The journey to Chongqing passed off quite uneventfully and this time we were met at the train station by someone from the hostel. As independent travellers we were a bit reluctant to be met at the train station, but Chongqing is massive (home to some 25 million Chinese) and slightly off the beaten track which means that doesn't really cater for visitors. Our hostel was really comfortable and had lots of facilities, it did however seem eerily quiet, the reason for which became apparent soon enough…

We were in Chongqing for one reason and that was to take a cruise up the Yangtze River to see the famous Three Gorges. Our choice of transport decided after reviewing the excellent promotional information in the hostel we went to speak to someone to book a three day cruise on a boat rather than the one day hydrofoil trip. To our dismay, upon speaking to the tourist desk we were advised that the last cruise before Chinese New Year (and therefore for the next 2 weeks) was setting off in 30 minutes and that the hydrofoil had stopped sailing until March. Our hearts sank, but quickly recovered as we made our contingency plans, it being apparent that the Three Gorges would have to wait for another trip to China

As has been normal on this trip, time has been of the essence so the extra days from not going on the cruise meant that we had more time to spend elsewhere which was especially helpful as Chinese New Year was almost upon us and travelling at that time is very difficult. There being little in the way of sights in Chongqing (our only "must do" was the city's hotpot - which is very spicy) we immediately bought some hard sleeper trains tickets to Guilin (where we planned to spend Chinese New Year ) and almost as soon as we'd arrived in Chongqing, we were leaving.