Yangtze River Cruise (Chongqing - Yichang)

After a huge piss about with the usual ‘I know where that is’ taxi driver, we finally found our hostel in Chongching (which actually ended up being the wrong one, but whatever, we got some sleep). This is the main port for cruises along the Yangtze River. Also known in China as Chang Jiang, the Yangtze is the worlds 3^rd longest river, starting from the mountains in Tibet and ending in the East China sea near Shanghai. It is the main transportation for 70% of the entire countries shipping. We met two fellow Brits that evening who were also interested in doing a cruise, Kate and Ben. We eventually teamed up and went to buy tickets for the cruise together, beats sharing a cabin with some non-inglese speaking chineses. Before setting sail we went to do a bit of shopping to stock up for the voyage. It was the best trip to a supermarket ever. The selection of goods on show was crazy! From live fish, to every kind of animal meat imaginable and every part of them too. Chicken feet and eyeballs are a delicacy. Waste not, want not.

A three day cruise in the cheapest class, with a spin off tour to see the little three gorges, cost us Y730 each, Which was pretty good. We also met a grumpy German girl with a nice booty who also joined the booze cruise.

We were so glad that we had company during the cruise, otherwise it would have been shit! The main reason for joining the cruise is to see the spectacular 3 gorges (also known as Georges, to Germans, haha.) It really does remind you of the lord of the rings movie when they are sailing down the river surrounded on both sides by mountains. We had a real clear day, again, and the views were perfect. We had been told that it had been misty in the area lately, so luck was on our side. In the evenings we played cards in the cabin and watch Kate demolish two bottles of Baijot, which is Chinese rice wine, its 56%, tastes like hell, and that’s all you need to know.

The little 3 gorges were very similar, and not much smaller than their older brothers. The final stop of the cruise led us to the 3 gorges dam. It’s a incredible piece of construction, that has been China’s top engineering project since the Great Wall. I wont lie, I have straight plagiarized this part from the lonely planet, but it’s an interesting fact. The dam holds the record for the worlds largest, measuring 185m high and 2km wide. It cost US$75 billion to be made. It has backed up the Yangtze by 550km, causing floods the size of Singapore in total, and if, God forbid, the levee was to break, the entire city of nearby Yichang would be dead within the hour. Some piece of construction.

We arrived in Yichang late afternoon, and wasted no time finding the train station and skiddadling onto the next destination, Luoyang.

Yangtze River Photo Link:

http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2760026011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/