The love boat

Thought I'd update you on the next part of my adventures here in China. When I last posted we'd just arrived in Yangshou, a beautiful part of china on the Li river with amazing limestone karst coming up out the ground. We enjoyed a cruise down the river in the afternoon on our first day watching the sunset and drinking local beer. Lovely. Hit the nightlife the same night which was a mix of Chinese rock/pop and a lot of beer.

The next day saw us get on bikes and ride into the countryside, the ride was interrupted when we got on bamboo rafts and were pushed up the river. Tough I know.
The afternoon we went caving.. very funny and overpriced.. and very disneyesque... I am not even sure if the cave was real... but the guide kept stopping and pointing out rocks that looked liked things.. even the obligatory penis rock. At the end of the cave we were foolish enough to partake in a mud bath. My skin has never looked so good... it was absolute filth...
The next day after doing a morning cooking class we travelled to Yichang in order to board our 3 day cruise down the Yangtze river. This was definitely no fairstar the funship. The ship looked like it was decaying slowly and could sink at any minute. Its a miracle we're still alive. We passed through the 3 gorges damn and headed upstream where flooding because of the dam has caused mass relocations of hundreds of thousands of people to higher ground. Once the damn is complete the water level will have rose 174m above sea level. Apparently the people are extremely excited and happy about moving..... they all get nice places and "new" farmland. The first night on the cruise involved a whole lot of Karaoke and the highlight was Lisa a fellow tour member who is about 180cm sliding through the legs of a Chinese man dirty dancing style on the dance floor.
The second day saw us transfer to a smaller boat which we we were all lured onto with the promise of naked boatmen pulling us upstream in little boats. Apparently this is a traditional thing as in the past they used to get bad chaffing... now thankfully they wear clothes! The 3 small gorges were pretty and being pulled upstream in a small boat by tiny Chinese men was quite funny.The boat trip finished in Chongching, where we ate hotpot and sampled the local nightlife at a bar called soho. We were invited into the VIP room (yes people I am now a VIP) by a guy who had studied in Australia to join him and his friends. The room had couches and a mass of TV's and awesome drink service. Very fun night.


We are now in Xian after a whole lot of travelling and off the see the Terracotta warriors this arvo which I have been really looking forward too.