I do not really like all this selling me stuff when I don’t have time to do research or get the complete facts before paying out my money. I had read the brochure about the cruise and I had the impression that a number of things where included but as the cruise went on I found out that nothing but the room on the boat was included. They tried to get me to pay 300 Yuan to get a room alone but I said I was fine sharing a room with one other person. I ended up getting a room alone anyway. I did not really want to book a hotel in Yichang with them but they told me the boat would not arrive in Yichang until 1AM. I did not want to look for a hotel room in Yichang at 1 in the morning so I went ahead and booked a hotel. It turned out I had an option to leave the boat at about 11AM and take a bus to Yichang and arrive there at about 2 in the afternoon so could have loads of time to look for a room or catch a train to Louyang. The money I paid for all of this was not really a big deal but I hate the feeling I am being hustled.
I had signed up for the Chongqing city tour in hopes that I would see most of the sites in Chongqing prior to getting on the boat. I should know by now to make sure what is included in the tours and what places they are going to take you too to sell you stuff but I don’t seem to learn. The tour only went to one site that was in my guide book and it was one of the sites I would not have picked to visit. We also got taken to a place to buy knives. I sort of enjoyed this shopping site. It was all in Chinese but I seemed to understand every word because of all the infomercials on US TV. “It slices it dices it is the amazing new magical blade but that’s not all if you buy now we will include this fantastic cleaver at no extra charge and wait there is still more, etc, etc”
We did visit some sort of guild house that had something to do with immigrations into Chongqing from other parts of China. I had meet a Korean guy that had been on the bus from Chengdu and he spoke a little bit of Chinese and was a great help in telling me what the place was about that we were seeing. We also had lunch together and shared a few beers prior to getting on the boat. It was a shame we where on different boat because he was a really nice and interesting guy.
After the guild hall we visited a government building that reminded me a lot of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing and then onto the Red Cliff Village. I guess I should study more about Chinese history. I did not know much about Japan attacking China and being really ruthless or anything about the Chinese civil war. The Red Cliff Village was used for prisoners in both of these periods.
After the city tour I boarded the boat that would be my home for the next few days. It was not the nicest of boats and I was glad that it was not in the open sea but rather on a river where I felt a little safer. I should not complain since I got one of the best cabins on the boat. I had paid for first class and thought I would be sharing a cabin with one other person but I got a single cabin. My cabin was at the front of the boat with a number of windows so I had a great view at least when people where not crowed on the deck in front of my cabin. The only really down sides to the cabin was the floor seemed to stay wet all the time with the water coming up through the floor and is seemed there was no hot water on the boat. Cold showers are one way to wake up but not really something I enjoy. The boat was sort of strange with some people sleeping in open areas of the boat. I knew there were 3 classes but I thought the 3rd class was a 6 person room but there may have also been a 4th class where you did not get a room at all. I did not think to ask one of the 5 people on the boat that spoke English. All of these people were Asian. I was the only western on the boat.
I thought that the cruise would be a nice relaxing trip but I was wrong. There was an excursion or something to see each morning at 6AM and 2 of the 3 nights something was going on at 11PM and if I would have went to the free show it would have been all 3 nights. We left to start the cruise the first night at 11PM and arrived the next morning shortly after 6AM at the Temples of Ghosts. I went through the “Gate to Hell” but it may have been to early for me because I was not overly impressed with the temples at this site but did enjoy some of the facial expression on the figures.
The last stop of the day was at about 10:30 PM at a temple that the guide told me was not really worth seeing but that I could get off the boat and just walk around the area. I walked around some and bought a few beers and some food for eating on the boat. The food on the boat was not bad but I really never figured out how to order. I pointed at other people’s food one time and that worked out well but the 2nd time I tried that what I picked was all gone so just picked other things from the menu that were the same price. The food was a lot higher price then I had been paying in other places but still cheap for Europe or America.
The next morning it was up at 6AM to get on a smaller boat to go to the White Emperor’s Temple. I have been seeing to many temples and they seem to blend together for me. I was not that impressed with this temple but it did have a great view of the 1st of the 3 large gorges “Qutang Gorge”.
We stopped at another temple that I don’t know the name of and at some point went through the 3rd gorge but was not told we were entering it so I did not get any picture of it. I think I was having lunch during the 3rd gorge but I still enjoyed the view at the back of the boat.
The boat went through a sires of locks when we reached the dam. I found the number of locks impressing and the height change from that took place from top to the bottom of the dam. The boat got to Yichang at about 9PM a few hours earlier than I had been told and was standing around watching other people get off the boat when the guide told me we are here and you need to leave. I packed quickly and left the boat. Since I was early there was no one to meet me to take me to the hotel so I had to call a number I had and after convincing the guy I was in Yichang he sent someone to take me to the hotel. I enjoyed the river cruise with the high light for me being the day in the 3 small gorges.
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