chenglish is so much fun

Day 12 Chongqing

the view from my window this morning

Today was a free day. After a late and very yummy breakfast, we packed and got ready to fly home. we had a late check out at 2pm which was great but we still had 5 hours to fill in before our airport shuttle.

We shopped a little but didn't stray too far from the hotel, and had one last meal with our travelling buddies, before fighting our way through the airport crowds to begin our journey home :)

Day 11 arrive in Chongqing

the view from my window this morning (it was an early start)

the view from the balcony after brekki

We had help getting our bags off the boat, but we couldn't check into the hotel until 2pm

so we went off to see the sights.

Pandas!

Old town markets with a few thousand of our friends

Immigration museum

and finally to our hotel (which was the best accommodation we had for the whole trip)

Day 10 Yangtze River – Fengdu (Ghost town)

the view from my window this morning

Our shore excursion today was to Fengdu. All the villages in this area were relocated when the gorges were flooded. I think the shrines we visited today were once connected to the village of Fengdu but they are separated now on either side of the gorge.

It's called a ghost town not because it was abandoned during the flood but because the focus is on the underworld and afterlife beliefs of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. At the top of 500 steps there's three trials to be conquered when passing from death into the afterlife built in the Ming dynasty, which in true Chinese-style is now a tourist attraction.

Trial #1: Bridge of helpessness

This bridge has three arches - the middle one is for testing people that you cross under certain conditions depending on gender, age, martial status ... if you're good the demons on the other side let you pass. If you're naughty they toss you into the blood river to be eaten by all manor of nasty things.

Trial #2: Ghost-Torturing Pass

Next on your quest to the afterlife is a visit to Yama, the King of Hell. This is not Yama, this is one of the demons that surrounds him. I reckon he looks like his footy team has just one the grand final. after this trial you pass by a diorama of the tortures of hell that were too graphic for this g-rated blog.

  Trial #3: Tianzi Palace

The third test is balancing on one foot on a stone out the front of this building. If you can manage it for 3 minutes you go to the good place. That group of people in the pic below are about to have a go at balancing. This building is 300 years old.

Last glance to home tower

A more recent addition the home viewing platform where the spirits of the dead can have one last look at home before departing.

And now for some scenery before walking back down the hill ...

and back to the boat along a very hotchpotch pontoon which I crossed over to the internal tune of don't fall over, don't fall over ...

so I felt very brave stopping to take this pic, today was the first day we'd seen the sun since arriving.

Captain's farewell dinner tonight was a Chinese banquet

Day 9 Yangtze

The view from my window this morning

Some scenery pics coming up (seriously just a few from the millions) Three Gorges taken on the cruise ship 

Now some similar scenery from the Lesser three gorges – taken on a tourist boat with facilities

remarkably familiar scenery of the somewhat smaller gorges – from a Sampan with life jacket

MGM seems to have universal appeal to the Chinese. Our tour photographer has snapped a disproportionate amount of photos of him (weird right?), he gained celebrity status on the Great Wall (so many Chinese photo albums with him in them) & of course he was selected to dress up at the front of the boat…

aDORBs

Day 8 on the Yangtze

View from my window this morning

 First shore visit: luxurious nature

 these two were on opposite sides of the river singing to each other

our wonderful travelling companions

Afternoon tour: Bloody big man-made engineering marvel! The 3 Gorges Project

Our guide for the day lived on the island that became the foundation for the first part of the project. His story about relocation was very interesting. He stands here today at the marker of the foundation stone aka his ancestral home.

Evening entertainment: Bloody big man-made engineering marvel #2 

Going through the ship locks and being in the presence of such amazing engineering is something I will never forget.

Waiting in the queue – gate closed

Moving into the lock – gates are open. You can’t see it very well but there’s two boats ahead of us. 

MGM’s awe and wonder face

gates closed

Going up. If they’d had an extra layer of paint they would not have fitted.

. There’s five locks to go through but they’re all the same so we only stayed up for one (it was around midnight and shore trips start early!)