Yangtze!

Because I waited until the last minute to book and it was National week, nothing was available, I ended up getting a car to drive me 4.5 hours to Chongqing. It was rainy and gloomy and my driver drove like a bat out of hell. On the way we past a car accident and people don’t stop in China, instead, they drive by on the shoulder of the road so they won’t be held up.

I also passed up the golden opportunity to use the public squat toilet at the rest stop. As you know I have public bathroom issues and since entering China I have declined to use the public toilets anywhere. The fact that you can smell many of them a mile away does not deter me, what does is the idea that most places the toilets, not only are they squat, they have no stalls. Which means in western terms, you can be on your own squat toilet and look into the eyes of the person squatting across from you. So with that in mind the idea of going at a rest stop with a busload of people looking at me.......maybe next time.

I arrive in Chongqing safe and sound and I am staying in luxury. I managed to get the Hilton for 45 bucks, YES, I SAID 45 BUCKS! OHHHHH Luxury, I can definitely get spoiled. When I checked in, the guy behind the counter saw I had such a deal he said, NO FREE BREAKFAST FOR YOU! I was like, I am getting a room at the Hilton for 45 bucks, I can eat the trailmix in my purse, thankyou! My room was very nice and since it is very gloomy and rainy, a great place to have to spend some time.

Chongqing (chongcheeng) looks like a city from Bladerunner or some futuristic sci-fi movie. I finally step outside for a few minutes to find some ibuprofen, so I head around the corner for a look. This visit to the street was a bit different from the rest as this time something new was added. When I walked into the drugstore explaining in sign language what I was looking for, I see someone following closely behind as I turned around I see a woman measuring the size of my ass!!!!

That is a new one! The amazing thing is the repetitive “you big woman” NO SHIT, Like I don’t know that already.

After two days of relaxing, I head down to the pier where I will take my Yangtze cruise, exploring the 3 gorges dam project. Apparently this will be the largest dam in the world, able to be seen from space. The sad part is millions of people are being displaced, people who have lived on their land for many generations.

When I get there I am up on this HUGE embankment with 4 giant rows of stairs. Mind you during the cruise we would take a tram up these huge stairs. I say "My boat is over there?".

I find out the guys running behind the car are going to be my porters, for a fee of course. I thought these two guys are tiny and my bag weighs at least 40 kilos! We hagled on price and in a flash one guy picked up my huge bag and the other my little bag and they carried my bags, and with the other hand held my arm escorting me down the embankment, making sure I did not fall. AMAZING! We got to the bottom and headed for the boat. The gangplank was about 4 rickety set of floating rusty metal pontoons, set over at least class 3 moving section of the Yangtze which was the color of cocoa. I kept thinking if I fall in, I am done!