Last days on the Yangtze. Saturday was a visit to Sun Yet Sen's mausoleum in Nanjing and at last there were the crowds. Hundreds of thousands at this big site with lovely gardens. Lunch on board and then back in the bus to a temple and markets which were interesting. Lots of little stalls selling all sorts of things from silk to jade, knock knacks etc. Then final night dinner which consisted of even more wonderful dishes and a visit from the captain. Staff ...

Well I have lost track of the days so will start with yesterday which was spectacular. We had a full day ashore and were taken for two and a half hours by bus to Yellow Mountain where Sleeping Tiger Leaping Dragon ( have I got that right?) was filmed. It rained the whole day but the scenery was just fantastic - what you imagine when you look at old silk paintings of the mountains and mists. When we arrived at the base of the mountain, we took Chinas longest c...

Yesterday was a fairly quiet day. We left the boat early and caught buses to the Sam site. Here we went up outside escalators to the top of the dam wall and were able to see clearly the lock and how it works. Again, we were amazed at the detail and care of tourists and the facility and models in English. The engineering is great with the lock being the most complex in the world. Back into the bus and to the ship where we whiled away the afternoon listening to...

First morning and up to do tai chi at 7. Then after breakfast we went through the first of the three gorges - towering cliffs and sheer walls. Magnificent scenery which must have been grander before they built the dam and raised the water 110 meters. We arrived at Wushan, transferred to smaller boats and ventured up a smaller tributary through Dragon Gate Gorge and then the Emerald Gorge. Again, the amount of new building, the amazing huge bridge constructions...

Sailing at long last -still through this fog of pollution and mist - quite eerie. By the end of today we will have sailed some 170 klms and by the end of the 7 days - over 2230 klms. China is surprising and disturbing - the amount of building, the new towns , bridge after bridge being built across the river - every few kilometers, the ship yards and factories. It makes Australia seem like we are not doing anything and very little infrastructure. I think our one...