Blogs from Chongqing, Chongqing, China, Asia - page 9

25th January - Panda day!!! Today we were up at 6.15 to catch the mini bus to the Giant Panda Research Base just outside Chengdu. Many other westerners were joining us from the hostel and the minibus journey was a VERY tight squeeze! On arrival we eagerly made our way through the park to the enclosure where the pandas were due to be fed. It was their cries we heard at first (resembling a dog!)...they were obviously dying for a good bit of bamboo. They are amazing animals! The first two we saw were really putting on a show, chomping on the bamboo lying around on their backs relaxing. On average they sleep for 16 hours a day and spend the rest eating...a lifestyle very similar to that of our friend Ross! We then went on ... read more

Friday 26 October - Xi'an to Chongqing: After another pleasant brekkie at the hotel in Xi'an, Eva and I walked a few block to the China Bank and got a cash advance on our Mastercard for some RMB. That process took a few minutes but worked ok. It was a very interesting walk and we were dodging traffic with the locals. We had done an early checkout and so getting out of the hotel and picked up and our transfer to the airport went very smoothly. No problem with security, baggage transfer or the airplane ride. They are generally feeding us too much but so far so good. Similarly the airport routine in Chongqing was straight forward and we easioly found our guide. The local tour people are constantly taking our passports away from us and ... read more

Foerst en undskyldning - vi lovede at opdatere bloggen inden vi forlod Beijing, det lod sig ikke gøre. Men nu har vi så afsluttet vores "River Cruise" på Yangtze med det stolte krydstogtsskib "Galaxy I". I alt tilbagelagde vi 628 km opstrøms mellem Yichang og Chongquing på 3 dage. Der var daglige "shore expeditions", som bidrog til lidt adspredelse ombord så vi ikke kun opholdt os påsoldækket, i baren, i restauranten eller i vores 2 to-personers kahytter. Den første dag besøgte vi "De tre kløfters - dæmningen" som med sine 185 meters højde og 2 km's bredde er verdens største. Udover selve dæmningen og dens generatorer, som skaber ligeså meget energi som 16 A-kraftværker, så rummer projektet også en skibselevator til mindre skibe samt en 5-delt sluse, som skal sikre at den livlige krydstogtstrafik samt godstransport ... read more

We left Chengdu and travelled to Chongqing where the Yangtse cruise was to begin- stopping off first to Visit the Panda Sanctuary. This place is one of several in the world where this endangered specires can breed in captivity with a good success rate. Pandas are the most lasy animals I have ever seen except the cubs which like nothing more then casing the attendants trying to feed them around. We even come across the Mascot for the Bejong Olympics whom was breed at this very park. Later another 5 hour trip took us to Chonqing where we boarded our luxuary cruise down the river Yangtse.... read more

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 ... read more