Chongqing Carlton Hotel

... We surprised him by ordering a nice castle shaped cake for him at dinner. The whole room sang Happy Birthday to him (in English and Chinese). It was good we did that, since on his birthday, we were traveling, so we couldn’t really properly celebrate.

My mom ended this cruise with us and then we split up in Chongqing. She was headed back to Hangzhou to stay with her cousin, then on to Shanghai for a ...

... there.

Kehua is a thirty year-old qualified doctor, now working for a pharmaceutical firm, and recently returned to her hometown after spells in several other Chinese cities. Luckily for me, she is also a Couchsurfing member and so I was able to contact her and arrange for us to meet up. After showing me the old part of the city down by the river, we wandered through the central district, where she pointed out the fairly small ...

... time we have been
wishing upon the star, saying we could be the next one to explore
unknowns, regardless worldly manners. I don’t really believe
rules, which makes me not a favorable student for teacher. The reason
that makes me imperfect is that I can’t stop dig up disciplines, and I
only obey some principles that are fair and sensible. Recalling my
childhood, I did argue with my teacher while I have never ...

... into the hospital through a long corridor the
smell of urine was overpowering and we wondered whether this was
actually a good idea. Tomic for some reason took us to the surgical
floor at which point Alex went white and we tried to explain to him
that we would need to find radiology. He found us an orthopedic surgeon
and translated for us that he had ordered an x-ray. Radiology was in
another building, and for me was interesting to see ...

... experience. They worked so hard. I felt guilty sitting down while they worked so hard. Our guide talked about the local minority groups, and the different gorges, and trees we saw. She was really knowledgeable and told great stories. When we reached a shallow area of the gorge, we pulled up alongside of the bank, and the three men in the front jumped out. They were wearing sandals made of ...

... is pattern of
nature. Walt Disney took away his kingdom of fairy tale, in which there
used to preach up qualities of life regardless personal achievement and
wealth. Without him, the girl was born in a world that everyone hunts
for fame, and she can only be recognized, even by her own family, if
she made a few so-called honorable outcomes. The little girl cannot be
bestowed a mother’s kiss if she cleans the apartment or cooked for
family ...

... like the pits of hell. Then you order other stuff - we got fatty beef, potatoes, shrimp dumpings, noodles, and greem veggies - to dump into the boiling water to cook. Then, once the things you have dumped in are sufficiently cooked, you pull out whatever you want with chopsticks. It was quite spicy and the back of my throat was burning with chili powder in no time at all. Our table was a good mess by the time we were finished, but it was laughable ...

... as well, just like everywhere else in China. Later that evening we had the Captain welcome banquet. Apparently in China the boat captain is a bit a star. Everyone wanted to have their pic with him and he came around and toasted every table. I was a bit concerned that with the amount he drank and how little Chinese can tolerate that he wouldn't be able to drive after. We didn't crash, so no bother. The meal was fantastic again and the crew was all dressed up in traditional clothing, very ...

... a small bag of food on one of the beds. Damn, I was hoping to have a 1st class cabin all to myself. Oh well, can't have it all. I unpacked and then a young Chinese guy came in, took one look at me, got on his mobile and walked out. Great first impression I made then! The cabin was OK except for lovely stains on the wallpaper but it had a WC and shower and sink plus a small TV. We were due to set sail at 9pm and so I went to explore around the boat only really to find not ...

Today we checked out, had our lunch in the hostel then went to catch our train to Chongqing at 3pm. Our taxi dropped us off across the road from the train station, but we had the task of getting across the road, as it was really busy, really dusty and had a fence in the middle which we had to climb over! The train station was quite old and ...