Happy Hallowe'en from the 5 star Dragon Boat! We've become accustomed to this new luxury now; with 3 meals a day included, en suite luxury cabin with riverside view and rubbing shoulders with the German elite (that's the people who paid good money to be here, not receiving a last minute free upgrade like us!)

Views here have been a bit limited by the rain and fog (anyone see a pattern developing here?) but we've still had a great time. After out celebrity-style welcome with a dragon dancing and drums beating, we had tea and hot towels before being shown to our room. The Captain prints out a daily itinerary featuring things as Tai-Chi, talent shows (aargh!) and finger painting lessons. There's also an on board masseuse, Chinese Medicine doctor and a private karaoke room. What happened in the karaoke rooms stays in the karaoke room. Unless you managed to get a picture/video to prove it - it never happened.

Our trip would have been much duller had it not been for the entertaining Allan, our host for the trip. What he lacked in straight-to-the-point factual commentary, he made up for with enthusiasm and some killer moves to 'No Limits' on the dancefloor. We spent an afternoon off the boat, and on 2 others, travelling down The Lesser Gorges which was very picturesque (and dry for once!). While this was a good trip, the one to 'Ghost City' was not. A completely made up series of temples and tests to see if you're pure of heart, solely built for tourists. In the pouring rain. Tacksville. Soulless. Miserable. Are three words I would use to describe it anyway.

The rest of the journey down the Yangtze passed pretty uneventfully - with DVDs, the Captain's banquet (and your chance to have your picture taken with him) and strange talent shows.

On leaving the boat we visited The Three Gorges Dam project. A work still in progress but due to be finished next year. The scenery around it was of more interest to me than the actual dam but still pretty impressive if you like that sort of thing. The highlight was just as we got off the coach with our German friends... one had taken a particular shine to Rob (the same one that described my arrival on the top deck without a fleece as 'a terrible terrible thing').... he asked if we had seen the film 'Dances with Wolves'. Suddenly I knew where this was heading and couldn't believe it..... 'Do you know the actor Kevin Costner? Well you look like him.' The second comparison to Kevin Costner in the space of a few weeks! We're hoping for one in every country now. Rob's going to start getting a big head at this rate.....