It was an early start to see the Fengdu Ghost City, included
in the price. It was disappointing in that it was a brand new purpose built
"theme ghost city". Even worse, it was still mostly under construction. Not a
genuine article at all! There were one or two nice views, but if it wasn't for
the fact it was included in the price, I would have had a lie in!
Ironically, it was the morning of the boat cruise that was more ghost-like. The visibility was next to nothing and like a post-nuclear war sce e! Chinese pollution again? A thunder storm brewed for the morning, so I went back to sleep to catch up on the Zs from the overnight train.
As the day passed, visibility improved and things picked up.
It was apparent that there was a lot of industrial traffic on this river, and in
terms of local life, I managed to glimpse the odd snatch. This first section of
the cruise is not well known to be beautiful - from tomorrow we would start to
enter the three gorges.
Surrounded by lots of people I could not communicate with, I
was pleased to strike up a conversation with a western looking person! I would
not normally seek English-speakers out, but I am a talker! Jurg is German, and
had also done the Trans Siberian Railway to get to Beijing. And finally, I found
a new chess buddy! After this, the ship made a night stop at the Daoist Ziefang
Temple where I browsed and then picked up tomorrow's breakfast - more of that
spicy bready/eggy stuff that I have mentioned before.
