Too much detail!

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I think Mike and I are improving as Chinese travellers because we haven't done anything stupid recently. Also more importantly we've mastered the art of chopsticks, meaning dinner is no longer torture - even the smallest slipperiest peanut isn't safe from our skilled pinchers. However Mike's over confidence has lead to a meal in his lap and plenty of rice in his beer. I don't think either of us will miss chopsticks, but MSG is another story! It's in everything which is why even though you eat Chinese everyday it's all you crave for dinner - well almost every night. After an eventful 24 hours on the loo the only thing I could stomach was fruit. My loo stop was well timed to say the least! During the day I should have been hiking down a mountain and at night, instead of the comfy 3* hotel it should have been the 0* monastery again - that wouldn't have been funny; I'd have developed thighs of steel from using Chinese loos all night!


The following day we had an 8 hour bus ride so to be on the safe side I took Imodium. I'm glad I did because it was the bus ride from hell! Our driver thought off-roading in a coach would be a laugh! He certainly found it amusing because as we were rubbing our heads after being thrown to the ceiling you could see his laughing face in the rear view mirror.


We had an eventful loo stop on the trip where while sat on the bus you could smell them. Once inside it was obvious why; the lovely Chinese squat loos had no drainage and instead the refuge collected in a mound below. The bus ride eventually got us to our boat where we spent the next 3 nights travelling down the Yangzi River. It was great to get away from the dense cities and see rural China. To give you an idea of what it's like the population of the city we departed from is almost the same as England's.


As usual we past our time with drinking games, but we were forced to continue partying in our cabins because the evil lesbian attendant relished throwing us out of the lounge at 11 on the dot.


The boat ride is designed for chinese tourists so there was lots to do over the three days. We saw asia's largest waterfall, which is a bit of a farce really, since there's a dam near the top so they can turn the waterfall on and off when they please! We also did dragon boat racing, which involved getting in a rowing boat with 20 other people and racing down the Yangzi River. Over half our boat were chinese and after about 5 meters they decided rowing was too much like hard work so we were left to do the hard work. In the end we still one, but honestly i don't think the other boaters realised it was a race!

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Photos

Leaving Chongqing
China looks better at night! If there's a way to pollute the chinese do it!