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I awoke after another reasonable sleep, but the beds are incredibly hard so I don't think I am sleeping as well as I might. I felt significantly better but not 100%. I was hungry though, so ate some scrambled egg, bacon and toast (I think the bacon might have been a mistake, more later). This morning we caught a smaller ferry boat up a tributary stream of the Yangtze. The mornings here are always very misty to start with and this lasts for quite some time. It is a very hazy sort of mist and smoggy as well, and makes photography a bit of a non-event. Anyway, the scenery on the way up was spectacular and at one point we saw a coffin which is sticking out of a crevice some 100 metres above the water. It is around 300 years old and was apparently placed there by the local tribesmen, the descendants of whom still inhabit the area today and our river guide for this trip was one such. He was a lovely young man and told us a great deal about his life (more later). The ferry arrived at a little dock after about one hour and we were then transhipped to the little "pea-pod boats" (see photos)! One of these held all our group, and was crewed by three men paddling in the front and one in the rear, with the captain also sitting at the very rear. We were paddled upstream at a great rate and for the last little stretch two men got out and hauled the boat by rope in what was the traditional way of handling them 300 years ago. All the while the river guide gave us a commentary on his life and the way of his people. On the way back he also sang us two beautiful traditional love songs. It was really lovely. On arrival back at the little dock we paid the captain a tip of Y50 from each of us, this to be split amongst his crew. A pretty good wage but I would not have wanted to row 18 people up a river for (pardon the pun) all the tea in China!
The trip back on the ferry was in much brighter conditions and photos were much better. Dad was kept occupied buying bits and pieces from a vendor on the boat who I think thought dad was father christmas! After lunch that afternoon we passed through the first of the three gorges, Xilin gorge, and were given a commentary from Herbert, our river guide. It was quite spectacular and many photos were taken! I decided that I was feeling well enough to have a couple of beers through the afternoon and sat up in the bar, which takes up half of the 4th deck, and typed some blogs on the laptop with the able assistance of Kanga and Koala, my furry friends, whom the crew just loved! Late afternoon I wasn't feeling so well and went back to the cabin. I really went down hill fast and was feeling so bloated and sick that I didn't go to dinner. Dad came back around 8pm and we both went to sleep around 8:30pm!
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