Day 3
Our gang of 12 from Guangzhou finally got to meet the rest of our travelling companions this morning. 10 from Melbourne, 2 from Adelaide and 6 Kiwis. All were delayed because of the bad weather, but we all agreed….cest la vie!
Our tour guide Will, packed us all up and bundled us onto a bus bound for the Bullet Train at Chengdu Railway Station.
Here, Will is explaining how to interpret all the numbers and symbols on our train tickets so we go through the right gate, get onto the right carriage and find the right seat. He also explained that the toilets on the train would score 5/5 at the start of the trip, but by the end, the score would more likely be -5/5. And he was right!
Believe it or not, by the end of the journey, the choice on the right was much more preferable!
Travelling through Chengdu to the station was our first real taste of residential China. In a city of 18m people, most of whom are housed in high rise, we took 45 minutes to drive through the city, a sea of apartment blocks on both sides.
It seemed endless.
We also had our first taste of travelling in an organised tour group of 30, with at least half the group 70+ in age. Slow going! Lots of toilet breaks!
The train looked sleek from the outside.
But in reality it was cramped and uncomfortable, squeezing in 5 seats across each row, with none of the electronic gadgetry we’d experienced on the TGV from London to Paris.
The 6 hours whizzed by, and once again we were awestruck at the magnitude of construction. One minute you’d be flying through rural China, the next through a high rise city.
And this happened over and over again. Tunnel after tunnel after tunnel through mountains, some taking 10 minutes to get through. One second of daylight and then back into blackness. And all of this at 200km/h. It was mind boggling.
We arrived in Yichang and were taken to dinner, we think at a wedding reception venue. As we left, prospective waiters/waitresses were being put through their paces. They all seemed pretty intimidated, and as such, extremely obedient!
Another one hour bus ride through more tunnels took us to the ‘port’, actually called Moping (Mow-ping).
After three days, we were pretty much done travelling!
Tripadeal, too good to be true…..it was now we were informed that for a cool $200pp we could upgrade our cabin (bigger) and dining package (smaller dining room, better food and grog included). Oh and free use of the pool, but not wifi. That was an extra $10. Apparently, had I read Tripadvisor, I should have known this! Their recommendation was to upgrade, so we did, with no regrets!
Our ship, the Yangtze 2, was moored on the river, about 200m below the roadway. By the time we arrived, it was dark, so we had to negotiate our way down about 500 steps in poor lighting and with some trepidation. Luckily our bags were taken down for us. We could have taken a cable car down for $2, but thought it was for the oldies. Needless to say, we didn’t do it again! (We were to be here 24 hrs)
This is what it looked like in daylight.
We had a welcome beer at the bar with our new friends and collapsed into bed. Totally spent.
Kanga And Wombats Adventures 