April 9 - Day of 1000 BUddhas. I firstly need to back track to last night. Judi, Noelene and I decided to go to the Chinese theatre and watch a kung fu show in the home of kung fu. The theatre was impressive but the audience left a lot to be desired. They were so loud and most watched the show through their iPads. We didn't understand a word of it but we laughed and had an absolute ball. I think it was the history of Kung Fu in the area. There were lots of dances, very strong men and amazing tricks. There wasn't much actual kung fu (Ashton would be disappointed) but the show was spectacular. Today was freezing! I was beginning to wonder if my packing of coats and jumpers was overkill. Turns out ... read more

April 7 As is becoming the custom of this holiday, we were up again really early. Breakfast with our new friends Bruce, Sarah and Zoe from Brisbane, before saying our farewells and heading off the boat. We were lucky enough to have a lovely guide called David, who named himself after David Copperfield. He picked us up from the boat, arranged porters to carry our luggage along large poles across their shoulders, up 100 stairs to the waiting minivan. I'm glad I didn't have to manage those stairs. These men raced up and then back down again to get more money and more bags. The whole ship is loaded with goods the same way. On a pole and across the shoulders of older men. OUr first stop this morning was to the Old City in Chonqing. ... read more

OMG! The Easter bunny found me! Yay. The house keeping people thought we were mad with chocolate Easter eggs all over the floor. They had a good giggle. Another early start! I thought I was on holidays… Up to the deck 5 for some morning Thai Chi before breakfast. The doctor of the ship runs Thai Chi in the morning for the passengers to join in if they wish. We thought that we would give it a go. Perhaps we weren't as graceful as our teacher but we enjoyed it nonetheless. I was surprised that it was actually more physical than I had expected. After breakfast we were going on our excursion through the Wu Hu Gorge and then passed the enormous goddess peak. After traveling through the Gorge we got off the cruise and into ... read more

After spending some time at the hotel last night, struggling to hook up with the wifi, we headed out for the World Financial Tower on the other side of the river. It had been bucketing down and thunder and lightning while we were in the room. Thankfully it cleared up and the bright night lights of Shanghai stood out for us to admire. We caught a ferry from the Bund side of the river to the other. There were loads of people outside, trying to get photos and they clearly had no concept of personal space. When we were half way across it started to rain and it didn't stop for the rest of the night. That wasn't going to stop us though. We looked up and headed for the tower. As we drew closer, we ... read more

Shanghai airport, the home of yummy choux pastry treats. So glad I put the Gluten on hold for a little while. After a two hour delay, we finally boarded for our flight to Yichang. The flight was full of American tourist. Very loud and very annoying. Bags as big as a child as carry on luggage. On arrival, we were met with Kitty. Due to the late flight, we were unable to do our booked tours. A bit of a shame, particularly because we had changed our flights in Australia because our original flight was changed and was going to be too late. We should have stuck with what we had. Never mind! Kitty took us to a local supermarket where we were obviously a novelty. We enjoyed looking around at the weird and wonderful things ... read more