This archipelago is made up of 1,400 islands. The area is the largest fishery in China. The fishing industry in this area goes back to the 1600s. Recently the areas economy is more diversified with ship building, boat repair, shipping, manufacturing, and tourism. litter Texas we’re going to San Antonio on Halloween so we’re gonna leave the 29th Halloween trick-or-treating are covered up with parks and snow pants and everything. 
Our bus ride to the ancient village of Dongsha.
We are met by the Dragon dance. China is preparing for their annual holiday celebration.
Some of us got to try our hand at dragon dancing!Walking thru the old town of Dongsha. It only has about 200 residents that now make their living keeping the history of an old fishing village alive. Fish drying is still done the old fashioned way. It was the primary way to preserve fish 400 years ago.The net makers and menders. Now mainly done for demonstration purposes.Puppet shows were one of the main entertainment venues years ago.Musical theater was also popular in the old daysFrom ancient to modern high tech. Evening show of the Impression Putuo Performance was fantastic. The director of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Zhang Yimou, directed this amazing show. It’s the story of a young man becoming a Buddhist monk. The production includes a moving audience platform that rotates 360 degrees and the light show and audio is amazing.The stage stays fixed and the audience rotates. The light show on the mountain side and lights flashing in the trees are very impressive.
A city that began as a fishing village 5000 years ago. Now it is the second largest city in the world, population 25 million. It is the busiest container shipping port in the world. China did a massive rebuild and clean up of Shanghai starting in the 1990s. Our experience…. the streets are clean, air pollution doesn’t seem a problem. Lots of electric cars and electric scooters. Streets are fairly quiet with traffic noise nonexistent from the use of so many EVs.
Our view from the ship. This is the new side of the Huangpu River. It was a wetland with no development prior to 1990. The Shanghai tower is the largest building, sometimes called the egg beater. It is the skyscraper that looks twisted. This tower is the third tallest building in the world at 2,073 feet tall and has 128 floors above ground level.Night time skyline. The purple building is the Shanghai oriental tower, a TV tower built in 1995. At the time it was the tallest structure in China, at 1532 feet.Old Shanghai…. in the middle of downtown Shanghai. The Yu Garden, also called “The Garden of Peace and Comfort”, was built in 1559. It includes a house with beautiful gardens open to the publicA winding path thru the Yu gardens would be very peaceful if there weren’t so many tourists 🤣Skyline at night is beautiful
What amazed me is the amount of infrastructure work from roads and bridges to skyscrapers and airports that have been completed in recent times. So much has been built in the last 30 years. How is it paid for? It appears that many buildings are only partially occupied. Some of the cities we have visited included a bus ride out of town. We see 4 lane and 6 lane highways, brand new bridges, new landscaping along public access….. and very little traffic or people once you get out of the city. How is all of this paid for? My only previous visit to China was a layover in Quanzhou(Canton) back in 2005. It was a dirty, noisy, city…. no new buildings. How did all of these cities get rebuilt and modernized so fast??
We left Quingdao on Tuesday , Sept 23rd and arrived Wednesday , September 24th in Shanghai. A fairly smooth sea, just enough motion for the crew to put out sick sacks in the hallways and elevators. Thankfully none of the 4 of us needed one.
Lots of small fishing boats around us. We were 95 miles off of the coast. Some great entertainment on board. Singers and musicians performing traditional music , classical music, and contemporary music from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.Our favorite performers…. Lucy and JacobThe Kung Fu show in the ships Star Theater. Fantastic show by a team of young martial arts experts.King Fu artists in action having performed in over 30 countries. They have integrated Shaolin martial arts with Zen meditation.
We got on our ship, the Viking Yi Dun, on Friday, September 19th. It was a no hassle, very easy and quick process. Part of the ease, we found out later, the boat is less than half full. Capacity is about 950 and we’re told that only 425 passengers are on this cruise.
Our ship the Yi Dun. Different than other Viking ships from a crew stand point. It has an all Chinese crew rather than a blended crew with members from several different countries. The Yi Dun docked in ShanghaiFirst port , Dalian. a summer seaside resort city because of its moderate climate. It was 75 degrees when we visited. It is home to China’s largest martial arts museum. Dalian has a population of 8 million. It is located on a peninsula between the Yellow Sea and Korea Bay…. on the map it’s a stones throw to North Korea. In 1898 Russia claimed the area and built a port nearby because it was the closest harbor to Russia that did not freeze over. In 1905 Japan claimed the area and maintained control of the port and city until 1950. China took back the city and port in 1950. The Wushu Martial Arts Museum has the largest collection of Martial arts weapons.
A theater in the Wushu Martial Arts Museum houses a performing arts theater. We got to see a 45 minute performance outlining the history of kung fu.
