07: Fengdu Ghost Village

There were a few sleepy faces at breakfast this morning, not least of all our own! It was still very overcast with steady light rain, and although we were moored up quite close to the Shi Bao Pagoda (Red Pagoda) it was nigh on impossible to see it clearly or get a decent photo through the mist like moisture hanging in the air, maybe get one after breakfast.

At ten thirty we were treated to a lesson on how to play mahjong, and Herbert suggested that he could teach us to play within an hour, though the game can be so complex that

it could take thirty years to master the intricacies of this tactical game. Thought it would have been a little dull but proved to be quite interesting, and we obviously only scratched the surface of the possibilities. Elaine was feeling sleepy at this point, so we returned to the cabin for her to have a lay down, while I went back to to get a photo of the pagoda; and was surprised to discover that we’d slipped our berth and were already under way...!!!

Still, all was not lost as I was able to watch a programme that was showing in the bar about the Three Gorges before the building of the dam, and was one of the few that managed to stay awake throughout the performance. Before too long lunch time had reared it’s ugly head, so it was off to the restaurant for the last lunch of the cruise. Really nice selection

again so topping up of tanks was not a huge problem!

Our excursion today didn’t leave until three o’clock, so there was a bit of time to kill before having to get ready, so after much consideration we decided to use the time before that constructively and opted for a bit more R&R, after all... this cruising m’larky is pretty tiring you know...!!! We set off a few minutes late, as we were still docking as the troops started to gather at the allotted time, only to be told by Herbert that we were too early... no Herbert, we’re here at the time you told us to be here by! No biggy as we started to make tracks just fifteen minutes later. The trip today was to the Fengdu Ghost Village at Feng Jie, which happened to be at the top of Ming Mountain that we were moored up in front of, it was a bit of a walk so little electric buggy type vehicles were laid on to run

us to the site entrance that was uphill and around the corner.

Our local guide, Valerie, rounds us up and leads us in with the panda! There are about six hundred steps up to the top of this place, but we can take a cable car up half way if we wish, and do the same on our descent at the end of our visit; or you can take all the steps if your feeling fit... we opt for the cable car, just for the experience you understand!

This “village” is actually a series of temples at intervals ever higher up the mountain, and each was explained to us by Valerie. It wasn’t exactly what we were expecting, thinking it to be a sort of abandoned “haunted” village, but no... it turned out to be relatively new reconstructions of ancient temples that had to be passed through on the journey to heaven and

the afterlife! So it was a little disappointing that it wasn't an actual ghost town, but at least it was a diversion to pass the afternoon and the statuary was amazing!

By the time we returned to the boat we had less than an hour to ready ourselves for the Captain’s Farewell Dinner, very nice it was too, after we were seated the captain came around all tables in both dining rooms to raise a toast to the cruise. After this, most of us took over the forward section of the bar and we enjoyed some drinks while chatting over various subjects for a couple of hours, before heading back to our cabins to finish the packing for the next leg of the trip to Chengdu and then get our heads down for our last night aboard the MS Yangtze Gold II.