The Jimei Sets Sail to Guangzhou
An Exciting Boat Trip to Guangzhou (Canton)


We Take a Boat to Guangzhou In June of 1995, we were invited to visit a student in Guangzhou. She had been a student when we taught at the Chengdu Branch of the Chinese National Academy of Sciences in Chengdu. We booked first class passage from Xiamen where we were working for Lujiang University. Our room was somewhat primitive but usable. It was large and had two single beds. You are not given keys to your stateroom and you cannot lock it when you leave. You can lock it while you are there. We had dinner in the dining room that evening. You don't order things; everyone eats whatever they serve for the day. Dinner was good but not spectacular. The seas were smooth and weather pleasant. Security was very strict getting aboard. You were not allowed to be on deck until the ship was well under way.
The Police Break In We retired for the night and went to sleep. About 2:00 AM someone unlocked the door and the lights went on. Two policemen with guns drawn were pointing pistols at us with flashlights in our faces. When the saw us they said "Sorry" closed the door and left. Bernice had difficulty getting back to sleep. I just figured it was one of those things you encounter in China. This was not a boat for tourists and we were the only foreigners on board.
The Jimei Sets Sail to Guangzhou
Sherry Liu, Husband Eugene and Daughter Where are Our Friends? The next day we headed up the river to go to Guangzhou. We steamed up the river for some time and we enjoyed the sights along the river. After some time we docked and everybody got off. Our friends were to meet us so we waited by the dockside for our friends. After about two hours they had not shown up so we walked about a mile to the main road where there were some shops and some chairs. We waited for two hours more and no one came for us. Eventually we figured something had happened and we must take some action. We asked the shop to call a cab and it showed up. I told the cab driver to take us to a hotel. After a long cab ride we arrived at a five-star hotel and got a room. We made a phone call to the US to get the number of our friends in Guangzhou. We couldn't read a Chinese phone book. We called our friends and they were most relieved. They were sure we had been kidnapped and had called the police about us.
We are Reunited The story then came out. Our friends Sherry and Eugene explained the problem to us. The river was too low for the big boat to get all the way to Guangzhou so it had stopped a long way from Guangzhou. Everybody got off and got on a bus to take them to another smaller boat to take them the rest of the way to the city. No one told us. When the boat arrived at the city our friends asked about the foreigners and they told them we had gotten off. They rushed to where we got off but by that time we were gone and they were frantic. Reunited we had a wonderful time in Guangzhou. Sherry and Eugene now live and work in Salt Lake City with their daughter


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Sherry Liu, Husband Eugene and Daughter