Day 46 - November 19th

10am wake! Latest I’ve slept in to for a while! I find out that my toilet is blocked and then all the water overflows when I flush it. I leave it and try and pretend it wasn’t me! I check out and have lunch. I wait for a taxi outside the motel for a good 15 minutes and then a man comes up to me and tells me he will take me to the bus stop for the airport and that a taxi will cost at least Y50! I go back into the motel and ask reception. They tell me to take taxi from across the road. I cross over and if by magic, a cab appears straight away! As I jump in, another guy asks me if I was going to the station and if we could share a cab. We arrive at the station and the meter says Y14.90. Y50 my arse!!!

The train to Chengdu is a double-decker train. Not much happened on the train ride up, I slept a bit, read a bit and also spoke to Lisa on the phone, but gave up as the phone cut out every few km as there were many tunnels! The journey took me past things of China which I haven’t seen in a long while; palm trees and rice paddies, but then soon it got cold again as we travelled higher and higher. Saw the sun in the first time in ages!

I arrive in Chengdu after 5 hours and decide to go to the Dragon Town Hostel… it was on a street named 宽 which is my name in Chinese! The taxis in Chengdu all seem to have webcams in for some reason, which reminds me of the daytime TV game show in UK called Cash Cab! A London cab would drive around London and pick up people and then quiz them in the cab whilst they are on their journey and the contestants win money!!! Great show! I arrive at the hostel and put my washing in the machine. It finishes, but hasn’t spun dried at all! I also book a tour to the panda sanctuary for Y90. I know I could do it much cheaper on my own, but I didn’t like the idea of catching buses at 6 in the morning (pandas sleep most the day so have to go in the morning), and I got a free panda bear!

I decide to stay close by for dinner and eat at a posh looking restaurant next to the hostel. I order the burger for Y22, which turns out to be a bit of burger meat in a baguette! Not the best burger I’ve ever had! I then realize that I have been wearing the same pair of trousers for a week and half and that I must have left a pair of shorts in Shanghai at Eamonns.

I decide that I want to fly to Kunming to meet Jane my sister on Sunday, rather than take the 18 hour train! Only cost Y390! Meet Terry (another Londoner) and then later find out that in our room, there is another Brit and an Italian!

Miles walked: 303.427m

Day 45 - November 18th

Wake up late. Our boat arrived in Chongqing last night. I am late for breakfast and check out. Don’t get much time to say goodbye to the people I met on-board. I meet Vivian… Leo was right, she is pretty fit! I tell her I wanted to get a train out today for Chengdu but she tells me there are no seats today. So she books me into a Motel 168 (Eamonns favorite place to take the girls!) for Y100. I later find out there is a hostel in Chongqing, though she doesn’t really deal with this type of place. She is nice enough to take me into town after checking into my motel and buy the tickets and shows me a few shops. She then gets a call and leaves me and I walk around aimlessly for a few hours! I bump into the Brits that were onboard the ship earlier! They look very out of place! I direct them to Starbucks and they then look much happier!

I spend much of the day in internet cafes or in my room watching the Guinness World Records show in China! Highlight was the man who used his fist to crack open nuts… he cracked 50 in 30 seconds, he could have done more, but they ran out of nuts! I then realized that I could have got a bus to Chengdu! Stupid girl!

I chat to Lisa, my tour guide from the dam. She seems to open up to me and tell me all about her troubles at home and how she wants to leave, but its too scary for her! Why does this always happen to me?

Early night!

Miles walked: 299.569m

Day 44 - November 17th

Wake up with a bit of a cold. Find it hard to get out of bed! The excursion today is to the Ghost City (Hades)! Highlights were the 3 challenges we had to pass to show that we were pure and that we would be reincarnated and not have to live the rest of eternity in hell! The first test was not to fall into pond with a bridge over, the second was to pass through a door without touching the step, and the final test was to balance with one foot on a stone for 3 seconds whilst looking at the altar of Yama, the god of hell! I pass all 3 tests, using my ‘BIG Phil stretch’ exercise to pass the final test (BIG Phil Stretch: a stretch devised by the ‘Big Phil’ where you balance on one foot and hold your opposite ear, stretching both calf muscle and ear muscle!). Another highlight was the two bridges where we chose either to have long life or wealth when we crossed. All the old folk chose long life, whilst me, the only person, chose wealth… rock and roll lifestyle!

