Back from China

Back from China.Returned on 24th early morning. It was a nice trip. I am still having the hangover. The cruise was lovely. Did not do much shopping. Just little knick knacks for everybody. For Ansh though we got a whole lot of stuff..portable dvd player, mp3 with video, small toys, a night-suit etc etc. My ourselves, i got a sweater & Abhi , a jacket.


Thank God Ansh completely recovered before we left. He stayed well without us. Mom & Dad were also here for a coupple of days on their way to Pune. So he ot lots of attention & "LAAD".
We went to many places- Guangzhou, Yichang, Chonguin, Beijing. The conference was in Guangzhou, in Hotel White Swan. We took a lot of pictures. In fact the pictures tell the whole story :)

The best was the Cruise experience.
There is an old saying - "On a slow boat to China"
We boarded our cruise ship ,the Victoria Empress at night at Yichang. It was my first experience on a cruise ship and my first thought was whether the ship had enough lifeboats and what the chances were of hitting a stray iceberg on the Yangtze.Trying to wish away that thought, we went into our cabins & retired for the night. In the morning we woke up to a moving ship & I was at the peak of my excitement. I got to the top deck of the ship at 5:30 to see the liner go through a ship lock of one of the old dams built over the Yangtze river. I was surprised to be the only one up so early. After about an hour others started pouring out of their cabins.
Just upstream on the Yangtze River from Yichang, at Sandouping,we got down to see The Three Gorges Dam. It is still under construction & will be completed in 2011.The dam itself is 1.3 miles wide (2 km) and 610 feet tall (185 m), making it the largest dam in the world. The dam will eventually also form the world's largest hydroelectric power facility producing 18,200 megawatts of electricity, providing at least 10% of China's power needs. The dam has also helped to control flooding and improve navigation safety. The Yangtze River was prone to disastrous floods that killed and displaced thousands of people; floods in 1999 left 14 million people homeless and 3,000 dead. The hazardous navigability of the river, compounded with frequent fog, resulted in countless crashes and beached boats. A higher water level now has increased the navigable width of the channel to improve boat safety, while the dam itself is able to control floods by regulating the water level of the Yangtze.
On the other hand, 13 cities, 140 towns, 1352 villages and 650 factories have submerged necessitating the relocation of 1.8 million people. Conquering the river has become a symbol of "limitless power" in China.
We were arranged to visit an exhibition centre which overlooked the site. From the highland, we could see all the aspects of the project.
"The dreams of the Chinese people fulfilled through the vision and courage of its engineers."
The highlight was the trip was the beautiful scenery of the three gorges through which we sailed- Quatang, Wu & Xiling Gorge. The views of the Gorges were just as spectacular as we had expected and we were interested to see the effect of the river flooding, as we were told by the crew that the river level had risen several metres over the past few years. The markers on the side of the river bank indicated the intended level of river rising. Along the route we saw hanging coffins, suspended hundreds of feet up the steep Gorge sides. No one knows exactly how they got them up there, whether it was from the top swinging them into position, or by building a platform up to the position and then destroying it when the coffin was in place.
Up until the late 1950's (before motors), boats were tugged up and down the Yangtze River by dozens of men walking precariously along the sides of the river. Incredibly narrow trails are carved into the sides of the Three Gorge cliffs (where sheer face mountains rise vertically out of the river). When our guide first pointed out these walkways, I could hardly see them (emphasizing just how narrow these walkways were and just how dangerous this work was.)
The highlight of my trip came when we disembarked from SHIP at the lesser Gorges, put on our lifejactets and got into small wooden boats.The waters were emerald green in the small tributary in contrast to the muddy waters of the Yangtze.As we moved into the lesser gorges, there were people on either side singing Chinese songs as our boats passed. On our way back even our guide sang us a traditional Chinese song. The experience was staged purely for tourists but it was a fascinating and impressive dispaly that really caught the atmosphere of the place

The day’s shore excursion to Fengdu, the ghost city was also exciting. It was easy to see why it had this name. Fengdu lies on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, about 170KM downstream from Chongqing. It is a must- shore excursion site on the Yangtze cruise. Fengdu got its fame as the "Ghost City" in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Fengdu’s ghost culture has attracted a large number of tourists, which has topped more than 1 million a year.
Besides all the wonderful sights & offshore trips,if one wanted to participate in activities, they sure had enough activities planned like Tai Chi, Chinese speaking class, informative lectures on history, pearls, kite flying etc.The evenings used to be dedicated to Live entertainment in Ship featuring traditional performing arts and cultural costume shows by the ship’s crew & of course our own “Tata Ryerson” special performances & Antaksharis.
It was truly a memorable experience for all of us.


Today is the Internal Audit Dinner.So going there just now. It is in Floatel.

Mom & Dad are in Pune. Enjoying the company of Gaurav & Swati. They went to Shirdi yesterday. They are returning on 3rd & will be spending a day with us.
Tomorrow Sonu & Sweta along with Ashu & Jhony are going to Vaishnodevi. Don't know when they are returning. Hopefully their bedroom will be available when Mummy,papa are here. :)
I have to take off on 4th. I hope I get it.
I have managed to unpack fast this time & put away all clothes.
My list of things to buy now includes:

For home:
Satin bed-spread
Indoor plants.

For ourselves:
Watches.

as a gift for our 30th birthdays coming up next month. :)