatlands. In fact, our cabin was so nicely damp and warm that had we added a few rocks we could have sub-rented it out as a steam room. And for the next 5 nights we lived and breathed in that environment. The price paid when we finally disembarked? A suitcase full of very wet clothes and a slight lung infection for Judy. But we won’t dwell on our living conditions- we were about to set sail up the Yangtze- and over the tops of entire villages flooded by the Chinese government when the 3 Gorges Dam was built. Now that’s wet.