Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Yangtze River cruising and coathanger chicken

We head to Chongqinq by bus which was a bit of a hell ride. They seemed to be on some kind of world record attempt to cram the most amount of people and bags onto one bus. I was given the seat behind the driver and he seemed to spit out the window every couple of seconds. I began to wonder just how much spit one's body can produce?? The supposably 4 hour drive took 6 and we arrive in Chongqinq in the rain. This cities roads are small and their are stairs everywhere we spend the afternoon be pushed and shoved around the city awaiting our Chinese cruise boats departure that evening. We've booked on for 3 days to explore by boat the 3rd longest river in the world "The Yangtze".
We head down to the docks and see dozens of cruise boats, we smile pleased at the site of the impressive white cruiser infront of us, then sadly our guide whisks us past that one to the not so glam looking one behind it. You get what you pay for!!! Due to it being winter not many boats are operating so we were only able to book the trip in China and well, beggers cant be choosers! We board our boat with around 80 others, all Chinese and soon discover that not one passenger or crew member speaks English so its going to be a quite trip. Our cabin was small but clean and we did have a very large viewing window which was a bonus. We spend the next three days admiring the tall cliffs and mountains that line the river, watching local people go about their work and chores, massive coal shipping terminals are dotted along the way. We see people using bullocks and horses to plough their land difficultly placed on the side of a hill and partly consisting of rock.

We are a little taken back when we walk out the front deck and see the restaurants food hanging from the boat deck, the chickens strung up on coathangers and the beef and fish tied to the railings. Its very common to see food hanging from house balconies all over China but I guess we didnt expect our food to be hanging there!! The Yangtze floods most years to enormous levels, we stop regularly at towns along the way to discover temples and sights and soon discover that you've got to love steps on the Yangtze. The town are built above the flood level so around 400 stairs minimum from boat to town is standard. No overwieght locals here!! The people who live along the Yangtze seem to be mainly farming and fishing folk. We have a great time, very relaxing and a highlight being a side boat trip into "Three little Gorges" where we saw blue skies (first time in weeks due to smog) and jade green waters and sheer rock walls. We complete our cruise and head to Wuhan. http://www.byokids.com.au/ ...your family travel gurus

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