Shibaozhai Pagoda and Getting Ready for Disembarkation

We woke up this morning around 5:00am so we decided to start getting things packed and organized for disembarkation tomorrow. Then we took showers, got dressed and went down to breakfast at 6:30am. We had a pretty quick breakfast and some coffee and then headed back to the cabin. Once back in the cabin we got things ready for our excursion this morning. At 8:30am we left the ship and met our local tour guide on shore near some people selling all kinds of things. They kept saying ‘hallo’ and trying to pull us to their tables. Finally, we left that area and walked up the street to an intersection and then turned left passing under an elaborate arch. This turn had us entering into a local market area. The gauntlet of merchants was even worse here – they were relentless. But we trudged on making our way to the end of the street and another elaborate arch. Our local tour guide pulled us to the side and talked to us about where we were headed. Our destination was across a hanging, swaying bridge on an small island a little ways off shore. After giving us some history and information about Shibaozhai Temple.

 Then we walked across the bridge and made it to the island. Then we walked around the edge of the island to the front of the temple. Our tour guide talked to us as we walked and then she lead us into the temple and up the 99 steps to the top. Here we had some incredible views and learned a lot about the temple. The tour guide finished her talk and then we had about a half hour of free time to walk around before we needed to head back to the ship. We left the island and traversed the gauntlet of the market to make our way back to the ship. We made it just in time because about ten minutes after we were back on board the ship left the dock to complete our sailing of the Yangtze and dock in Chongqing.

Back on board Thomas and I decided to get as much packed as we could since our check in luggage has to be outside our cabin by 11:00pm. We did really good and only had the necessities left. By this time it was noon so we headed to the dining room for lunch. Today was a special lunch which include some Chinese delicacies. They had lotus root, chicken feet, pig’s ears and tails. I opted not to try these. We had a nice meal of other more normal Chinese dishes and we had a great time visiting with the others at our table. After about an hour we returned to our cabin.

We filled out surveys about the cruise and then I went to the front desk and turned them in. I also purchased some vouchers that we can use for future trips (they cost $100 but are worth $200). The rest of the afternoon was relaxing – we read, watched a movie, did some journaling and edited some pictures. Then we got ready for dinner. We headed for the dining room at 7:00pm and when we arrived we found Justin and Abby (they have been our servers for the entire cruise) and took a picture with them. The meal was okay – Thomas had the beef tenderloin and I had the cod. We ended up sitting with two couples we hadn’t met before. By 8:30pm we were ready to head back to the cabin. We still had a few things to get packed.

It took us about fifteen minutes to finish our packing and then we put the luggage outside our door. I ended up journaling while Thomas read. Now it is time to get some sleep – we have an early morning and a busy day tomorrow.