Yangtze River Cruise

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Day 17

We woke up after our first nights sleep on the boat to chinese music being belted out of the cabin radios at 6.30am! After dozing to the tunes for a while we got up and went on deck to check out our surroundings. At around 10.30am, we sailed through the first of the gorges called the Qutang Gorge. It was raining and very windy and in honesty we both felt a little unimpressed by the scenery particularly because it was so hazy with limited views.

After lunch we transferred to a smaller boat and set off through the "Lesser Three Gorges". The weather had improved by then and the sun was shining and the scenery here seemed more impressive than that seen in the morning. As we sailed through the high rock formations that surrounded us, the local guide pointed various animal shapes within the rocks but we struggled to see most of them! She also pointed out to us some 'hanging coffins'--1000 year old coffins balanced in small caverns high up in the gorges.

After transferring back onto the Princess, we got out the deck chairs and red wine and sat on the top deck as we sailed through the second of the three gorges--the Wu Gorge Goddess Peak. As the evening drew in and the wine flowed this was definitely the most beautiful section with really picturesque views.

To finish off the day we took over the bar area and did some Kara-OK! The girls did a variety of cheesy songs with Mark taking to the stage on his own and showing off his vocals! The highlight was definately a whole group rendition of the Macarena, with some support from the bemused looking locals!

Day 18

In the morning after a comfortable nights sleep, we woke up to the chinese music again and departed the boat fairly early to catch our bus to Wuchang for another overnight sleeper train to Guilin. From the bus we passed the massive Three Gorges Dam and felt it was a shame we couldn't get out to explore a bit further but we had to press on to beat the public holiday traffic.

We boarded our train around 4pm fully stocked with the usual wine and snacks to get us through the 15 hour journey. Unfortunately our cabin was right at the end of the carriage by the noisy smokers area and it was going to be a long night 😞

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Photos

The first of the three gorges
(As seen on the ten Yuan note)