Gorgeous Gorges

We have spent the past three days sailing the Yangtze river in the Three Gorges, marveling at towering cliffs and technologically advanced dams....along with several hundred chinese tourists (we stood out like a sore thumb!) we have taken little boat trips down smaller streams branching off the river, listening to folk songs sung by the local minority boat men and singing our own (row row row your boat...!!!) in return.... Originally fascinated by the Three Gorges dam (well, matt was fascinated....can't say i was too much!) we became very blase about it as we spent much of our time stuck in the various locks on our way up the river, playing cards endlessly and the odd game of marjong...but the scenery, when it wasn't raining and misty, was stunning and the trip an experience - though if i see the inside of a boat again in the next month i think i'll scream! Luckily we're moving on to the cities next, tonight we make our way to Xian and the much anticipated Terracotta Warriors...

China is a culture shock, no doubt about it. The people are very different and there are some things we find quite an assault to our sensibilities (blowing nose goobies onto the pavement...nice...). Many are not used to seeing foreigners and we are stared at a lot....! often groups of girls will go into fits of giggles when they see us....the boys have been asked to have their photos taken with them as if they are celebrities...but often the locals will just wave happily and shout 'hello'! The food is crazy...chicken feet is a favorite and matt tried duck tongue and eels last night...i resisted using the fact i wasn't feeling 100% as my main excuse!! Duck head, intestines....fish head is a delicacy - especially the eyeballs....it's all a bit stomach churning at times but we have been living on a daily diet of delicious lemon chicken, sweet and sour pork and pork and mushrooms....

we are glad we are doing a tour as, not surprisingly, china is not set up for tourists and very few people speak english outside the cities. Our guide, Frank, gets us around with no hassle and is happy to share about his culture and, most importantly, explain the food! the company is good, the scenery is beautiful, the people are friendly....

there is much to discover here in china....stay tuned.

xxx