Hot pot in Chongqing

Our train arrived in yet another huge smoggy Chinese city and it was pouring with rain. We weren't due to board the boat until later that night so as a group used a couple of rooms in a hotel to shower and change. Much to some of the groups aghast though in order to take a shower you were on view to the rest of the room as there was a strategically placed glass wall between the bathroom and bedroom. Once that debacle was over we all went to have a spicy hot pot lunch which is what Chongqing is famous for. Essentially a bowl of broth is placed on a burner in the middle of the table. Half of the broth is spicy, half not spicy, then you've given an array of meat and veggies to cook yourself in the broth! It was tasty, but really hard work fishing mushrooms and the like out with chop sticks .

Later that day we took a four hour bus ride to board the Yangtze Princess. The bus ride was jaw dropping, zooming through tunnels carved through mountains and over precarious looking bridges. Eventually, at 8.30pm we arrived at the dock in the pouring rain to board our cruise.

Our fellow passengers seem to be mainly Chinese men, in groups, here to see the sights of the Yangtze river. The boat has five decks, a dance floor, mahjong tables and a massage room. Surprisingly the bedrooms are pretty decent with a wall wide window to see the sights. In typical Chinese fashion though all the fun on the boat is controlled. There is a strict routine to follow, wake up call at 6.30am blasted into the rooms (and you can't turn it off) followed by breakfast then time to get off the boat and visit whatever temple it is. Needless to say our group has instead chosen to block out the wake up call and spend the day relaxing on the deck and taking in the stunning scenery from the deck of the boat.

After two weeks now of rushing around and walking a hundreds miles a day it's a real treat to have the day to just sit around and not go anywhere. Later today we'll be having a go at Mahjong and then this evening it's Kara-OK...see you on the dance floor.