Blogs from Chongqing, Chongqing, China, Asia - page 4

We spent the last four days on a ‘luxurious’, ‘all expenses paid’, ‘peaceful cruise’ down the Yangzi river with some ‘extremely courteous’ fellow passengers. Ok so yes the boat and chaotic manner in which all activities were undertaken on board did feel like being in our very own ‘Holidays from Hell’ TV episode but all in all we had a great time! The first day consisted of us getting a bus from our hostel in Chengdu at an extremely early hour, spending a good period of time not really knowing what was going on as we hauled our heavy bags through a grid locked and manic port area in Chongqing and then finally at about 8 O’clock finding our quarters aboard. Once we had paid for access all area VIP passes for the boat we spent ... read more

It's raining and we are at various stages of fighting colds, hoping we will all be healthy for the wedding on Sunday. Still, the great experiences continue. Last night we were invited to Lynn's parents' home for dinner and to rehearse one part of the wedding ceremony. Kathy and I had enjoyed their hospitality before when Jacob was staying with them last summer in their apartment on the third floor of a 32-story high rise in a the northern part of the city (see “Arrival in Chongqing” post from last year's trip). They are wonderfully friendly, open people, and they clearly love our son. On the wall in the apartment entryway we saw our photo, taken with them when we were there last summer, along with pictures of Lynn and her parents over the years and ... read more

We managed to persuade Jim to abandon the pleasures of the subway in time to board the train from Beijing to Chongqing. The masses in China travel by train and tickets are not available online or through a central system. Therefore we needed Jacob with his connections to score us "soft sleeper" tickets which are the equivalent of first class in this classless society. We walked by the standard waiting room at the train station, jammed with people sprawled over huge bags and packages held together with string and tape, to find the special waiting room for people with tickets like us. This is communism at its best. Our train compartment had four berths, not especially soft but not too hard either, a place for luggage, and a little table complete with a cloth carnation in ... read more

Hi All, So our journey to South-West China has begun and our first stop is here in Chongqing and another ex-capital of China ticked off the list. We can't have many left to visit! We left Shaoyang Monday luchtime on a sleeper coach. First time we've travelled on one of those. It was more comfortable than a normal coach although the bunk was Chinese size ie small. A 13 hour journey from Shaoyang to Chongqing. The first of many bus trips to come. We've enjoyed our short stay here. Well I say we, Dany had to spend a day in bed yesterday with a dodgy stomach. Yesterday flying solo I went to Ciqikou Ancient Town. It was OK but very touristy with the buildings down the main drag being heavily restored and all the shops selling ... read more

Pictures from the cities of Chongqing and Xi'an... read more