Diametrically opposed everything

I don't know what to say. 
I don't know where to start. 

I'm beginning to think a haiku can express feelings better than multiple paragraphs. But I'm going to try the latter today.  There's detail I don't want to forget. 

Sky burials appealed to me in an instant. We'd spotted some birds of prey we thought might be vultures, as well as maybe a kite, an eagle and a peregrine. Peter, our Tibetan guide, said yes, and began explaining their beliefs about spirits living after death and the remaining corpses being carried up into the hills to be given back to nature... Vultures, eagles, and so on all keen to take a share. That was in Juizhaigou. 

Today, on day one of our Yangtze cruise, I went to a talk about the river (turned out it was just me and the lovely guide, Rebecca). She showed me photos of how, when important people died, they were put in coffins and hoisted up a cliff face of the gorges and left on shelves. For three reasons, she explained...
1. So the animals can't get them
2. So they have an easier journey to heaven 
3. So they can protect their descendants below.

Very different.

She also shared her personal family story with me, how she should have been a boy, the great family disappointment and how she is raising her own child, another Rebecca, so very differently. What a strong lady.

Our favourite moment in the day was looking out of our front window down the river. The sun is shining. Beautiful blue sky abounds. Greenery swathes both banks of the steep sided river and hills behind.  Small houses and hamlets are dotted between farmed terraced hillsides and unadulterated countryside.

Around a bend in the river, the most imposing sight and dramatic feeling occurred. 

The very tip of four huge concrete towers began to reveal themselves over a hilltop.  Then more. One after the other. And then the realisation.

Oh, my, God.  It's a city!

It felt like entering a computer game. Tower after tower after tower of identical 30 storey buildings, tightly packed came into view. It was a feeling of awe and horror all at the same time. Impressive and shocking. A Brave New World.  

We both had a sense of the power within the government to sink these cities beneath the river we were sailing on and recreate them on higher ground of such an immense size and in such a short timescale. 

With so much space to hand, you would think more than a few metres of air would be given between the towers. We concluded, government expenditure on everything was being kept to the minimum... Wire, drains, pipes, tarmac. Nothing unnecessary.  

People nearby were washing clothes in the river. It was hard to imagine these places didn't have water. They did, it turned out. This was locals saving money on their water meters.

We've sat out on a deck to ourselves for the whole afternoon watching the changing landscape and clearing skies. The variety of experiences we've had on this trip are way beyond incredible.

Late afternoon, in mid 20s temperature, we visited an ancient pagoda on top of a limestone pinnacle.  The monks used to access it via chains on the cliff face (imagine Via Ferrata without the safety kit) but a 9-storey stairway was built on the front with a pagoda fascia. It was touristy but we enjoyed a few happy exchanges with locals in the 'hello' market and really loved seeing the characterful faces of the older generation selling fruit, herbs and vegetables. I can't imagine they sell much because the food on the boat is outstanding. 


So, from our protective bubble on the river, we've now watched the sun set, had dinner and are sitting in the dark watching the lights ahead on the river banks pass us by and the Great Bear leading the way in the sky.

It's been a day of polar extremes.