On Sunday we went to the Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing. It was well presented but only occupys a tenth of the actual museum the rest is a propaganda filled mausaleum to the reform of Chongqing! Back at the hostel with Lee (our new favourite chinese friend) had a tea ceremony. It tasted a lot like English tea (but Barnes' wasn't happy about the lack of milk and two sugars!) and Lee didn't seem too happy about the suggestion! A sad farewell followed- what a lovely guy. (Barnes was very upset to be leaving the city of the shower toilet!)

We boarded the boat at 7pm. The room was tiny- we chose 3rd class- a six bunk room. It wasn't long before the toilet began to smell! We shared with two lovely chaps called "Kevin" and Sho Wan. Also an really old couple. (The man had a hacking cough- thanks Matt for the ear plugs tip!) Paid extra to go on top of deck- was worth it for the free tea and sunflower seeds. Oh yeah- the views were pretty aewsome from there too! Taught the chaps to play cards. Set sail at 9.30pm... our adventure was under way.

Woke at 6am the next day to a cloud of mist. Disembarked to go and see the Ghost City. The temple was much like an amusement park coupled with a ghost ride. There was lots of praying by the Chinese and much giggling by Barnes and I. The mountain was better.. we took a cable car up. The views from the top would have been amazing had it not been so foggy! (or "froggy" as our tour guide so aptly put it!) It was this very same fog that kept us strationary at the port for a further 9 hours! Our trip to Zhangfei temple was cancelled but we whiled away the hours with cards and pot noodle! In the evening we went to KTV- which is Karaoke. We ended our rendition of The Lion King "Can you feel the love tonight" to raptuous applause... well so Barnes liked to think. There was actually only about 6 other people in there so the applausde was more of a pitter patter! Everyone on the boat was really friendly, once they got past the staring. The fog finally cleared and we sailed on through the night....

I woke to a beautiful view from the cabin window, the valleys cutting into the water , the sides dotted with houses. A few hours later we had entered the first of the Gorges. It was spectacular. Kevin was keen to point out that one of the rock formations even featured on the 10 yuan note (even producing one from his wallet just to show us!). At 11am we arrived in Wushan, entrance to the 'Lesser' three gorges - I can tell you now there is nothing 'Less' about them. We boarded a smaller boat to take us through the narrow passages, you felt like if you streched your hand out just far enough you could touch them! We provided much entertainment to two small boys, who were much more interested in trying out their Kung Fu on us than enjoying the view! We were then ferried onto even smaller boats - made of wood and asked to put life jackets on. Our local guide sang for us - a truly surreal experience! Back on the main ship we passed through the 2nd of the main gorges at dusk - it was serene. Once darkness had hit Barnes taught Kevin to dance, it was hilarious. Then we hit the karaoke.