We need politicians like this in DC

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Megan and I spent the first evening on our boat trying to figure out when the boat was leaving the dock. We were under the impression that we were leaving at 10pm so we decided to watch from the upper deck. Around midnight we started chatting with a nice English couple that was also waiting and after asking we were informed that the boat wasn't leaving until 5am. Oops!

With our activity thwarted for the evening we decided to go to the bed. On the way downstairs we pass an older Australian gentleman who invites us into the bar to sing karoke, we think "What the hell" and decide to check it out. When we walk into the bar we see a group of 4 men and 1 woman, surrounded by a large amount of the ship's crew and a lot of empty beer bottles. They are enthusiastically singing fairly horrible karaoke and dancing in a way that people normally only dance at weddings. They are having so much fun that we join them in bad karoke and crazy dancing. On the dance floor I ask the woman who they are and she responds "We're members of Parliament." I would have called bullshit but something about the way she said it made me believe her.

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Our vacation in China was officially changed forever.

We ended up staying up until 5 to see the ship leaving port and then again the next night just for the hell of it. We consumed a lot of beer and, in general, just had a hell of a good time. This group officially confirmed that the Australians are my favorite people on the planet. They were on an official delegation trip in China and this cruise was a small break from their many receptions and official dinners. We talked politics and harassed each other on the issues we disagreed but we also spent plenty of time just kicking back and relaxing.

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We took some cheesy excursions, saw the beautiful Three Gorges (although I wish I'd seen them before they were being flooded by the dam) and the gianormous Three Gorges Dam (largest dam in the world- 5 times the size of the Hoover Dam) but the highlight was definitely our entertaining Austrailians.

A small word about the river for those interested though. The Chinese government decided to build this huge dam in the name of flood control and also for hydroelectric power but the flooding of the valley behind the damn is substanstial. The project is not yet complete but over 1 million people were moved above the flood line, sometimes entire cities. The river we saw was already like 40 meters higher than it used to be so we didn't see the same dramatic effect of the gorges and the rapids were no longer there. Also, as we went down the river, there were markers showing where the water would be when the dam was complete. A little nuts to think of all of the things that are now under water or will be soon.