Next stop heading south was Quingdao, the Green Island. Population 11 million. Human settlement goes back 6000 years. What really stands out and what is stressed by local guides is how much progress has been made in the last 30 years. A common theme for us is how modern and clean these cities all are. High rise buildings with lots of glass dominate the skyline. We get more information about what’s happening currently in China than historical info from many years ago. The Chinese are very proud of their recent progress. The Tsingtao brewery stop in Quingdao is very popular amongst tourists and locals alike! The Germans occupied the area in 1897 and decided to make their own brewery. Thus, the Tsingtao Brewery got its start in 1903….. they’ve been in continuous production for over 122 years. It’s a good German lager beer!!A little rain did not slow us down!!
Seeing these completed the bucket list of things we wanted to see in China. The warriors were discovered by a farmer digging a well in 1974. The warriors are spread out over 22 square miles as a funerary display protecting the tomb of China’s first Emperor, Qin Shi Huang. It took 40 years and 780,000 workers to build this complex. So far 2000 warriors have been discovered. The emperors tomb has been located but not uncovered. The warriors were built in 200BC.
Pit number 1. There are 4 pits available for the public to see. They are covered and climate controlled to protect the warriors. There are 400 pits in various stages of excavation.A lot of the warriors were found broken and in pieces. They had to be put back together like a giant jig saw puzzle. They were all originally painted to look very realistic. After 2300 years of being covered in dirt and exposed to the elements most have lost all their color. The one seen here with clear plastic covering the head is an effort to protect the original paint that remains on a few of the warriors.This is an archer. The warriors probably held weapons that were eventually taken by grave robbers.And of course they need a general to lead the men. The general was the tallest of all the warriors, a symbol of strength and leadership.Along with archers there were horsemen and infantry formations. Each warrior is unique, no two are alike. The heads were made separately and small details were different in each head. They were approximately 6 feet tall, much taller than the Chinese men in those days. We did the tourist thing and had a photo taken with the warriors!One more tourist stop!! I think I was meant to be a warrior in a previous life🤣
It got its start in 221BC , it’s the longest wall in the world (over 4100 miles), it’s the only man made object seen from outer space, work continued on the wall until 1911.
First stop was the funicular that took us up the wall. Going up!!!The funicular saved us a lot of steps!!We walked on the wall !Lots of steps on the wall
First impressions…. the airport is super modern, lots of glass, lots of curving futuristic structures, and lots of people! 23 million in the city. Driving to our downtown hotel you first the skyline is full of high rise buildings. As we got into the city it is quite the sight of all the glass buildings. The city streets are clean and many tree lined boulevards. First impressions…. impressive!
Beijing ….. most of city has been a built in last 30 years.Futuristic buildings everywhere!Inside of the new airport. Being the architect on this project must have been fun.The Bird’s Nest, sight of the 2008 summer Olympics and Michael Phelps 8 gold medalsThen it was off to Tiananmen Square…. The old part of the city features many historic sights. The Forbidden City is next to Tiananmen Square. This day featured 7 hours of slow walking and standing in lines with lots of people. It was built in 1406 and was the imperial palace and home of emperors until 1924. It claims to have 999 and 1/2 rooms.Halfway through the Forbidden City
Our last night in Mongolia we were back in Ulaanbaatar and we were treated to a very nice performance. Ulaanbaatar has three schools of performing arts and contributes some very good professional musicians and dancers that continue to keep alive their rich culture of performing arts.
A very nice theater with good acoustics. They hold performances every night of the week, seven Dr months out of the year.Last night in Mongolia we were treated to a great performance of traditional Mongolian music and danceThroat singing!! Very interesting!Great costumes. The men sitting down are playing horse head violins that make a pleasing sound with only two stringsThe lap harpContortionist…. amazing!!! our guide said these performers have to start training about 4 years old to be this flexible.
The rodeo features various events with many talented riders competing. One of the riders came from 900 kilometers away. They set up a temporary track and use the cars to create an arena to contain the horses. We got front row seats to the all day event and watched for a couple of hours. Then we went back to the lodge for lunch. We then came back to watch some of the finals.
There was a constant 30 mph wind and the horses created a constant dust storm!They start youngThe cars are lined up bumper to bumper to create the arenaBareback ridingGotta be tough
Using a long willow branch with noose to lasso horses while on horseback
The cowboy lassos the horse and holds on!Bareback Bronco busting starts with several cowboys holding the horseThis event has the cowboy using a traditional rope and standing near the running horses. Once he lassos the horse he has to hold on get the horse to stop.This event the rider had to pick up the willow branch lasso that was on the ground while horse is galloping.Takes great skill to rope a horse that is running at a full gallop.This cowboy did everything right and his rope brokeOur front row seats
Not quite Lawerence of ArabiaLooking for fossilsTraveler Dan the dentist found a small jaw bone with teeth The white spots are fossils in the cliffs being exposed thru wind and occasional rain erosion. This place, The flaming Cliffs was discovered in 1925. The archeological finds included the first ever discovered dinosaur eggs. Preparing for sunset viewFlaming Cliffs at sunset!
