 |
| the cruise ship and Li Xue |
Having
visited the shore of Erhai Lake and Caicun Port the logical next
thing to do was take a boat on the lake. There are several options
for cruises on Erhai Lake and we discussed taking one with Lu at the
front desk of the Yin Feng Hotel. She arranged everything for a discount
price of 120¥ ($18.50) per person including a car and driver to the
pier and another one to take us back to the hotel.
 |
| Chen Xiao Cheng and Li Xue and RB |
Our
driver turned out to be an impatient cowboy dodging and honking and
passing other cars for a rather seat-of-the-pants ride, but,
miraculously it seemed to me, we did arrive at the pier in one piece.
We had been speculating whether there would be many people taking the cruise,
but we were surprised and immediately overwhelmed by the large crowd of people and
complete lack of English. It looked like there were large crowds of
Chinese tourists still lingering from the Chinese New Year. We were
motioned to stand aside while our driver spoke to
the ticketing agent.
 |
| posing for the camera |
There was a young couple standing nearby, also waiting
for tickets. We looked at them, smiled and shrugged. The tickets
arrived and seeing that we were bewildered the young folks took us in
hand and between broken English and Japanese (the young woman had lived in Tokyo for a short time) and body and sign
language they guided us onto the boat and stayed with us throughout most of the
boat trip. We became fast friends, taking each other's pictures and
generally having a great time. The young man's name is Guo Xiao Cheng
and the young woman's Li Xue. Unfortunately we didn't get around to learning the meaning of their names in English.
 |
| comedy skit and dance routine |
There
were two stops on the lake and a dance show before the stops. The
dance show (video clip above) was humorous, colorful, tuneful and loud. Great fun! The show included three tea samples, two of which were good... The
first stop was a small island nearly dwarfed by the boat with a small
temple on it. There is a small market geared for the large crowds that
come ashore from the boats. The stop was very short and mostly
consisted of jostling with the other passengers for food and getting
into the little temple to make an incense offering or just moving
around the narrow spaces.
 |
| the little prince |
 |
| tiny island and temple stop |
 |
| prayers in the tiny temple |
One
of the highlights, for me, was the seagulls. They are accustomed to
following the cruise ships where they are guaranteed food. The birds
followed they ship constantly from a great distance behind right up
alongside the ship flying up, over and around often within touching
distance while the passengers threw them food. The highlight was when a man caught one of the seagulls by
the legs trying frantically to escape making for a great photo op and
a money shot.
 |
| feeding the birds |
 |
| captured seagull |
 |
| Imperial Palace |
 |
| Guanyin - Goddess of Mercy |
The
second stop was a larger island with an Imperial Palace and an
enormous statue of the Buddhist Bodhisattva Guanyin
[観音]
(Kannon
in Japanese), goddess of mercy and compassion.
The boat made a longer stop here near a small park dedicated to "Mother Shayi" a
mythical female figure who is the legendary mother of the local
tribal peoples through a kind of mystical union with a dragon (well, this is China, what else?). Xiao Cheng and Li Xue left us here since they were
taking a different boat. We said good bye and thanked our young
friends for their friendship and assistance. We walked up to the
palace passing by the statue of Guanyin. The palace is now a hotel so
it was only of limited interest with some large ceramic vases,
sculpture and a pretty bamboo garden. A short hop back to the
mainland ended our cruise on Erhai Lake where we were met by another
driver to take us back to the hotel.
 |
| Mother Shayi |
 |
| bamboo garden and fountain |
 |
| dragon window sculpture |
 |
| the littlest emperor |
 |
| return to port |
One
of the highlights, for me, was the seagulls. They are accustomed to
following the cruise ships where they are guaranteed food. The birds
followed they ship constantly from a great distance behind right up
alongside the ship flying up, over and around often within touching
distance while the passengers threw them food. The highlight was when a man caught one of the seagulls by
the legs trying frantically to escape making for a great photo op and
a money shot.
No comments:
Post a Comment