raul cortazar cortazar
Adventure on the waters of the Yangtze
From the "small" Chinese city of Yichang (with 4 million inhabitants) we start heading to Chongqing by taking the quiet river. For three days we sailed on a cruise where, apart from my friend Ties from Amsterdam, all members of the ship were oriental. We spent times on deck, drinking beer, eating precooked noodles and admiring the beautiful scenery as we passed. In our cabin, there were six tiny beds which we shared with a Chinese family as nice as they were noisy. Without a doubt this was a strange adventure which I remember well! We enjoyed the day and night on the boat, and felt fully involved in the lives of Chinese citizens.
We shared food, drink and cigars with some of them. The monotony of the voyage meant we constantly observed cultural differences between them and us, but at the same time was what led us to try to communicate, often by pure mimicry. Long live China!
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