On the way back, I hear one of the most disturbing thing ever! The old folk on the tour start discussing how they are going to leave all the room keys on the table and swap wives!!! I am truly disgusted!

Have lunch, then we get invited to go look at the bridge. It’s pretty cool, just 3 guys sitting in a room and steering! I then have a nap! I wake up and then go to the free tea and biscuits give away on the viewing gallery. Weren’t great bickies! End up chatting to old Aussie couple again and Claire and her mum! Topics end up on politics and free press. Claire’s mum ends up calling me a cynical youth!!! I don’t think I’m cynical, in fact I confess that I bloody love my life and everything in it! It’s great! But some things just don’t add up in the world and that’s the way I see things!

The captain has a leaving banquet for us… free wine! Then we have performances on the ship from all the people on board. I go up and play a few songs of course! A guy from Cumbria does a poem recital, which I found it hard to figure out, god knows what the Chinese on the ship thought of it!

Miles walked: 292.412m

Day 43 - November 16th

Wake up too late for Tai Chi, but find out it was a bit rubbish anyways! Today’s excursion takes us to the Lesser 3 Gorges. We disembark and get on a smaller ferry and then get taken to a place where we transfer to even smaller Sampans. Amazingly, the rain stops today! And we get to see some really beautiful landscapes! We were rowed up the river for 45mins, then the boatmen jumped off and towed the boats from ashore. Originally, the river was only 3m high, but as the dam started to get built, it rose to 20m and is expected to rise another 20m when the dam is finished! All the people of the ravine have been moved out to other cities or built houses high up from the water level. One of the highlights of the trip!

After lunch, we hit the Second and Third Gorges. It’s pretty amazing! Just like Chinese paintings! I can’t even think of the words to describe it. Just look at the pictures! I’ve seen some of the best views in China today! As Vincent the riverboat guide tells us to look at our Y10 notes to see a picture of the view we were witnessing now, I realize, apart from the Y50 note (Lhasa) I’ve been to all the places on the back of every Chinese banknote! All the excitement gets to me and I go for a nap! I’m just like the old folk on the boat!

I went back onto the viewing galley and chatted to Claire, a traveller from Oz. She was on her way around the world and is going to a place near Xian to teach for a while. Had dinner and then chatted to an old Australian couple. Things got really weird and the topics ranged from society, socialism and technology! I really don’t know how it happens! People just seem to want to talk to me about these things! Spend the rest of the evening chatting to the riverboat guide, Vincent. I learn all about the life of a riverboat guide. He is only a few years older then me, but feels he is in a dead-end job! No chance of finding a good woman and no job prospects! The guys on the boat actually work 10 months straight, 7 days weeks, only getting half-a-day breaks before each journey.

Miles walked: 286.860m

Day 42 - November 15th

Wake up to the boat disembarking! I open the curtains and see a wall of rock! Pretty impressive. I’m happy as no one was moved into my room last night, so I am staying in a double room and paying only the single! It’s drizzling outside!

I go for breakfast buffet, and as Leo (my man in Hong Kong), the food is just okay! I get put with the English speaking group… group Lisa, named after our local guide Lisa! We get on the coach with all these tired old people who are acting like teenagers on board! “Let’s sit in the back and cause trouble” “where’s my woman gone?” and then they start singing too! Oh dear!

The coach takes us to the Great Dam, but the rain means that we could see pretty much bugger-all! I manage to haggle for some postcards from Y20 to Y10. I’m happy! Others in the group start to complain about the standard of Lisa’s (ching)lish! Does take a lot of concentration for even me to understand her, but their tour guide rebuts them by telling them that her English is way better then their Chinese! I start chatting to the guide and help her with her English, picking out things she has said wrong! She is very grateful and I could see her using the words I helped her with in her spiel and a big smile on her face when she knows she has got her pronunciation correct!

I talk to an old Australian couple, saying how it’s a shame that it was raining and we could hardly see the dam wall. “Oh well, we can come back and see it again”… whoops, they went silent and give me a strange look… I don’t think they will be up and about for long!

