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2nd April

No peace for the wicked - we had an early morning wake up call at 6.30am. 'This is your  morning call. Have nice day.' Discovered how charming it is to have to shower in brown, bitty, water. Incidentally, you have to use bottled water, even for brushing your teeth. I could see why! At 7am we cruised into Xiling Gorge, so went up on deck to watch and take photos. It was extremely windy and cold but worth it for the amazing scenery. Unfortunately the photos don't do it justice as it's usually quite misty. After an hour or so it was time for the buffet breakfast, a hybrid of Chinese and more Western style. Fuel, more than anything else. And then we left the ship (with the crew turning out to wish us a good time) to visit the Three Gorges Project (TGP), the huge undertaking to dam and tame the 

Yangtse. We went to the visitor centre where we told about the project and then had time to wander around and take photos, video etc. It looks incredibly foggy but in fact is due to dust rather than fog. The size of the project is almost unimaginable - even though we could see it, it  was hard to comprehend the scale of it all. I was surprised at the lack of security here, although perhaps it's because the Chinese are so proud of this project that they want the world to see it. During the trip I had been reading a book about a journey up the Yangtse so was well aware of the controversy surrounding it - but by the end of the holiday, was torn between the pros and the cons, rather than being completely against it as I was whilst reading about it. There was the inevitable shop but again the shadowing by sales assistants put me off buying anything more exciting than a pack of postcards. 

On arriving back on board (being greeted yet again), we spent a pleasant hour over a couple of beers whilst chatting to some new friends. Everyone was very friendly, and the dining arrangements meant that people mixed far more than is usual. We decided against the Captain's cocktail party and went up on deck to catch some sun. It was very hot by now. I finished my film and then discovered that it wouldn't rewind. My camera was kaput - what a time for it to happen. Luckily I had the video (some of the pictures on this page are from video stills) and Martyn had his camera but it meant we didn't take nearly as many photos as usual. Lunch was very similar to the dinner of the night before. A lot of the meat and fish dishes tended to be quite bony which put me off - the vegetables were good though. 

After lunch we moored up and got on a smaller craft where we were taken to the Shennong Stream. After running the gauntlet of stalls, all selling the same old things, we were provided with smelly lifejackets and transferred to small boats (about 16 or 17 to each boat). Each boat had a team of 4 'trackers' who were to pull us upstream, a guy with a long pole on the front and back (rather like punting poles) and a guide. In the past the trackers were naked but fortunately these were dressed in shorts and tops. 

They had an unenviable task - upstream is very hard work and they reminded me of a line of slaves. They were 'singing' such gloomy songs too. We all felt very guilty and hoped that a sizable portion of our tip money would go to these poor men. (Tips were dealt with by the reps - we each paid £50  for tips and airport taxes on our arrival - it was much easier that way.) The scenery was stunning and our guide very interesting - he also serenaded us with a couple of songs. The water here was crystal clear, unlike that of the Yangtse which was a dirty brown. I joked that there would be a delegation of sellers to greet us at the other end. It was a joke - but I was right. After a short break we rejoined our boats. The downstream journey was much easier and very quick and we were soon back on our ship again.

Dinner was better - or maybe I was just learning what to avoid! The after dinner entertainment was provided by Season, our on-board guide. What a nice young man; in fact everyone was extremely friendly and kind to us. Season was telling jokes - they weren't good but we'd have forgiven him anything, such was his enthusiasm. We spent a very enjoyable evening in the bar/ballroom. Things were much better now and I was glad I had picked such a holiday!

3rd April 

This morning's wake-up call was at 6:20 am as we were entering the Wu Gorge very early. This gorge is said to be like an art gallery, and is the source of inspiration for many Chinese artists. The cliffs are high but our ship was quite big so we didn't get quite such a sense of the scale as we would have done had we been in one of the tiny sampans we kept seeing. We also passed Goddess Peak, the symbol of the gorge - subject of a myth, as are many of the landmarks.  After breakfast we went to book Martyn a massage with the ship's doctor. it took some time explaining this, as our Chinese is non-existent and only 1 or 2 of the crew speak more than a couple of words of English. It was arranged for him to go along in about 10 minutes which he did. This was a free day with no excursions so an ideal opportunity. I was considering a reflexology session but when I heard more about it I decided I wasn't up to subjecting my feet to such treatment! Martyn had a good massage - Chinese massage is very vigorous and he was quite done-in after 45 minutes pummeling! But it did him good and his bad back was much improved for the rest of the holiday (and long after too). Not bad for £15. 

