A Slow Boat To China: Yangtze River Avatar Part I

Dean Martin: On A Slow Boat To China. You Tube video from: dvvreeswijk.

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Just came home from an exciting 10 day sojourn  in China's Hunan Province and feel I must write about it.  During the short holiday I had a song spinning in my head. It was Dean Martin's: "I'd love to get you on a slow boat to China, All to myself alone."

5 days on board the Victoria Anna.

My family members and I were in a tour group that went on a slow boat up the Yangtze River to witness the natural and rugged grandeur of the Three Gorges Dam.  We watched from our cabin balcony on the Victoria Anna the wild and meandering flow of the river that had for decades devastated more than a quarter million Chinese.  This particular cruise, which took 5 days, started upstream from Yichang and ended at Chongqing (Map below).

With family on a slow boat up the Three Gorges Dam.

This ship ride reminded me of the late 40s Chinese hit movie I watched as a child called Tears of Yangtze (The Spring River Flows East) that drew large crowds for weeks at the Jubilee Cinema in North Bridge Road where it was shown.  Can't imagine that I would be cruising down the same famous river today. But it was a totally different experience.


Sketch map of Yangtze River and trip is from Yichang to Chongqing.

Because our trip coincided with the Chinese Mooncake Festival and China's National Day the whole country was celebrating the occasion during the exceptionally crowded break from lst to 7th October.  "Well, out on the briny with a moon big and shiny, Melting your heart of stone, Well, I'd love to get you on a slow boat to China, All to myself alone."

A Moonlit Night On Spring River.

The same holiday took us on a land tour where we were mesmerised by the Zhangjiajie mountain range where director James Cameron conjured his idea as to how Pandora’s floating islands should look in his multi-million dollar hit movie Avatar.

Professor Zhu Qixin in his book, The Sights of China, best describes the area when he wrote, "The steep mountains, the dangerous rugged shoals and the turbulent waters are characteristic of the gorges. The perpendicular cliff and grotesque peaks with clouds wrapping them in a blanket of mist create one of nature's most majestic sights (page 106)."


Zhangjiajie Mountain Range with 'Avatar' imaginings.

Lyrics from a hit musical, Flower Drum Song  surfaced as we drove past the perilous peaks: "My father says the sun, Will keep rising over, The eastern hill, Rivers keep flowing too, In ev'ry single minute, So much is going on, Along the Yangtze Kiang... A hundred million miracles."

Fancy, although we saw the moon on our short river experience we missed the sun during our land tours when we visited the cities because of the smog, smog, smog.

Chongqing City Centre National Day October 2012.

But what fascinated me were both Western and Chinese music provided by buskers who could play whatever song you ask them to.  The image below shows the long haired bongo drummer who kept to the rhythm of his guitar strumming and singing friend.  It was magical indeed.

As our river boat drifted into Chongqing, Middle Kingdom's largest and most populated city I guess, "Moon river, wider than a mile, I'm crossing you in style some day" would be appropriate.
Anyway, if you have the time take Dean Martin's advice. Or Andy Williams'?  There's such a lot of world to see..."

There is music everywhere as we meet buskers on our land tour.

Songs/Images/Book:
1. (I'd Like to Get You on a) Slow Boat to China sung by Dean Martin. Frank Loesser (1947).
2. Extracts from: A Hundred Million Miracles sung by Miyoshi Umeki. Richard Rodgers n Oscar     Hammerstein II (1958).
3. Extracts from: Moon River sung by Andy Williams. Henry Mancini n Johnny Mercer (1961).
4. Images/Map: from Google Images, You Tube and ChinaSelect.com.
5. Chongqing City and buskers images by Andy Lim.
6. You Tube: song by Dean Martin contributed by dvvreeswijk.
7. Professor Zhu Qixin, The Sights of China, China Travel Tourism Press (2004).

"When a cross cultural love for songs and travel meet and mix." Andy Lim.

 SLIP NOTE

 2ND JUNE 2015

CONDOLENCES TO FAMILIES WHO HAVE LOST THEIR LOVED ONES IN THE YANG TZE RIVER CRUISE TRAGEDY. MORE THAN 400 PASSENGERS WERE STILL MISSING IN POSSIBLY CHINA'S WORST SHIPPING ACCIDENT IN 70 YEARS.