Once on board I had no idea where to go but eventually found my room in third class (what was I thinking) with 5 Chinese who were very upset to have me sharing with them. There was two married couples and a spoilt, fat daughter in my room. They were obviously all friends and didn't like having me. The tour guide came but she too didn't speak any English so I had no idea where they were going and whether I should go with them. I got outside and tried to ask what was going on. I thought they were going to get food, which I didn't want, but I couldn't say so. Just at the point where I thought I might cry a family came along with the mother and son speaking very good English. We resolved the confusion and I agreed to meet them in 10mins and go eat with them. They were so kind I didn't like to say that I already had food. I went back to my room and did cry, god it had just been such a rubbish day so far and now I was stuck in a crappy room with rubbish people. Crappy room:
I pulled myself together and went to meet the family. We went on land to a restaurant and they ordered a load of random dishes including porriage, whole fried shrimp with legs/skin still on, tofu, liver, cold udon noodles, steamed peanuts etc... They let me try everything which was sweet. It turned out mother was a pediatrician, father was a plastic surgeon and son, who was 21, spoke very good English. There was a daughter as well but she was shy and had no English. They also had two forgien students that were working under Wee (mother) and they did speak English but unfortunately they were so socially inept that they didnt speak. So it was an interesting group. When we return to ship I went and sat in my smokey room to have all five roommates stare at me. I didn't quite know what to do with myself. Luckily the kids came down and found me and took me back to their 2nd class (and considerably nicer) room that they were sharing with the students. We all played cards until 10.30pm when the entire ship disembarked to go and see a temple. Being skint I had opted out of the temple and therefore went to bed instead. It worked out well because it meant I had the room to myself.The next morning the entire ship disembarked again to see the dead city so my room all got up at 6am and proceeded to eat pot noodles for breakfast. I stayed in bed until they were gone because again I hadn't paid to see it. I went up on deck and found a spot to read. It was one of the few moments of peace I got - no Chinese tourists. Eventually a Polish couple came out so I got chatting to them but it was slightly strained. They were in a group of four and when they were all together I could quite happily sit with them but be completely unincluded in the conversation because they spoke in Polish. We set sail and went through the first gorge which is really beautiful. It's quite like Milford Sound in NZ but on a river. The chinese took loads of photos with me until my face hurt from smiling. Gorge one:
The next activity was to go on another boat down the little three gorges which was the only thing I had paid to do. When I had been ushered into a seat by my tour guide a young girl came and spoke to me. She came in really close so she was practically 4" from my face and asked me lots of questions in English. I moved to sit next to her and spent the next 3 hours nattering. She was very sweet but very touchy feely. Karen (the girl) translated what the tour guide was saying over the tanoy, it amazes me how much they find to talk about. Karen asked me what I do if I can't understand what they are saying and I politely explained that I don't need someone telling me what each bit of rock looks like because I have eyes. Little three gorges:
Me and Karen: 
At the end of the little three gorges we changed boats again and went through the lesser three gorges. I ended up on the same boat as the family which was good. This is me and the son (whose name I can't remember):
we had to do this posing thing but I have no idea what it was about:
The lesser three gorges are a new thing since the dam has been filled but I couldn't actually see much of them because there was a roof on the boat. I slept all the way back to our ship. I went and sat up on deck with the Polish and had a beer but I couldn't understand a word. At least it's better than sitting in my room. We then sailed through the second gorge:
Chinese tourists being told what to look at:
I sat and read until the sunset and then went and sat on one of the sofas in the lobby. I got chatting to the other westeners on the boat - three spaniards. They didn't have a lot of English so I had to recall my distant spanish which was a challenge. Actually I ended up spending the whole evening talking to them and by the time I went to bed my whole room was asleep - bonus!
Again, the room all got up early and went to see another tourist attraction so I stayed in bed. I went out on deck and read and waited. A young chinese girl came to practice her english with me and I think we talked for over an hour. I thought we would sail through the third gorge but it appeared not to happen, must have been through the night! I did get some good views of the dam though - biggest dam in the world. It was a very controversal project as it displaced 1.5mil people out of homes and farmland and must have reduced the magnificence of the three gorges. From an engineers point of view though it's cool:
I was so pleased to be leaving the boat. It wasn't an enjoyable experience but a challenging one and I'll never forget it! I got the bus to Yichang and got put in a taxi with a women who paid for me and extra for my bag and wouldn't accept my money! At the train station I managed to book a train to Xi'an (very pleased with myself) and find a hotel. Yichang is supposedly small but is actually massive and has absolutely no tourism industry. I had to pay £13 for my room but it was big and I had an ensuite and I didn't have to share with anyone - yey! I tired to find a restaurant but failed and instead had KFC and then went to sit in my room for the entire evening. I discovered I have an amazing ability to waste time if I need to. There was thunder and lightening which was cool so I spent a good 1/2hour trying to take photos:
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