Yangtze, an atypical view. See text below.

Next day dawned, as next day will, to find one of us slept not too well. I slept like a log, and, allegedly, snored a lot. That, together with the din the Chinese are so adept at creating anywhere, anytime, kept Sue awake for much of the night. Stoically however she rose and prepared breakfast in the state room - OJ, half a pineapple, banana and "coffee", all but the coffee served in bed. Some minor spillage only served to enhance the already stained duvet cover.
Next task: To shower whilst standing over a squat toilet, holding on to a disintegrating WHB. Fortunately the river boats don't roll much. G went first and managed to separate the shower head from the hose. Inconvenient, but still a workable cleansing system. Sue followed, and a few moments into the procedure there came a gentle curse. The soap had been dropped and, inevitably, it slid into the aforementioned ceramic convenience, resting tantalisingly above the drop. Thank heavens for the spare bar secreted about our luggage!
We had opened the curtains and then the window above our bed to see what we were passing. The mild sulphurous malodour should have been a clue - chemical works.
This at about 07:30, a rude awakening to the prospect of a less than scenic cruise down this majestic river. Again, much construction work in evidence, with new roads and attendant bridges throughout the landscape emerging from the gloom. The river itself is littered with rotting hulks of deceased working boats, dredgers and their supporting barges ferries and tour boats like ours and of course the much grander versions.
In the first couple of hours of this morning's travels we have briefly docked 3 or 4 times to let folk off and to collect new passengers. Some of the offs are people going on trips so presumably they will overtake us by bus and re-join the merry throng somewhere downstream.
More about the accommodation: It smells and feels damp. Why? Because there is a pipe going from / to god knows where, leaking just fwd. of the cabin. The carpet is damp at one corner, well soaking actually. Whether it is worth complaining about this or not is doubtful, so we probably won't bother. The boat personnel don't seem to care about anything other than relieving you of cash, not about providing service. This is because Mr Average China-man, at this level of socio-economic existence, has no expectation of being served in any way. They are very self-sufficient folk.
Cruised on round the bends, awaiting the appearance of changing scenery with every turn, only to be mildly disappointed. After a few hours the river banks did vary a bit, and some slightly less utilitarian housing, in sort of village groupings, appeared out of the rising mist. Ah well, 10:00 hrs., and starting to anticipate (rather than look forward to) lunch, which, If I rightly recall our panic purchases from yesterday, will comprise an ageing softish bun with either processed cheese slices and tomatoes, or tinned tuna and tomatoes. What gourmets we are even in trying conditions, eh? We can alternate between these over the next two days, providing a level of variety not previously experienced (suffered) on this trip, as long as the tuna doesn't go off.
13:30: It was the cheese!
@ about 14:00 we established where we were - tens of river miles further back than we had thought. We have two maps, neither of which have any regard for scale or distance. From our reckoning now, at 16:00 hrs., we will hit the first gorge, Qutang, in twilight, the second, Wu, about dawn tomorrow and the third Xiling about mid day tomorrow. But that is based on the wonky maps so we could be, and probably are, totally wrong. Once again we have failed to grasp the enormity of the distances involved in travelling across this country. We have however now grasped the less than pleasant aspects of travelling in close proximity to Mr Wu and retinue, who has the most endearing habit of clearing his throat, volubly, and spitting the resulting rheum at the nearest stream, river, puddle or pavement. Charming! Mrs Wu joins in from time to time, so it is not a solely male habit. Perhaps less attractive in the female of the species. Woe betide this nation if there is a serious resurgence of TB or similar disease.
18:00 Hrs., we pulled into a pier @ Wanzhou, reputedly the half way point on this odyssey. Had to face the prospect of another something + tomato bun, or face the prospect of the food offered in the "Can-teen" We chose the latter, steeled ourselves and managed to fathom out how to procure some of the delicacies available. Quickly chose from rice, shredded potato, fried sliced carrot, onion & chilli, small beans with "meat" and boiled cabbage like stuff. I had it all, Sue passed on the beans dish. The "meat" turned out to be lumps of cooked pork fat, chillied. All for the sum of £2.00 - commendable. With mild local lager @ £1 / 600ml bottle, life took on a more pleasant air this evening, especially when darkness fell and we could no longer see the draconian high rise housing slipping by.