Cruising the Yangtze

For some reason I was up at 3:00am – oh, I know the reason, we have a rule at our house that also seems to apply when traveling – ‘When Thomas is awake, everyone is awake.’ So since I was awake and couldn’t for the life of me get back to sleep I worked on editing photos. I am having a hard time connecting to the internet so I am unable to post pictures on Facebook or post any blogs. So I decided to type out my blog post on a Word document and them when I have internet connection I can just copy and paste them. I also did a little reading and enjoyed the quiet that seemed to engulf the ship. Once it got light outside we found our view obstructed by fog. There was also a mist hanging in the air and our balcony was damp. I took a few pictures and enjoyed the hazy morning. I got all the posts typed up and then tried the internet again. This time I got a connection but it was slow and spotty. So I got one post uploaded with pictures and then I decided to take a shower and get dressed. Once dressed I straightened up the cabin while Thomas showered. When he was done we headed out to breakfast. We had a nice relaxing meal with some friends we made on this trip – George and Mario (from Philadelphia). After about an hour we left the restaurant and returned to our room. I was able to get on the internet and upload yesterday’s blog post and also post some pictures on Facebook. After getting this done I did some reading until 9:45am when we had to participate in a muster drill. The drill lasted about 20 minutes and then we returned to our room. I decided to continue reading my book until it was time to go to lunch. So far the fog has persisted all morning and we aren’t getting any views – at times we can’t even see the shore line.

At around 12:30pm we headed to the dining room for some lunch. There was pasta and salad at the buffet and there was a small menu of items you could order. Thomas had pasta from the buffet and I had a salad. After my salad I ordered a chicken quesadilla. We didn’t eat much, we were still full from the wonderful breakfast buffet this morning. After eating we returned to the room to relax some more. There are some lectures and activities this afternoon that we may attend.

I decided to attend a lecture this afternoon at 2:15pm on the Yangtze River. It was a very informative and interesting talk. It was given by Angie who is the program director on the ship. The Yangtze is an amazing river and is important to everyday life in China. When the talk finished I returned to the cabin and worked on a few things before heading out again at 4:00pm for an afternoon tea. Just a little before 4:00pm we headed to Deck 6 and went to the afternoon tea. We had tea with finger sandwiches and some pastries. We visited with another couple and relaxed for about 45 minutes. Afterwards we returned to the room and ended up reading for about an hour and a half. Then we got ready for dinner.

At 7:00pm we made our way to the dining room and had a wonderful Chinese meal. There was a choice of four starters and seven main dishes. Everything was brought out and put on lazy susans in the middle of the table and you could take what you wanted. We tried everything and most of it was delicious – there were a couple of dishes that I didn’t really care and probably wouldn’t want to have again. Dinner lasted about and hour and a half. We then returned to the room. I took a shower and then worked on editing pictures and this blog post.

Today was a nice relaxing day but I was getting a little bored. So I am glad that tomorrow we have some shore excursions but nothing starts until 9:00am so no need to get up early. Looking forward to seeing more of China. The weather today has been overcast with a light mist and a little chilly. Tomorrow the forecast calls for a light drizzle. I am hoping that we see the sun soon.