I agree; and when I paid for the guides, tickets, etc., there was no mention of meals. We were surprised when we were first taken to a restaurant and served food. The second time, we were disappointed, and the third time we told them not to. I assume the cost was worked in there somewhere, but it was still very reasonable.

I must digress for a moment: At the end of our river cruise, we were alone in Wuhan and wandered the night market for a while til we came across a jampacked hotpot restaurant. We went in and it was like those old E.F. Hutton ads: everyone stopped talking and eating and looked at us. Well, we found the last open table, and sat down, and everyone went back to normal. The waitress came over and stared down at us. No tourist or picture menu available, and we didn't speak the language. The guy next to us pointed to a gleaming pile of white bones next to his plate and said the one word he apparently knew: "Frog." Well, my wife, being an artist, said she could solve the problem. She decided to draw a bowl of noodles on the back of the waitress' order pad. Words were barked and out came the chef from the kitchen with a wicker basket, which he promptly opened and pulled out a snake. A live snake. Long story short, my wife was taken back through the kitchen and into the back alley where she was able to hand select all of the ingredients for our hot pot meal. It was phenomenal. And with two large beers to slake our thirst. I'm sure we got raped on the bill -- US$9 -- but we were quite happy.