Chongqing-this place is rural china and was the starting point of our boat trip down the Yangtze river. We had a couple of days before starting on the river so we checked into the local YHA. We got taken to the traditional Chinese style suite, after mastering the lock (Which was like something out the crystal maze! With a key so big we could barely fit it into our day bag!) We made it inside to the biggest bed we've ever seen. It was a massive wooden four poster bed with our own bathroom and all for 10pounds….not bad!

We headed out into the town to sample some local food, (Which we had been already warned would be spicy!) we got some amazing food from the local market where you picked all the food you wanted on skewers and they cooked it all in front of you! We headed back to the hostel and ate it looking over the Yangtze river (Spicy indeed!)

On our second day here we had heard about some natural hot springs that Chongqing was apparently famous for so we headed off on the hunt! We climbed onto a local bus, much to the surprise and amusement of all the locals, and headed out to a local hot springs that had been recommended to us. This place was paradise, it was all set in amazing gardens with little huts with their own private natural hot springs. There was a huge main pool and loads of little ones all designed to be good for you or heal you in different ways!...not sure about that but it did feel amazing! Well all except one, the fish therapy pool…There were thousands of little fish in this pool where you were meant to lay and let them eat off all the dead skin on your body! Ehhh….think we lasted about 30 seconds! Brill day!!!

Before we set of on our 4 day boat tour we headed of in search of supplies and decided to get the cable car across the river. After convincing Rich the cable car was safe as lots of people used it every day to cross the river he finally climbed on and clinged on for dear life! Much to Rich's surprise we did survive the trip and headed off to the supermarket. Even the supermarket was an adventure with live frogs, the biggest fish we've ever seen and fruits we never knew existed. Once stocked up to feed the whole ship we were set.

We had be warned it was a 'chinese cruise' that we were about to embark upon, we use the term 'cruise' very loosely! My oh my were they not kidding, we were the only westerners out of a thousand passengers on the whole boat, bar one rather odd American guy! We were in a dorm of six…it was an en-suite! We have never smelt anything like it!..It was a hole in the floor which is pretty standard over here, but when we looked up to see the shower head we realised it was also the drainage for the shower! It was going to be a smelly trip, four days, no showers!!! Another wonderful trait is the Chinese spitting, they do it everywhere, outside or inside it doesn't seem to matter! 'Better out than in' is definitely the motto over here! So this along with the smell set the atmosphere for our trip lol! The couple in our room were actually really lovely (spitting and harking aside) and decided to feed us up on our trip which meant we got to sample many of the local delights….some of which ended up in the bin when backs were turned. However on our second day on the boat tour we began our trip down the first of the three gorges…and it all became worth while! It was unbelievable how big they were, they make you feel so tiny as they tower above you as you float by. Then to make us feel even smaller we got onto a tiny bamboo boat to go up 3 of the narrower little gorges which was just amazing(you'll see from the pics as we were snap happy all day!) Unfortunately after this amazing day came one of our worst nights sleep….ever! One of the men we were sharing with not only did he hark up his guts through most the night, sometimes for more than 15 minutes non stop at a time! He also let out the biggest farts we've ever heard, right by our heads! Ahhhhh!

Our last stop on the 'cruise!' was to see the Yangtze dam, it was massive and cool to see but we couldn't quite work out why they had gone to se much trouble! Our tour guide did not speak any English and from what we could gather the dam was going to force thousands of people to move as it increased the water level above it! Anyhow, from here we started our epic trip to Wuhan then Gullian then Yangshou! After dragging Rich away from having a dispute with some guy as Rich thought he was offering him Eggs when infact he was asking him if he wanted a taxi! we climbed onboard the first of the buses in our trip.

This bus was AWFUL! Rich made us sit at the back so he could sit in the middle with his legs sprawled out while Shelly was left squished between a smelly old Chinese guy and behind the idiots in front who insisted on having there seats reclined the whole way! After a pact that Shelly could pick the seats next time we settled into out 3 hour journey…..Of course this ended up at 5 and a half and we were still dropped off in the middle of nowhere!....As we lifted our bags off the bus we got a nice surprise that we weren't the only ones left on the bus, there were also a few dozen cockroaches on there with us!

So as we were stranded in the middle of nowhere we admitted defeat and headed to the nearest hostel for the night to catch the train the next morning!