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Got picked up at 6:50 this morning for the 5 hour drive to Chongqing. We were taken to the Yangtze cruise tour office where we were told we would be able to arrange our train for the end of the cruise to X'ian. However, when we tried they kept trying to tell us we had to pay for their expensive hotel or a 50 yuan service charge, so we decided to take a chance and sort it ourselves when we arrived. We had 5 hours to kill in Chongqing (apparantly the biggest city in the world) so we went for a leisurely lunch and then stocked up in the supermarket with food and coffee supplies. Boarded the boat at 8:00 after getting stung for 30 yuan for someone to carry my bad and checked into our '1st class' cabin! It didn't like anything like the pictures we had been shown and before long someone came along and offered us the chance to upgrade for an additional 1000 yuan! We decided to stay where we were and put up with it for 2 days. Then we were invited to join some of the Chinese people we had met on the bus for tea on the deck, however it soon became apparant (after several stewards harrassed us) that we had to pay a 55 yuan fee to do this - it's unbelievable that you can book a 1st class cabin on a cruise and still have to pay to sit on the deck!! It's also difficult to know what is going on as no one speaks English!! Went for dinner in the restaurant which was surprisingly good and not as expensive as expected, where we ended up chatting with a German guy who is studying Chinese in Beijing.
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