Blogs from Yangtze River, Yunnan, China, Asia - page 2

Shanghai to Yichang, Fendu and ChongqingMatt and Edurl='/Videos/2636.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/2636.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'Matt doing the Time Warp Ed: I’m turning 30 this year. So you would think in that time I would have learnt a thing or two about responsible drinking. Alas, our last night in Shanghai proved me wrong. By the time we had bonded with some expats over a few (and I don’t use the term lightly) vodka, lime and sodas over five hours into the late evening (or morning?), someone amongst our new made friends suggested we do a round of shots. Now to the responsible drinker, this would have been the moment to pull the rip cord, raise the white flag, and cut and run back to our hotel given we had a flight the following morning. But to your author, this meant downing shot ... read more

30th September Our final day on the Yangtze began early in order to see the final Gorge (Xiling), it was in fact so early, the several members of the party viewed the Gorge in their pyjamas, but from the comfort of the Presidential Deck once again. We packed up our belongings, and at this point Mum jettisoned excess luggage leaving an old jacket behind to make way for all Dads backscratchers! After breakfast we boarded coaches to the Three Gorges Dam project. We stopped alongside the dam and witnessed the enormity of the entire project. We were then taken to an exhibition centre which overlooked the site, and from here we could see all the aspects of the project including the new lock for tourist cruise boats. We also saw some of the funniest “information” ... read more

28th September 2006 We were woken on the first full day of the cruise by music at 7am. We could have gone to exercise classes on deck, but we passed. We went to breakfast and met our fellow passengers. Our table had two other couples on it, who were both very nice and friendly. The breakfast was similar to that which we had had in the hotel. The day’s excursion was to Fengdu, the ghost city. It was easy to see why it had this name. The flooding of the river meant that the old city would be submerged, and the government had built a new modern city on the opposite bank. Residents were offered relocation costs, but often this was not enough to buy one of the new properties. Our guide had been relocated, and ... read more