Chongqing is one of China's provincial level municipalities. The area is home to over 31 million people. It is an area which relies entirely on the River and what the land around it can offer. The city of Chongqing is a lively place, giving me the impression that it is like a small version of what i thought Hong Kong would be like. We only had a night there so we had to use our time wisely. Karl and I and one of our group Ivor ate some food from a stall down an alley, the owner did not speak a word of English so we wondered around his outdoor street kitchen pointing to stuff we fancied eating, the result was excellent. The Chinese eating there seemed to find the whole thing very amusing, as did we, especially when we were brought out about 5 dishes all coming to a total of less than 2 pounds each including a large beer. We then proceeded to a spot our guide picked out, a Karaoke bar, it was more like a club with performers of all kind on stage at differet times, dancers actors and a very strange comedian, unfortunately many of the jokes were lost on us as our Chinese is a little rusty.
The next day we redied ourselves for the journey ahead, the controvertial of late, Yangzi River through the Three Gorges to the Dam. We boarded our boat and were staying very close to the front. We spent the first evening seeing how many of us we could fit in mine and Karls room, at one point i think there were all 13 of our group. We spent the evening having a few drinks. Some of us woke early the next day in order to see boat pass through the first of the gorges Qutang Gorge. It traveresed the once narrow gorge just as the sun was rising. After an interesting breakfast on board we continued with life on the boat, reading a little and taking in the vistas. During the day we also took an extra trip down one of the lesser gorges where we saw muchsteeper cliff faces with extraordinary things like hanging coffins. 
These are coffins which have been lowered form the top of a cliff into position in a very small cave, so small that they are sometimes visible. Later we changed onto an even smaller boat a Sampan and, escorted by a crazy singing local man we travelled further. So we then got off the Sampan, got ont he Lesser Gorges tour boat, got off the Lesser Gorges tour boat and got on our main boat and we could set off again down the Yangzi. We entered the second of the Gorges Wu Gorge, it was much larger in scale both in length and height. After dinner that evening i learnt, from our local guide George, how to play Chinese Chess. My uncle John did once teach me but i had completely forgotten the rules. Next morning we were up early once more to see the start of the final gorge Xiling Gorge by far the longest. I have never seen a more obvious place showing the worlds crust thrusting from beneath us particularly on one corner where a mountain literally looks like it is slipping into the water.
Later that day we arrived at The Three Gorges Dam. For those who do not know much about this notorious project let me inform you a little. It is the largest dam in the world at over 2000 m in length. It turns part of the Yangzi River, 660km, into a resevoir and the energy produced by allowing this water to pass through generators in the dam will be enough to supply half of China's electricity. This is a really bold step in combating climate change, which also allows the river to be easier to navigate and future flooding can be controlled however the negative implications are huge. By doing this the Chinese government had to relocate almost 2 million people, some of these people had no choice in where they would go. The water level will have risen 175m when finished which means there is not only an aesthetic different but also a long term ecological one. The dam is not due to be completed until 2011 which mean we were not allowed to see as much of it as we had hoped. Whether the project was necessary or not is a very interesting argument which i can see both sides of, however the fact remains that the project is incredible in many ways. 
After we went, by bus, to Yichang where we stayed the night before heading to Guilin by train and then on to Yangshao.
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