The Far West: nineteen days in China by Carrie King

morning on the boat. no gorges yet to be seen; just flat farmland into hazy distance. overview description of boat and of typical others on the river.

today's expedition in the morning to see yueyang tower, a famous tower due to some famous poetry written about it. on the shore of one of the lakes that act as catch-basins here for the yangtze. the bus ride to the tower took a road that had not really been fixed since the floods of 1998. When it was good, it was fine and dandy asphalt, but when it was gone, it was mudholes. the bus driver earned a round of applause at the finish for his care in avoiding the largest holes.

Our local Yueyang guide was young and inexperienced, but very friendly and anxious to please, with her only flaw being her tendency to say everything twice, her tendency to say everything twice. I wondered if perhaps she was nervous about her English, I wondered if she was nervous about her English, and wanted to make sure everyone understood her, that perhaps she wanted to make sure everyone understood her. because it seemed that if you asked a question, if you asked her a question, that deviated from the script of her talk, if you asked her a question that deviated from the script of her talk, she had trouble either understanding the question or giving an answer that fit it, and would fall back on part of the script, she would "answer" a question by repeating a part of her script. nevertheless, we all liked her, we all liked her.

on the boat again for the rest of the day. various craftspeople on board to give demonstrations and sell their wares. this afternoon was kite girl and i was completely hooked. discarding small owl as purely decorative, i ended up with a sturdy eagle like the one i test-flew after her talk.

overview of night running: lights, horn, the darkness of the shore.