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You know when you open an oven door with your head too close and you worry you have lost all your eyelashes? - keep your head at the entrance of the oven and you can imagine southern China in August. The following paragraphs assume we are drenched in sweat unless otherwise stated. (It hit 42 degrees on the train 2 days ago. )
Since we left you we have taken a 4 day cruise down the Yangtze river, climbed 'the Yellow Mountain', visited another ancient walled city and been wowed by the glitz and glamour of Shanghai.
The cruise was lovely (air con!) and from our balcony or the (avoided unless cloud cover) sun deck we passed through several beautiful deep gorges. We were fortunate enough to enjoy some 'evening entertainment', and as 2 of 20 foreigners on the boat (with some 250 Chinese tourists) this was gripping - we watched 3 year olds sing 'twinkle twinkle' (cute), drunk men sing love songs out of tune to each other (cringe), and an American 9 year old sing solo 'favouite things' from 'The Sound of Music' (painfull).
The finale of the cruise was arriving at 10pm (cool enough for the sun deck) to a large lock over the 'Three Gorges Dam' (the largest in the world, no less). As we approached the dam a thunderstorm struck up and eveyone went downstairs leaving us almost alone on the top deck. We noticed the staff come up and put down the ship antenna, and wondering why our heads felt a bit tingly and my hair was standing on end : we realised things were getting a bit 'electrically charged' and decided to make a swift exit down below!
Luckily having not become human conductors of lightning we headed to our next destination - the beautiful and relatively cooler Yellow Mountain. We hadn't really however considered luggage storage, but once again we were the only foreigners on the mountain amougst tens of thousands of Chinese tourists (I kid you not). We were laughed and pointed at with our rucksacks from start to finish! However we did get a lovely sunset and even lovelier sunrise the next morning.
As the climb (and descent) are all stepped, our calves have barely recovered yet but we have continued the walking accompanied now by Dan's uni friend Doug - our local guide who has lived in Shanghai for 7 years. He joined us in a lovely old walled city (Nanjing) and we were finally able to order what food we actually wanted!
We are now in Shanghai, which feels like we have travelled back to the future, and Doug has been showing us the high life - literally (we went to the world's highest observation deck) as well as from a culinary point of view. Doug even has a gorgeous cat - Chairman Mao!
We also experienced a cultural highpoint today with a visit to a 'Marriage Market' where parents of single and 'on-the-shelf' kids (aged from 21 to 60) put up adverts (without photos??) of their children, their vital stats and their main requirements in a partner. Then let the negotiations begin. All require house and car but some of the more specific requirements include no glasses, no history of illness, 1.72m to 1.73m, educated abroad and a not so picky + or - 15 years!
We have our last day tomorrow before a late flight to Bangkok. It's been an amazing whirlwind in China and we hope the feasting continues.
- comments
Mum & Dad E Lovely to catch up with your travel details - what a whistle-stop tour, can't believe you're leaving china already..... Nanna enjoyed looking at all the photos & commentaries too :-)