May 2006

After our few days in Shanghai, we grabbed a flight to the city of Chongqing and boarded our cruise ship that was going to take us down the Yangtzee River through the 3 Gorges and the now infamous damn.

The cruise itself was really relaxing, and in typical Chinese efficiency (and over-management) they had allocated us tables in the dining room with like-minded countrymen. Unfortunately when Heather booked the cruise, they mistook Australia for Austria so we were at a table of Germans. Fortunately, they were mostly a good bunch and were happy to chat in English. Despite any temptations, I avoided mentioning the war or 1966.

The 3 Gorges themselves are spectacular to look at and worth visiting. Although the dam is going to raise the water level by about 40 metres or 120 feet, the reality is that the gorges are so tall the environmental impact really is not going be significant. It will also provide millions of gallons of water to Southern China and supply upto 10% of China's electricity requirements. Certainly a better option than invading Taiwan!

Part of the tour included a couple of day excursions, one of which was to the City of Ghosts which is an anicient temple. This was an interesting place to visit and included one macabre room which represented Hell. The other major excursion was to the 3 Gorges Dam site (which we had passed through during the night). As the project is costing over 100 Billion Yuan (the Chinese currency) and is the largest such project in the world ever, the Chinese are very proud (and boastful) of it, but really a dam, is a dam, is a dam (in my opinion). We were driven round the dam site, having the 5 stage locks (the only one of its kind in the world!) pointed out to us, along with the top of the dam ('if you came next month, we could go along the top'). Interesting to see, but really not spectacular.

All in all, the 3 Gorges is a splendid sight to behold and worth doing if you get the opportunity.

After the cruise along the Yangtze, we overnighted in Shanghai and caught a train the following morning to Nanjing. This place is a bit (actually a lot) off the beaten trail, and the only real reason we were visting it was to visit an English friend of ours (Pete), who was teaching English at a Police College there.

Having spent several months in dorms and budget hotels, Pete had booked us in to a budget apartment, which gave us the opportunity to feel as if we were in a home (albeit only for a week). As Nanjing has so little to do, we spent the time lazing in our apartment watching DVDs that we had bought for a $1 each and avoiding the seemingly constant rain.

We did venture out in the evenings, going for dinner to a Korean restaurant with Pete. Unfortunately, none of us could read the Chinese characters, so Pete had to call his Chinese girlfriend who was ill in bed and ask for help. We decided to leave the ordering up to her, and fortunately didn't end up with stewed dog, newts eyes or whatever. We also hit an expat pub to watch the FA Cup Final - it was good to see none of the England squad get injured in that match for a change...

After Nanjing, we caught a train back to Shanghai and then it was straight on to a plane to Singapore, where we had a couple of hours to kill before we got our flight to Rome. We arrived at the hideously early time of 7am after having flown overnight - Heather had managed to sleep, but as we were flying Singapore Airlines there was just too many movies for me to watch so I didn't get that much kip.

On arrival, we dumped our bags at the hotel we were staying in as our rooms weren't ready, and headed in to town. First stop was the Colluseum, as seen in the hammy movie Gladiator, and the nearby Forum. As a kid, I had read a lot about Roman history and it was a great experience to walk around the things that I had read about. While admiring the Colluseum, we also got to see the Aquaduct that used to transport water in to ancient Rome for the locals.

The following day, we went on a self-guided walking tour of Rome, looking at countless piazzas and Catholic churches. One such piazza housed the Fontana de Trebi (or something like that), where if you threw a coin over your shoulder into it, you would come back to Rome. Well, we had a couple of Yuan left from China, so they went over our shoulders. We will be coming back to Rome, except next time it will not be backpacking!

The last full day we had in Rome, we went to the Vatican. Neither Heather or I are particularly religious, but we considered it was something that needed to be visited. It was a vast sprawling complex, with a number of chapels inside it - we were fortunate to see a service being conducted in one, although not by the Pope (he didn't have lightning bolts coming from his fingers). One thing we noticed was that the statues of the earlier Popes had them in either very regal poses, or even more inappropriately, Christ-like poses. For instance, one statue had a Pope was carrying a large wooden cross. A bit of a God-complex going on there, I think. While in the Vatican, we also went to the Sistine Chapel where photography is prohibited. I saw someone else taking a photo, so decided that it wasn't enforced so pulled my camera out. Immediately, an official put his hand over my lens and told me to put it away. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, I turned it off. When he wasn't looking, I discretely took a picture of the Birth of Man (which actually isn't as big as I was lead to believe). I wasn't going to be beaten easily

We arrived on Hong Kong island at the new airport in a thick layer of fog; however we never really planned to do any sunbathing in HK so it wasn't a drama.

Rather than catch the MRT (the new train line built to service the airport), we caught a bus as it is significantly cheaper and headed towards Causeway Bay where our hostel was located. So far everything was running smooth...

On arrival, we spent 45 minutes wandering up and down a street looking for the entrance. It was only after we realised that it was on a specific floor of a building that we found it. Basically, in Hong Kong backpacker hostels tend to take up around about floor of a building, splitting it into rooms, etc. Certianly different to what we were used to. Anyway, we checked in with no problems eventually.

The next day, I was on a mission to acquire a new camera to replace the one that had died on the Mekong Delta. Dragging Heather along to about a dozen different shops, which took most of the day, we eventually settled for Fuji digital SLR. No more lens envy for me! Having sunk about $600, we decided that it was time to sink a few beers and try some authentic Cantonese cuisine.

The next day, we took the tram up the side of Hong Kong to the top to take in the spectacular views from the top. Unfortunately, the aforesaid mist greatly reduced the chances of seeing anything but it still was worthy of a few pictures with the new camera. We planned on staying until twilight but in the end became bored as we had a 2 hour wait and nothing to occupy us. So it was back down the tram, where we stopped at a noodle bar for a really cheap bowl of noodles (quite an appropriate place to get them really).

Not too bad first few days really...

Unbeknownst to a large number of people, Hong Kong actually consists of a number of islands of varying sizes, most of which are connected with bridges spanning the harbour. One of these is Lantau island, which contains a 3km beach and is actually the island that the new airport is based on (in reality, the local authorities built an artificial island attached to Lantau). It also contains (I believe) the largest bronze buddha in South East Asia.

On the day that we decided to go to Lantau (via ferry) the fog had become worse. When we hiked up the side of the hill, all we could see of the buddha was a ghostly white smear. Any photos we took came out looking as if it was a picture of a polar bear sneaking up on an albino penguin in the middle of the Antartic.

As such, Lantau was a bit of a bust...