After and action packed morning fending off persistentmarket stall vendors we appropriately set sail for Fengdu a further 60 miles up the Yangtze. The afternoon’s entertainment included a visit to the bridge followed by a Chines lesson. Since words can change their meaning dramatically if you get the emphasis of the vowelswrong – like calling our mother a horse – I’m not sure that our Chinese tutor was too impressed.
We arrived in Fengdu to weak sunshine and moored against a pontoon on the southern bank of the river. Since this is the time of the year when the waters are at their lowest it was interesting to watch the locals tending small lush green allotments on the alluvial banks of the river.
The evening brought another fabulous show by the very talented crew. Although Viking pays for the costumes the dances and routines are all choreographed by the crew themselves. A very entertaining, vibrant and professional performance with Leo the Cruise Director filling in with Edelweiss when a longer costume change was required!
Sleep that night was interrupted by an intense tropical storm with very high winds that blew part of the pontoon away. With a lot of shouting and activity the crew managed to detach the boat and by morning we were moored on the northern bank! It was one of the most intense storms I have experienced with very heavy roan and great jagged strikes of lightening. We found a great deal of damage in Fengdu the following morning with many trees in the city blow down.
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