Shanghai!

---

Greetings from Shanghai! This is our last city in China before we head to Japan. Thanks to all who have written to us. We have had a long, but somewhat relaxing, past week. After Leshan we went to Chongqing, which was huge and crazy, like a poor Hong Kong on more hills. The skyscrapers would run into alleyways which would run into streets which would run into a bridge, and all of it was crooked. When we thought we were on the ground floor, all of a sudden we would find ourselves 6 stories above ground. Mostly, we stayed indoors and checked out the malls because it was too hot to go outside. Andy, in answer to your question, although there are a fair amount of cheap clothes and knock-off clothes, there seems to be name brand fever here and pricy malls have all of the U.S. labels and more. In fact, it seems that on the level for individual store owners here, there is even more free trade than in the U.S., with tons of small boutiques, and few huge stores. I bought some clothes made by a Chinese want-a-be Nike. Also, Norm, we did not see any bugs being eatan by that flower, but you are most likely right about what it was.
After only two days in Chongqing, we boarded a riverboat for a 2 night 2.5 day boat cruise down the Yangtze. It was a three star boat and we got 1st class and a full tour package for only $100 U.S. dollars apiece. Because it was only three stars the other travelers were almost all Chinese, which we liked. They were nice and stoked for the trip, and very friendly. The boat wasn't super nice but it had everything we wanted, such as airconditioning, a not too small room with a private bath, a front and back deck, and a nice big window through which we could watch the scenery float by from our beds. It was a nice way to travel and relax. Our trip turned out to be packed with activities, and we woke up at 5 am both days. The first night we set off at 8pm. Both Kaley and I had our first experiences of sleeping on a boat, very relaxing! The first day we went to the Ghost City and saw images of Ghosts and hell and had a haunted house like trip complete with animatronics. It was all meant to inspire "unlimited creativity in the minds of humans and ghosts." We then rested, getting off the boat only to pick up some food along the way. Catering to river travellers, the street vendors had excellent local foods, such as fried whole baby potatoes, deep-fried whole fishes, and stirfrys that we could point to exactly what we wanted. In the evening we had a short visit to another siteseeing place, the White Castle. The next day we woke up early to watch the first of the three big gorges float by. We then stopped to get on a smaller boat, and then an even smaller boat, to see close ups of the three lesser gorges. We saw huge stalagtites, monkeys, and crazy mountain goats on some very steep areas. We also stopped shortly in a village that is going to be destroyed when the dam is completed in 2007-2009. The water is supposed to raise 175 meters, and we saw markers and ghost towns all over the place. We both agreed, however, that the lesser gorges weren't as impressive as the larger gorges, although they were billed that way. This part took 6 hours! It was refreshing to be close to the water, and the water had some really nice colors different from the brown of the major part of the river. The rest of the day we sat in our beds and watched the very impressive two more gorges pass by, for almost 7 hours! Then we came to the new dam, which was gigantic. It took us several hours to go through the huge locks, and it felt like Star Wars with giant ships passing slowly and quietely through giant walls and gates. At four in the morning we got off and took an uncomfortable 5 hour bus ride to Wuhan, capital of the Hubei province. We only spent a day there, mostly reading about the history, which is very interesting. We were ready to move on because it was getting more western, more expensive, and was very congested. That afternoon we boarded our night train for our 19 hour trip to Shanghai. We splurged for soft sleepers and had a very nice trip where we slept almost the whole time. So far, Shanghai seems big, modern, and expensive, and we are longing a bit for the more tranquil and friendly western China, but we are also excited to see what we can of this "pearl of the orient." Pics coming next!
Jeff and Kaley

---