At 11am we entered the last of the gorges - Qu Tang Gorge. this is the shortest but most spectacular but again it was misty. The river is an interesting one to cruise, with lost of activity to watch out for. There are paths cut into the most impossible-looking rock-faces and we often saw people loading and unloading boats, sometimes with white bags of something but more often than not, with coal. After a very good lunch we spent a couple of hours relaxing with beer, books and chat. It was so nice to have chance to relax after all the rushing around. The temperature was soaring, must have been around 30 and there was little shade. At 3.30 it was time for Tai Chi and Tai Sword. It really was too hot though but we made an effort. The class was taken by the doctor but he clearly wasn't a teacher as we kept ending up facing the wrong way as he demonstrated and we tried to follow! It was a bit of a shambles but we enjoyed watching the demos. It's also very hard to balance on one leg when the ship is swaying around. Afterwards we went to cool down in our cabin and I fell asleep - for 2 hours.  

We had a lovely evening - our best meal thus far and fantastic entertainment by the crew and one or two volunteer guests. There was karaoke by a young man, a fashion show by the girls (who are all very beautiful, especially in traditional Chinese dress), and traditional and modern dancing. Plus a witty poem and songs from a couple of members of the 'other' group. No photos I'm afraid as Martyn didn't have a flash. 

4th April

It was another 6:20 start, leaving the ship at 7:30 for an excursion to the ShiBaoZhai Pagoda. The pagoda is beautiful, set right against a vertical cliff. Sedan chairs were on offer to take us to the foot of the cliff but I felt too guilty at inflicting my weight on someone although they were very insistent. Afterwards I felt guilty at refusing - that's the way they earn a living and I hadn't helped them at all. Again we had to pass by many stalls which sell much the same things, none of which were of much interest to us. The Pagoda is 56 metres high, with 12 storeys and is made of wood and stone. It has an internal staircase of over 100 steps - this is the only way to reach the top. 

The views were lovely from the top - but not  on all sides. Like elsewhere we had visited, China was a mix of old and new with so much building going on. Because the Three Gorges will be flooded, next year and then even higher in 2009, a lot of building  is going on in the higher ground so that towns can be relocated to safety. There were shops in the buildings at the top but it was much nicer shopping here than elsewhere. Also a tiny temple where we lit some incense for a Buddhist friend. It was a little disconcerting to be asked to sign a book stating the size of our donation. We bought a few things this time - a set of 10 pairs of chopsticks for about £1-30 and I was ripped off for some silk scarves. I evened up my losses later though by buying several more for much lower prices! It would have been good to have had longer there - shopping when bargaining takes so much longer that a few minutes just isn't enough. As it was, one of the ship's crew came along to round us all up - and it was still only 9:30am! 

Back on board there was chance to learn to play Mahjong but we took the opportunity to sit in the sun and read instead. This heat was perfect - and a big bonus as we had thought the weather would be cold and miserable. After lunch we hit a sandbank - the crew were all rushing around in lifejackets - but soon managed to reverse out of its way. the next drama was a terrific thunderstorm that had been brewing for some time. It was very tropical and  windy, with chairs being blown all around the decks. We spent some time examining the beautifully decorated glass snuff bottles which were being painted by the ship's resident snuff bottle artist. This involves painting with specially curved brushes - inside the bottle. They are really beautiful and you can look with a magnifying glass to see the exquisite detail on the smaller pieces. My favourite was £400 so I settled for a smaller version for about £22! We bought little key rings for Jo & Sarah with their Chinese birth signs on them - along with some writing, which I forgot to get translated - characteristics, I imagine.

Next it was time for a lecture on Chinese traditions, given by Season. It was very interesting - what a character he is - he learned basic English at school and has managed to attain a very high standard by listening to English radio. He always asked for help if he was struggling for the right word or grammar. Very inspirational. I felt very sleepy afterwards, so had another catch-up snooze - the beds are far comfier when sleeping on top of the duvet!

That evening was the Farewell Banquet. It was a lovely evening, with speeches and toasts for which we were provided tiny glasses and some rather nice fortified wine. The food was excellent  and our fellow-diners were good fun. After dinner we had a quiz - loosely based on our trip thus far. Despite few attempts at taking it seriously, we managed to come a creditable joint third.