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  Chongqing, Chongqing, China
Friday, November 7, 2008

We spent a whole day travelling to Chongqing, and arrived late at night. We were immediately accosted by people trying to sell us things, so we fought our way through them and eventually found somewhere to sleep. The next day we organised ourselves a cruise down the Yangtze River and did various tasks such as laundry. We walked around Chongqing but there is not all that much to see. In the evening we boarded our cruise ship. We decided to pay a bit extra to go first class on our cruise because we really didn't want to share a room with lots of people, so it was a little pricey, but worth it in the end. We boarded the boat and settled in to our little cabin. We went up on deck to watch Chongqing disappear into the distance and then settled down for some sleep.

The next day we were rather rudely awoken at 5.30 am by announcements on the tannoy system in Chinese. We had arrived at our first stop, Ghost City. It is called this because it has lots of temples dedicated to gods of death. We got off the boat and found ourselves in the middle of a market with people everywhere trying to sell us food, steamed buns and water. After a short walk we started to head up a mountain, a rather difficult climb at 6.30am. But at the top we found a temple full of gruesome models of people being tortured. David liked it but I didn't want to look (it was quite graphic). We saw the sun rise from up the mountain and our boat bobbing about below. We walked to another temple where lots of monks were beating a drum. Next came the touristy but - there was a haunted house full of skeletons and mummies with a ghost train. It was all very tacky so David and I gave it a miss. Instead we went back to the boat for a nap. We spent the afternoon on deck watching the boats pass by. We could see evidence of the rising water (due to the dam) and there were lots of trees and bushed half submerged.

The next day we were woken at 5.30 again (the Chinese are early risers) and we were taken to White Emperor City. This involved crossing to a small island in the middle of the river. We could see that we were at the mouth of a gorge. We walked around the temple, which was full of steles, and then got back on the boat. Everyone crowded onto deck as we said through the first of the 3 gorges. We were deafened by a Chinese tour guide with a megaphone who talked continuously for about half an hour with our pausing for breath. We had no idea what she said. The gorge was spectacular, with tall peaks and sheer cliffs and rocks. There were also little waterfalls running into it.

After lunch we changed into a smaller boat to see the Little Three Gorges, which are on a tributary leading into the Yangtze. We changed boats again in order to go under a low bridge that ours wouldn't fit under and then changed back to  a larger boat. Why we couldn't have just used the smaller one the whole time and saved all the hassle no one knows. Anyway, in the tributary the water was clearer and bluer and the scenery spectacular. There were cliffs and peaks everywhere, interspersed with little farms. We travelled through the gorges for about 2 hours and then took a much smaller wooden boat down a narrow part. From water level we could appreciate how tall the cliffs are. I put my hand in the water and it was quite warm. We saw a few caves and waterfalls and kept going until we could go no further, then we turned back. On the way back we were treated to the delights of Chinese singing (terrible) as the gorges drifted past. That night we watched the sunset from the boat and got some much needed sleep after the early mornings.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family Pictures

Chongqing Harbour	David in our cabin	Chongqing disappearing into the distance	Our boat from up the mountain
The temple at the top of the mountain	Carving at the temple	Statues on the roof	David being his usual mature self
Angela with a pavillion	Horrible torture scenes	A pavillion	Statues
Another temple	Chinese style English	The souvenir stalls	The Yangtze
Yangtze scenery	White Emperor City	Angela at the first gorge	Sunrise over the gorge
Entering the first gorge	Through the gorge	Us in the gorge	More gorge
Leaving the gorge	Angela on the boat	David eating in the cabin	Entering the little gorges
Chinese flag	Passing the farms	Us again	Passing through the gorges
David on the boat	Taking a little wooden boat	David on deck	Our boat

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