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A slow boat down the Yangtze


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From Scandinavia to South East China.

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Visitors: 2107 - 3 this month
Chengdu days - Previous Entry
The three little gorges - Next Entry

A slow boat down the Yangtze

, Chongqing,
Flag of China
Saturday, Mar 20, 2004

Entry 25 of 31 | show all | print this entry

Continued from ; Chengdu days

20th March 2004

Leonard has his folder of tours and organised trips from Chengdu. But I want something a little different. So he has put together a custom itinerary for me. Bus down to Chongqing. Followed by a 3 night boat cruise down the Yangtze river sleeping onboard. Finishing off with a train from Wuhan to Guilin. This was a route I had dreamed up using various reference material . It means that I will see the hydro electric dam project on the Yangtze river. And finish up with a cycling holiday among the fabulous landscapes of Guangxi province. An efficient use of time requiring no doubling back.

The express bus to Chongqing is pleasant enough. I find that the ever mischievous Leonard has included me in a city tour by bus. Conducted in the Chinese language. Soon I am accosted once more by goofy schoolchildren who surround me in a car park and ask me lots of questions in Chinglish. I am resigned to entertain them . I believe I do resemble a vagrant - with beard, long hair and well-worn clothing. And being an Englishman, the kids make the usual references to our great ambassador David Beckham and his shitty football. Surely I must know him ? I board the boat and find my shared cabin. Selecting a lower bunk with a girl in the bunk above. Her mother is also in the cabin. And a businessman makes up the foursome.

There is a restaurant onboard which seems to offer a set dinner. I am never really sure what to do. So I spend the trip eating food gathered from stops on dry land and instant noodles which I purchase from the vessel's supermarket. All occupants of the cabin are sharing their food together which is pretty standard practice in Asia. The young girl is called Xiang Yu and she is here on holiday with her mother. XY likes to practice her English and we roam the boat together. She could be fifteen or twenty one, it's very hard to tell. But I see she is quickly under the watchful eye of her mother.

As the boat chugs along between the high sides of the Yangtze's banks I am visited by a tour rep to make my choices of side-trips but I decline all of them. I have done some reading up on the subject and can see 'rip-off' written all over it. I sit happily enjoying the ride and comfort of my bed and companions instead . For example, there is the 'city of ghosts tour' which requires you to get up in the middle of the night. My diary simply reads "no". I do get off to visit an elevated temple of Lord Buddha. Reached by cable cars. Worth forking out a couple of Yuan for the fun of that . There are nice gardens and a fine view of the first of the three big gorges . Below us, there are prominent marker posts ( sponsored by China Telecom ) which indicate the level to which the water will rise when the dam project is finished in 2009. More about the dam later. We watch the sunset as freighters and passenger ferries glide past our mooring.

Our journey well underway there is a problem during the second period of sleep. Not so much a bump in the night as a sharp cracking sound which wakes me at the same moment as I fall through my bed into a pool of water. My pants are dripping wet with cold water. Sodding bed's collapsed under the weight of the big hairy foreigner occupying it. Hoots of laughter. The surplus water is a leak from the tiny shower cubicle. The ship's engineer calls later that day and performs a skilful repair of the built-in cabin furniture. With a handful of thick nails, he slays into the task of repairing the bed with a hammer. An absolute butcher. China has produced some very fine art and furniture in its heyday. I don't think this fellow had much to do with it.

Next ; The three little gorges


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Chengdu days
Go to top of page
The three little gorges

 
Table of Contents
1 - 20 | 21 - 31
Locked up | Nextshow all entries

21.Super Buddha - Leshan, China Mar 08, 2004 ( This entry has 1 photos 1 )
22.Up a mountain, down a beer - Chengdu, China Mar 11, 2004
23.Fu Hu - Chengdu, China Mar 12, 2004
24.Chengdu days - Chengdu, China Mar 13, 2004
25.A slow boat down the Yangtze - Chongqing, China Mar 20, 2004
26.The three little gorges - Wushan, China Mar 21, 2004 ( This entry has 1 photos 1 )
27.Yangshuo, Mei Yu - Wuhan, China Mar 23, 2004 ( This entry has 1 photos 1 )
28.Moon Hill - Yangshuo, China Mar 28, 2004 ( This entry has 1 photos 1 )
29.The Li river - Yangshuo, China Mar 29, 2004 ( This entry has 3 photos 3 )
30.Dragon's backbone soup - Guilin, China Mar 30, 2004 ( This entry has 1 photos 1 )
31.Hostel of horrors - Nanning, China Apr 01, 2004

Locked up | Nextshow all entries
1 - 20 | 21 - 31

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