Yangtze River Cruise and Beyond!!!

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We arrived in Chong Qing early so we could visit some sites before the cruise. Hence the BIGGGG Chopsticks.lol
While in Chong Qing after lunch we toured around the city. Did you know that the population of this city is 37,000,000. Yes the population of Canada and a bit more. Down by the waterfront we went to an old hotel where they had converted it into multiple restaurants. The old charm was there and the photos tell the story.
One thing that sticks out is that there are few restrictions. As long as no one is hurt. Examples: Dogs sitting at tables and eating like humans. I saw a dead pig on the road. It wasn;t hurting anybody, so it was left. Oh ya, dead pig no. 2 was floating in the Yangtze river. Drivers do not follow the road rules, but they give way when there life or car are in danger. I love the quirkyness. It means that we have to many rules in Canada.

We then went to the 3 Gorges dam museum for the afternoon and learned about the river and what we were about to see.

Sorry for the delay of the blog, but thats what happens when you are on a river. The boat was a River boat as per the pic, it was actually the biggest one that you can sail on. 370 Guests, 170 crew. all you can eat!!! Our first stop was Fengdu, a ghost town. Well, lots of tradition here let me tell you. First when we entered the town we had to put our left foot first through the entrance and come out the same way. You can google the town, no need to explain further. They make us go through street hawker stands on purpose so we can potentially buy something. Its funny because they all sell the same stuff. Its also sad that there is no variety. Some of the stuff they sell are canes with, built in flashlights, flutes made of guords, chestnuts, fruits, trinkets which you give to your aquaintenances who think you are there friends. Lol. Any hooo, if you get something of this from me , you know where you stand.lol The boat was clean and we had a balcony. There were shows, to watch as well as the breathtaking scenary. ( See the pics) We went through three gorges and about 500 miles in three days. We sat on the top of the boat and were looking for monkeys, coffins. We were passed by Russian made hovercrafts, speedboats and we also passed lot of boats that were hauling minerals and coal.

We did a few other excursions and one that stands out is when we went through a Lesser gorge that we had to take a smaller boat through. The flat boat held 16 people and we were treated to traditional song along the way. it sounds hokey but it was quite nice. On the lst night we had a Farewell dinner with the Captain and toasted Champagne.

I then at 10PM climbed to the top of the boat and watched as we went through a series of 5 boat locks to descend through the 3 gorges dam area. HUMONGOUS is all I can say. You see the pics and read about the endevour to build this thing but nothing prepares you for the size and grandour of this project they built.

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