10/08/07-Wuhan (Hubei Provincial Museum)/Yichang
After breakfast, we visited the Hubei Provincial Museum and were given a fascinating tour by Ivan. Hubei is the province of which Wuhan is the capital. The museum is very new and well organized, presenting many aspects of the past of the province. The last part of the tour of this museum was a 30 minute “percussion”show in which 10 or so performers played musical numbers employing bells, drums, and chimes. It was the highlight of this visit. Pictures are at Hubai Museum.
Lunch was eaten at a hotel in town and although the meal was not memorable, the deserts were more westernized (pies and cakes). This was a nice change from the ubiquitous watermelon. The hotel lobby, however, was interesting. It had a very high ceiling from which many multi-colored umbrellas were hung upside-down. It gave the lobby a festive feel.
Then, it was back on the bus for a long 4 hour trip to the town of Yichang (2.5 million people). The ride there gave us our first real opportunity to see the countryside. After leaving the Wuhan area, we entered a long freeway from which we were able to observe many small villages, rice paddies, cotton fields, and orchards. In each field you could see one or two farmers wearing “coolie” hats picking cotton or fruit. Also evident were water buffalo grazing or just resting in little ponds. Farther along as we got closer to Yichang, we also saw water buffalo pulling plows. Because of the speed we were traveling it was near impossible to taken decent pictures. We made a quick stop to purchase supplies (water, wine, snacks) that would be in short supply or expensive once we began the next step of the tour: The Yangtze River Cruise.
We arrived at Yichang and drove immediately to the dock where we were escorted onto our home for the next 4 days: the President #VI Cruise Ship. It is considered a 4-star vessel and since this was our first river cruise we had nothing to compare it to. As it turned out, the accommodations were quite adequate. The staterooms were small with 2 single beds , a small closet, and tight bathroom (western-style). Each room also had a small patio where 2 people could stand (not sit). After a few minutes to get our suitcases situated, we were called to dinner which was very good (10-12 dishes). It's funny- we somehow manage to finish everything offered. The captain later gave a short welcoming speech in the ballroom that was translated for us by the MC. It was then bedtime. The ship remained docked over night at Yiching.