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Published: October 18th 2009
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As I type this we are sat on the deck of a cruise boat sailing down the Yangtze River. The boat itself is not up to P&O standards, but the scenery definitely makes up for what the boat lacks in luxury. The route we are taking is famous because of the stunning Three Gorges it passes through, as well as being the site of the Three Gorges Damn which opened last year. To get from either side of the damn (the water levels are about 150m in difference) involved five separate locks (which make the canal locks in England look like dwarfs) with each one taking us up 30 metres as it filled up in around ten minutes. In total it took four hours to reach the top before we continued our journey upstream.
On board there are around 200 passengers (all Chinese apart from our group) and the shop owners are clearly not accustomed to Western drinking habits as by 9.30pm (we arrived at about 7pm) they had run out of beer which was meant to last the whole boat for three days (we were very thirsty). We’ve called at a few places along the way and explored a
small town this afternoon which seemed to specialise in selling meat you would never want to eat (pigs tails, tongues, chicken heads, etc...). I opted for what was apparently a pork sausage which looked the part and tasted good, but probably doesn’t bear thinking about what was in it. This morning Beccy set out on what was meant to be a trip to a local village market (so I decided to skip it and lay-in) which ended up been a trip down the Shennongxi stream (a tributary of the main river). Our guide had got confused on the sequence so whilst I was snoring I was missing one of the highlights of the cruise and it was too late for Beccy to come back and get me!
The boat has been a welcome change from the 18 hours we spent on board travelling from our previous destination Xi’an. Xi’an is home to the Terracotta Army (one of the reasons we wanted to visit China) which was built over 2,000 years ago by Emperor Qin to safeguard his journey into the afterlife. The Army took 700,000 workers over four decades to construct. The 2,000 life-size soldiers and horses were only
Shanghai Financial Centre and Jin Mao Tower
The Shaghai Financial Centre (bottle opener) displaced the Jin Mao Tower as the highest building in Shanghai discovered in 1974 when 5 farmers digging a well found some remains. Half the soldiers have now been excavated (generally in hundreds of pieces as the tomb was looted shortly after completion) and about 800 of the soldiers have been restored. Each soldier is individually crafted with a unique face, figure and attire (based on a real soldier) and they were originally painted to look life-like. Before unearthing the remaining soldiers (and the Emperors tomb) archaeologists are waiting for better technology as at the moment as soon as the soldiers are exposed to air the paint oxidises and disappears. History and facts aside, the detail on the soldiers and time and effort that must have gone into them was breathtaking and will be one of the highlights of our trip.
Xi’an also has one of the best persevered ancient city walls (which we cycled the 9 miles on pre-historic bikes) and Drum and Bell towers in China which occupied us before our group joined the Chinese at the local karaoke. We are having a lot of fun with our group and we generally don’t have to think much as Ricky (our tour guide) gets us from A to B
Acrobatics show
They fitted 5 bikes in! whilst we concentrate on relaxing (A.K.A. Chinese beer, storytelling, playing cards and watching movies) and having our photographs taken by the locals.
At the end of our last blog we had just arrived in Shanghai and our two days (and nights!) were busy exploring the buzzing city. The Shanghai Financial Centre is the world’s fourth tallest building, but boasts the world’s highest observation platform and skywalk. We got to the 200th floor in less than 2 minutes (we ran fast) and had amazing views of the city. We also visited a number of temples (Jade Buddha Temple the highlight) as well as an acrobatics show which was similar to Circus De Soleil.
Only have 5 days left on our tour before we are head to Borneo for a week (via Singapore).
Until next time,
Andy and Beccy
P.S. Congratulations Nicola & Mike on getting engaged and John & Anna for getting hitched!!
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alan
non-member comment
queazy
hi I felt queazy just looking at the pic of the two workmen... The Terracotta Army pics are magnificent - I do envy you seeing them first hand! Great blog you guys! Alan