Days 28-30 Friday – Saturday December 4-5 Yangtze River, China

On Thursday night, we arrived into Chongqing and boarded the Victoria 1, a 5 star boat (according to Chinese standards, which is approximately 3 stars on American standards, so maybe the Chinese are on an 8 star scale). Our room is cute enough with plenty of space, especially compared to our rooms in Japan. The only knock on the room is the shower, which is actually standing next to the toilet, yet with no divider between the two areas. If done well, this set up would be no issue since the water would immediately drain and the floor and the bathroom would be dry, but in this case, the water didn’t quickly drain, and the bathroom floor’s dryness varied based on which way the boat was tilting. If you got lucky, your bathroom wouldn't be flooded within about 30 minutes after you showered.

The Yangtze is filled with a long string of beautiful cliffs and gorges. We got plenty of pictures of those sites. That’s all we can say positively about this river ride. The rest of the time, our realities were shattered by the amplified voice of Leo, the English speaking boat leader who announced breakfast being ready (3x between 7:30am and 8am), every up-coming site (2x prior to arrival, saying the same thing 3 times during each announcement), and all with the most grating accent one can imagine. As you can tell, Leo is the lone splot on this river journey.

 

View from the Victoria 1

Who's the stupid American who wore his beach gear up on the freezing boat deck???

The Ghost Village, Goddess Peak, and Three Gorges dam broke up the monotonous nautical activities, but it was the meals and late night card games that got the group through with their sanity. Half of the group is still sick and the China tour is starting to wear on people due to so much continuous traveling, but we’re all excited for Yi Chang, Yangshuo, and Hong Kong, which will be a great way to round out our three week journey through this completely otherworldly country.

Three Gorges Dam, or what you can see of it through the mist.

 

Tania having fun with the (lack of a) view of the dam

Tania enjoying the sunset atop the Ghost Village 

 

Nine steps across the bridge together means a long, happy life together.  And we nailed it!