We got up early this morning so that we could fit as much into our last full day as possible... We first had breakfast and went to get a taxi to go to the Tunnel which runs under the Huangpu River. The concierge told us it was just a 10-15min walk so we decided why not. Generally this has meant it is probably only 5 minutes but not today. It was at least half an hour and as there is so much construction work going on, we couldnt find or see the tunnel. We asked a police man who told us [View Full Entry]

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This morning we got up early so that we could have every spare minute allocated to shopping, thats right, yesterday was just not enough. We headed off to breakfast and then got ready to try our hand at some more bartering. We took a taxi to a nearby market, similar to the silk market in Beijing but much smaller and not at all crowded. We basically had each shop to ourselves and no crowds to push through. The shop owners seemed more keen to make a sale also as there were no people around spending money. We both bought a pile [View Full Entry]

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We have had a very busy day today and packed as much in as possible. We started with breakfast in our hotel in Shanghai after a great nights sleep and a little sleep in. Breakfast was good but still nothing has lived up to the fantastic breakfast we had in Beijing - we were truly spoilt. After breakfast we headed off to see the streets surrounding our hotel. We are in a great spot and right in the mix of the old town shops, tea house & bridge an Yuyuan Gardens. We first went along the bridge at the tea house [View Full Entry]

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This is our last day cruising.......very sad We got up this morning for breakfast and for another shore excursion. We visited the largest hydroelectric power project in the world, The 'Three Gorges Dam'. We learnt a little more about it and went to a couple of great vantage points to see views of the entire Dam. It is massive in size and amazing what they have done. They are also buillding a ship elevator for smaller boats to use which takes only 40 minutes to go through the Three Gorges Dam as opposed to the 5 stage Ship Locks which takes [View Full Entry]

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Today we sailed across the boarder from Chongqing to Wushan. We didn't get up as early this morning, deciding to skip the early morning tea but were woken by a ship announcement over loud speaker at 7am to say we were entering into the first gorge, the 'Qutang Gorge'. It is 8km long and took 20-30 minutes to pass through. Tam and I jumped out of bed and raced up the stairs to the deck area to watch and take photo's. It was freezing, especially as we were not prepared and put on minimal clothing. We then headed straight to breakfast! [View Full Entry]

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Today is our first full day cruising the Yangtze River... We spent last night anchored so didn't feel the effect that cruising would have on our sleeping and both slept well on quite comfortable beds. We got up super early this morning to have 'Early Bird Tea' in the Yangtze club. We then had 'Tai Chi' with the resident doctor, Dr. Wu. We have never done it before and although it is slow and only went for 15 minutes we were quite tired afterwards - what a great workout to start the day! We then went to the restaurant on the [View Full Entry]

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This morning we stuffed around for a while after breakfast, spoke to our families on skype and packed everything for our flight to Chongqing where we are going on a cruise. We weren't sure what the internet/phone situation would be like but we have managed to pay for internet and our mobile phones don't work so I called Daniel for about $6 for 40 seconds when we got on the boat just to communicate we were safe and onboard. Won't be making any more of these calls for that price. We went to the airport at 11am to catch our 1pm [View Full Entry]

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We had our first night at the New Era Hotel in Kunming last night and it was ok. The room is nice but there isnt the greatest sound proofing and we could hear all water usage from a nearby room bathroom, not great when trying to sleep. Yet again our room is really hot and it's hard to sleep and breath in the hot air. All out hotels have been like this - its crazy! We also have 2 pillows each, one normal and one that is seriously filled with beans like a beanie baby - hilarious! No surprises that we [View Full Entry]

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We have arrived in Kunming today... This morning we had breaky at the hotel as usual, had a wander around the hotel and found the pool. It is huge and to me looks finished, just missing water. There were also 2 spa's a big one and smaller one, I guess they will be different temperatures. It's a pity we won't get to use them ever as we don't think we will be going back to Lijiang in the future. It was hard to get around and see things as no-one really speaks English and it is very remote. On the plus [View Full Entry]

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Today was a busy one but GREAT and made the trip to Lijiang worthwhile... We went to the Black Dragon Pond today and again no-one spoke English. To get into the place we had to pay $80￥/$15AU each which is only payable for non-residents of which really we are the only ones in Lijiang!!! The place has a huge lake, bridge, beautiful buildings, waterfall and gardens. You could spend all day there wandering but we didn't have that long to spare. We then went back to the hotel, shared some fried rice from room service as we were now in a [View Full Entry]

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