We get taken though all the gift shop areas and I see some how silly some of the mark-up prices are for souvenirs! A chess set which I brought in Yiwu for the business had a price tag of Y3800. I brought it from the manufacturer for around Y20 a unit! Let’s say that the people here brought it off 2 other suppliers, both doubling the price of it for profit, that’s still less than Y100, and let’s say they try and make a profit of 100% too. That’s only around Y200! The funniest bit is that you know for sure that some idiot would buy it (probably American)!

On our way back to the boat, the guide sings a folk song for us! She told us of her story, how she used to live in the city, but then her father, an engineer moved to the 3 Gorges area to work on the dam. She became very very depressed as she was away from all her friends and couldn’t do all the things you could in the city; go shopping, hang out, find a man! But her father always told her that he was doing some thing very very important and that by building the dam, many people in China will have electricity. Harsh.

Before I get back on the cruiser, I buy some beers from a store. I get 7 beers for Y35. Some weird looking can! I get back on board and then go up to the viewing deck to watch us go through the lock system. I start conversation with the tour manager of the UK group, Gillian. She tells me of all the troubles she has had with this group and all about her line of work. Good research on what I may be doing one day! Her work takes her all over the world, she was in Thailand last week, and regularly goes to Europe and Ireland. This was her first time up the Yangtze! The lock opens and we start the slow process up the system (about 4hours).

We then watch the safety presentation (Chinese one had a total of 4 people turn up!) which wasn’t really that assuring! The riverboat guide didn’t seem to be taking it too seriously and I find it a bit funny that the talk is after a whole night on board the boat! Though Gillian says that it is the same in Germany, up the Rhine and we find out that the boat is supposed to be unsinkable and has bullet proof windows as it was once used by the Chinese President at the time.

I get talking to more of the old folk on board. We then watch a talk on pearls, where I meet two girls from Gunagdong. One was alright looking. We get chatting and I show them all my pix from my travels! Captian’s welcoming party in the evening – free champagne! (for half an hour!) Dinner was followed by a talk on acupuncture and foot massage, where Vincent, the river guide, seemed to be making a lot of it up! We then were treated to a fashion show, costumes through the ages, ethnic minorities, and surprise surprise, clothes from the store on board!

I sit on the deck round the back and play guitar for a bit and drink the beer I smuggled on board… turns out to taste like shit! Never get round to finishing the 7!

Miles walked: 283.653m

Day 41 - November 14th

Toothache! I wake up and arrive at Wuhan. I chat to the couple whilst we get our stuff ready to get off the train and they tell me that I should get a Chinese girlfriend! I then break my glasses! So much for titanium frames! One screw loose and the thing falls apart. I lose that screw! Good job I have a spare pair! I step out of the station and the place looks grim! I do not like it! So I jump on the first bus I can out of there! Apparently the bus station I was at was owned by a Hong Konger. The people’s uniforms looked a lot smarter than local Chinese companies, like air stewards!

I sleep on the bus but wake up to watch Cats and Dogs in Chinese. The journey turns out to take 5 hours, not the 3/4 hours suggested in the Lonely Planet! I get to Yichang and put leave my backpack and then go get something to eat. I forget how much difference there is from inland places and coastal areas. I order some food at a restaurant and a bollock-load of food turns up! I didn’t even get halfway through it! And it was dirt cheap! Although, it was smothered in oil and far too chilli for my likings!

I walk about the town and feel all icky! I’ve not showered in a while and I must smell... run out of deodorant too! I walk pass a square where there is a performance and music. Why isn’t there things like this in other towns? I spend a few hours in a internet cafe. I then find a department store and get some deodorant! Thank god!

I then decide to have a hot chocolate and sit at the square. A group of kids arrive with a teacher. Bit late for a school trip to see performances, it’s 6pm... they then get into formation and then start dancing! They weren’t here to watch a performance, they were here to practice their cha-cha! The teacher was also the stereotypical dance teacher snob too! The kids were well good too! Amazing! All we got at my primary school was gay interpretative dance (I’m a tree) and morris dancing!

