Leaving for Yangtse (Yangsi?) Cruise

Saturday, June 28, 2008--Chongqing (Continued)

Various Observations (Continued)

4. It's amazing how many fairly new (20-30 year old) buildings are abandoned here in China. They are in every city. Is it because of poor construction which has made staying in them unsafe? Is it because of over construction causing them to be abandoned for newer buildings?

5. Polution from auto exhausts creates such an unattractive situation for buildings here. Not long after they are built, buildings start to turn dirty. Their windows are dirty, and so are any other surfaces. It is all from polution from auto exhausts. It really makes what could be gleaming buildings look unattractive.

6. Chinese do not put diapers on their babies. Instead, they buy outfits that are slit from the waistband in the front to the back. Then babies are allowed to just do their thing! I was on a train in Beijing when a girl just started peeing. I've seen mother's encouraging babies to squat in an effort to potty train them. Today, I saw a mother putting newspapers under her baby in one of these outfits as a way of trying to train her.

I wasn't hungry for dinner. Instead, I went back to the place where I bought the yeast bun last night and had another. Then I just snacked on some peanuts in the room.

Sunday, June 29, 2008--Chongqing and Departure on Yangse River Cruise

I finished reading Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen today. It's a very good story--a typical novel that has two parallel stories going at one time. One part is about a man in a nursing home, and the other part is about when he was a young veteranarian traveling with the circus during the Depression years. I found the story rushed a little and became, therefore, a bit weak toward the end of the part about the circus years. But overall, I gave the book 3 1/2 stars out of 4. There are hilarious parts related to the nursing home experience, and the circus portion, like most circus stories, is fascinating.

I went to the Chongqing Planning Museum this morning. It is just down the street from my hotel, and I wanted to pass the morning before checking out around noon. Although the topic sounds strange for a museum, it was quite interesting. There is a huge hall about Congqing in general giving its development history; an exhibit showing graphs about it's progress in income, GDP, etc.; an absolutely HUGE model of the whole city; etc. Then there are small exhibit halls for each portion of the city to show it's development expectations through 2020. One reason I went was to learn more about the Grand Theater being built here. I had read that it is hoped that the building will "put Chongqing on the map" as the Sydney Opera House did for that city. I saw the progress of the construction across the river yesterday and could see it from the museum itself. Well, they had a model on display of how the building will look when finished. It is nice. I think its setting, on a tip of land where two rivers come together and across the river from "Old Chongqing," is wonderful and dramatic. It will have to be seen whether the design of the building combined with this setting will accomplish what they want. A Google search did not turn up any imagines of the model for some reason.

My hotel room has scales which I had not seen until this morning. They were the model kind with a clear plexiglass platform, so they didn't show up well against the carpeting where they were stored. Anyway, when I found them today, I weighed myself. I am down to 78 kg (171 1/2 lbs) now. The rate of loss has slowed for a couple of reasons. First, it is harder to lose weight after the first fat has gone. And second, my hotels have had breakfasts lately causing me to eat more calories than I do when there is no breakfast. Anyway, my present weight leaves me with 6-8 kg (13-17 lbs) to go before I reach the goal I want to attain before arriving back in San Antonio. With about 14 weeks left of travel, that means I only have to lose 1/2 kg (1 lb) per week. That should be possible.

Spending Update: While waiting around my room, I decided to determine my spending statistics for China so far. Through yesterday, I had been here 19 days and had spent a total of $628.33 (NOT including the advance payment for the cruise I will take starting today). That's an average of $37.81 per day which is less than I thought it would be since I have stayed at several nicer hotels along the way. Again through yesterday and not including the cruise cost, I have traveled 54 days since leaving Texas and have spent $2243.10 for a daily spending average of $41.54. Those expensive days in Japan are still keeping the daily average up!!

I will report for my cruise down the Yangtse (Yangsi?--I've seen both spellings in English) this afternoon at 15:30. (The link is to a boat that looks like the one I am booked on and should be similar to it.) I doubt that I will have access to the Internet during the 3 days of the cruise. But it may pull into ports in the evenings so we don't miss sights along the way. If it does, if we are allowed to disembarque, and if I can find a cyber cafe, I will be online and update the blog. If not, it may be 3-4 days before I get a chance to be online again.