Chongqing to Shanghai

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We elected to not take the Yangtze River cruise from Chongqing to Yichang. The boats that meet our standards, meaning clean and looks seaworthy (most look like they need at least a good paint job- as it would cover up the rust and grime), would end up averaging three times our daily budget. We are already planning on blowing the budget wide open in a few weeks by going to Tibet, with a night at Mt. Everest Base camp, so we decided to head to Shanghai.
We checked out of our hotel and headed to the airport by taxi. Once arriving we were directed to the right ticket counter and asked for a flight to Shanghai for today. We were quoted the price of 1,350 RMB each, it seemed high compared to the flight we had last week so I asked if the had any cheaper prices. They did on a flight that left 30 minutes later, only 800 RMB each. They of course did not take credit/debit cards so we went off in search of an ATM. They did not have ATM’s that allow for international bank use (PLUS or Cirrus), so we had to use some of our US$ at the currency exchange booth.
Soon the tickets were in hand and we were off to the restaurant to have our last authentic Sichuan lunch.
Once we arrived in Shanghai we took a local bus to our hotel. It was easy and half the cost of the Maglev (magnetic levitation train). We are staying at a Mercure hotel, which is nice except for the construction that starts at 9 am. It seems that we now have an alarm we can not ignore. I know that seems late for most of you, but as you well know Scott and I are night owls and who love to stay up late and get up late.

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