Then from the other side of the square, I hear music. I turn and see there are people practising Riverdance! It was amazing! After a while, On another corner of the square, ladies with drums start playing! I love this place! It’s a musical square! At 7pm, the real show starts and the stage is alight with people dancing and performing. I see a midget in the crowd. I don’t know why, but it reminds me of porn... don’t ask! I decide the ethnic minority dancers are fit! And in some ways, the show reminded me of our performance we did at BLCU when my class cross-dressed and sang!

I succumbed to the big M and get a McCheese burger! I sit down in Maccy D's and am surrounded by couples. How romantic! Dinner at McDonalds! I then get a drunken flash back of Shanghai and the Danish guys heckling all the people in McDonalds after our night out in Bon Bon!

I go back to the bus station for my backpack. It’s a close one, as the place was closing! Wouldn’t have been able to pick up my pack 5 mins later! The lady then tries to help me to my pier to get on my boat. She isn’t sure where it is, and calls her friends for me. She finally gives up and then puts me in a cab, but not one which is outside the station, as she says that they are not very honest! My cab driver takes me to the wrong pier at first and then after a few calls, he takes me down some dimly-lit lane and drive right pass the boat! After turning back I am finally arrive at the pier and embark on the Yangtze River!

The cruiser looks fantastic! I feel a little strange, as I rock up with my backpack and probably smelling bad whilst there are loads of middle aged people wondering around. There is a little bit of trouble at the check-in counter, as they had me down as from Hong Kong. It was run like a hotel! Very nice. I get to my room and Do the 3 S’s; Shit, Shower, Shave. I then look around the boat; it’s full of middle aged tours! Not great! I go to the bar and get a drink; Y50 for a JD and Coke. Doesn’t look all that exciting on the boat!

Miles walked: 278.595m

Day 40 - November 13th

Wake up to Chinese guys in my room talking loudly; “that girl likes you... she likes you... you have a better chance... is she looking in?” It’s like 13 year olds! I decide I'd better get out of bed and make an early start to get to Huangshan. Shower and then check email... decide against Huangshan after talking to Ting Ting. So I surf the net instead and decide on my next move. I almost forget to check out!

New plan: bum around for today and wait for sleeper train to Wuhan, then get a bus in the morning to Yichang and get on a boat and go to the 3 gorges and end up in Chengqing. But what boat to take?

I meet Roger whilst I check out. We sit and chat whilst I have my lunch and the topic seems to get really deep again. What is wrong with me? Everyone I’ve spoken to recently, the topics have got really deep like people’s living standard and politics!!!

Can’t get through to the train station by phone to buy my tickets, so I decide to go directly and buy it myself. I follow a group of German guys but they talk me to the wrong bus stop, as they are going to another station. Damn Germans! The bus back from the train station was a tour bus!

Back at the hostel, I meet a Canadian couple who had done the cruise downriver, and from their experiences, I decide to take the expensive luxury cruise up! Though they paid Y1200 each, which didn’t include food, excursions and they had to share a cabin with 2 other people, all in all costing them Y1400. The 5-star cruise that I am looking at is Y1800! I’m so glad that I have friends in the travel business here in China to get me the deals!

Watch Alien vs. Predator in the Hostel. Another hour and a half of my life I will never get back! Then go get dinner with Jay, a Londoner! He is on his way to Australia via China, and was waiting for a flight to Zhengzhou tonight. I don’t think he liked the local food all too much! I get a toothache. We see Tatsu with his “girl friend”... funny that, as last night he was saying how his girlfriend was in Japan and this girl was Chinese!

I send Jay off in a taxi to the airport and go back to the hostel. Super Size Me is on. I decide to go read in the reading area as the film is too depressing for me, but an American guy at the hostel seems to love it! They put on Alien vs. Predator again! Decide to watch the first 20mins which I missed last time round! So an hour and 50mins of my life gone now! I say goodbye to Roger, who seems to be accompanied by his Chinese friend (also a young girl), everyone's just picking up girls? Is there some sort of female escort service at this hostel?

I get on the sleeper train to Wuhan at 11.20pm. I am lucky to get put in a cabin with an elderly couple. We talk for a bit with the only notable subjects; University system, families and living together and then I taught the wife some English; “goodnight”.

Miles walked: 271.342m