So after alot of discussion about where to go next after Chengdu, we finally decided to go to Chongqing, a city of only 5 million people! We got here after a rather swift 5 hour bus journey and after a heated conversation between ourselves about whether we were even in Chongqing (nobody on the bus or at the station seemed to speak English and our Chinese is, to say the least, not great) and where we would go after arriving into the bus station, we finally settled down and went to port to book our ferry down the Yangtze River.

Arriving at the booking hall we found it to be empty, apart from one French man trying to sort out his ferry. We got some details of the different options and went in search of somewhere to stay, finally finding what is easily the best (and most expensive) place we have yet stayed in in China. We finally decided to go on a Western cruise ship, a journey which will now take us 4 days and 3 nights. While this option is more expensive than the Chinese cruise ships, everything on board including all the tourist stops along our cruise down the river are included. We leave tonight and should arrive in Yichang on Friday.

We've really not done too much else here in Chongqing apart from lying around the hotel and wandering around the streets to the amusement of all the locals who just stare at us. Occassionally, as in everywhere else we've been to in China, we get the odd local coming up to talk to us to practice their english which always draws a crowd of onlookers. At first this was strange but we've gotten quite use to this now. Trying to explain where we are from is always fun, not too many of them seem to have heard of Ireland but once we say it's beside England they smile in recognition.

Tonight to set sail along the Yangtze River. Although this river has supposedly lost some of it's charm since the construction of the Three Gorges Dam (over 2 million people have been displaced which the rising waters of the river and there's alot less of the famous Three Gorges to be seen) we are both looking forward to the cruise, 4 days of relaxing on a 5 star boat (the boat is called President No. 2) with nothing but beautiful scenery to look upon. I've said it before and i'll say it again, life is tough......