China Day 20

Having got to bed at 1:00am after our flight into Chengdu we had to be up at 6 to have breakfast and get to the railway station for the 8:30 train. All went fine. 350kph trip was smooth and comfortable and we arrived in Chongqing an hour later. Another small glitch when the normally reliable guide pick up wasn't waiting but after a while he turned up claiming he couldn't find us - we were waiting at the exit as instructed.

We ere supposed to spend the morning at the three gorges museum but that's closed on Mondays so guide Jim took us on a tour of Chongqing. Typical old merchant street was first with everyone trying to sell their merchandise. We then headed for the riverside area which was interesting - 4 years ago they had a massive flood which rose about 23 metres!. We then had lunch (typical Chinese sweet/sour fish, soup and meat/rice dishes) which wasn't as good as some we've had but pretty good,

He then took us to a magnificent parkland on high land beside the river, with a 7 storey Pagoda as lookout with views of the city. 24 million people live here so the cityscape of high rise apartments and office buildings as far as you can see is extraordinary. The gardens are just amazing with thousands of potted plants creating a colourful display and landscaped walkways. We then headed to a huge square with the museum on one side and the "Hall of the People" on the other - a massive building whose architect died in prison during the Cultural Revolution - he was arrested for basing his design on Dynasty styles which were banned at that time.

We were then delivered to the cruise ship for our Yangtze River cruise - a really beautiful ship which can accommodate 300 people but so far there don't appear to be that many. Lovely spacious cabin with deck and very well appointed. Looks like it will be a welcome, comfortable cruise for a few days. Ste ven, a fellow from Brisbane and ourselves are the only English speaking passengers.

Early night coming up after an pretty tiring couple of days. Well-earned rest.