This is our last port before we leave and the last night on the ship.
Jennifer and I had planned to go on an excursion that included a glass-bottom boat ride but because the rough seas and yesterday’s storm reduced visibility they removed the boat trip from the excursion and we decided not to go.
I walked off ship to the town and then spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how to fit everything into my suitcases. Ended up purchasing another suitcase and then it could all fit.
Today’s a sea day where we head to our last stop of the cruise. Jennifer helped organize a picture event inviting everyone on the ship that had purchased clothing with elephants to go to the grand staircase and get their photo taken. It was lots of fun and there were many different elephant clothes shown off.
Jennifer and I went on another excursion together today and visited the Senganen Garden and Museum. Jennifer explored the gardens while I did a traditional craft and made a pendant.
I did walk around a little and enjoyed the cat shrine and it’s cat statues. The shrine enshrines two cats that safely returned from the battlefield out of the seven that were taken
Visiting our last new country of the cruise today. It’s our first stop in Japan- Nagasaki. Jennifer and I went on the same excursion today which usually doesn’t happen. We went to Arita (a town famous for it’s porcelain), had a traditional Japanese lunch, and visited Peace Park Nagasaki. The peace park is right next to the spot where an atomic bomb was dropped during World War II which has the Atomic Bomb Museum.
We went to a Shinto shire with a Porcelain torii gate in Aruta. Torii gates are usually made from wood or stone. A torii gate is a specific style Japanese gate, usually found at the entrance of a Shinto shrine. It marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred.
I tried almost everything in my lunch but didn’t really care for any of it except maybe the Almond Jello and strawberry.
Just as we got to Peace Park Nagasaki, it started raining. It rained hard during the 15 or so minutes we were there and it stopped shortly after we left.
We heard from a couple of different tour guides lately that it’s called the South Asia Sea not the South China Sea.
Spent most of the day relaxing. The theme of today’s Afternoon Tea was strudel. There was only one kind- Apple with nuts and raisins.
We had hardly any time today to explore Shanghai. We can only enter and leave the International Cruise Port when the tide is high. We left about 11:30 in the morning. I had just enough time to take a short walk along the riverwalk. It was a beautiful green space next to the river.
We went to the Great Wall, a jade store, had a wonderful Chinese lunch and flew from Beijing to Shanghai today. I was surprised to see how much farmland is around Beijing. Some of the flowers and trees are blooming and there is lots of pollen in the air. Jennifer is very congested.
Our guide, Martin, was amazing. He adjusted the timing so that we could visit sites with the least number of people- even tho it was still quite a few people. We got to the Great Wall in the morning and got a parking space near the front, by the time we left, the parking lot was full and the overflow lot and street were also full.
Since today was a Monday, some of the other tourist attractions were closed so more tourists visit the Great Wall on Mondays.
At the jade store, they explained about the dragon statue at store entrances. The dragon statue has an open mouth to get the money but no opening at the back so the money doesn’t come out. They want all money to go into the store and none to go out of the store.
At the Great Wall I climbed up partway to the top- got to Fortress #9 (the furthest was Fortress #12)
We were pretty tired when we arrived back at the ship port and there was a little mix up getting back on board the ship. They thought we’d have two copies of our passport but none of us had any copies, only the original passport. After 10 minutes or so, they determined they could make the necessary copies and we were able to go thru immigration. Can’t believe they had a copy machine right there that could be used to make the necessary copies. It was pretty quick and painless but many of the folks on the tour were very upset- one was so upset they called the general manager of Oceania to complain!
Today was a busy, long day but at least it wasn’t hot. We flew from Xian to Beijing and then visited the Forbidden City and Tian’anmen Square. After the tour, I still had energy to go out for Peking Duck with 3 other people from the tour at the restaurant the tour guide recommended.
Young women get dressed in traditional clothes and put on makeup to go to popular/beautiful sites and have their friends take pictures of them. It’s a national past time. The Chinese government will give free public transit to women wearing traditional clothes to promote nationalism. We saw them in all the places we stopped, walking along the streets, shopping, riding motorbikes or riding bikes. They usually weren’t wearing traditional slippers but rather were wearing tennis shoes or other modern footwear.
Today we went to one of the top places on our list- the Terracotta Warriors found near Xi’an, China.
We left a little early from our hotel to get to The Terracotta Warriors. It’s a good thing we did as we were one of the first groups into the museum. When we left after our visit, there was a long line of folks waiting to enter. This museum sells 70,000 tickets every day of the year and today was a holiday so even more families were visiting. It was a mad crush. People were shoving each other, putting cameras/phones in front of others and we were all smashed together. Groups were going different directions and some groups would all stay together as one entity so when they moved, everyone else had to get out of their way or get run over. Needless to say, I did not get to enjoy it as much as I wanted. As a matter of fact I didn’t even get to see one of the highlights of the museum since I couldn’t stand the crush any longer and left the building.
The Terracotta warriors were still amazing. Each warrior had a different face & hair design and some did not even have Asian features. Originally there were colors on the faces and clothing of the statues but when the statues were exposed to air the color quickly muted into the color of the terracotta. They put plastic wrap on some of the warriors to protect & preserve the coloring but it was very distressing to see plastic wrap on the lifelike faces.
Our lunch spot had a short presentation/sales pitch for lacquered furniture and for silk embroidery. The silk embroidery was amazing.
After the Terracotta Warriors and lunch, we visited the Xi’an city wall. It is one of the only city walls still in existence. Most of the other older cities in China had walls to protect them but these old walls were demolished and/or the wall materials were reused to make something different.
In the evening we went to a dinner and show.
Today we start our overland excursion to see the Terracotta Warriors.
