Well we are now in Shanghai after a wonderful cruise along the Yangtze river, so now that we have an internet connection, here’s an update…
Our last day in Chongqing was again a free day with the only event being the boarding of the boat. We walked into the centre of the city after checking out of the hotel and found a bookstore (Rosie has read all her books already). Rosie hunted around the English book section, while I looked around the Chinese as a foreign language section. Here I met an English teacher who wanted to practice her English, and wanted me to practice my Mandarin. She then recommended some of the text books. I thanked her very much, but decided against it in the end.
In the evening, we were picked up from the hotel for our transfer to the Victoria Queen. On arrival we realised that our guide was trying to get rid of us as early as possible, because there were no other guests on the boat. We found out a little later that, although the staff don’t mind people boarding at 1630, 1800 is the preferred start time for passengers to board with everyone being boarded by 2030 for departure at 2100. Nevermind, we got to explore in peace. After our initial Welcome Aboard briefing, we set off cruising on the Yangtze River!
Our first full day on the cruise started the usual way, with a buffet breakfast, but here they had proper pancakes and proper syrup :), it was excellent! It was here that we met a very friendly Australian family, who have also been travelling for quite a while, a lively Australian/Italian couple, and an American/Multinational couple, one of whom is travelling outside America for the first time now that he is partially retired. After breakfast our River Guide (Campbell Hur) gave us a brief introduction to the river, and the cruise in general. After lunch, we experienced our first shore excursion to the “City of Ghosts” at Fengdu. The city lies a little further up the hill from the once very populous Fengdu city, however due to the Dam project, all the people have been relocated and the city is no longer there (also it was below the current water level so we wouldn’t have seen it anyway). The “City of the Ghosts” is a representation of the Chinese believes of death and is therefore dedicated to the “King of the UnderWorld”.
The evening on the ship included the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Reception and the Chinese Dynasties Show, which featured a variety of Traditional Chinese costumes and dances from the history of China (for pictures, see the gallery).
To Be Continued …