We were up early to see the ship enter the Three Gorges. The first was the Qutang Gorge. We we entered the gorge, the winds picked up considerably. Willie, the Entertainment Director, gave a narrative of the peaks and other sites. We could see foundations where building had been destroyed or moved. He pointed out an old pathway that was in the mountainside that will be completely covered by water soon. The gorges were quite narrow at many places and the narrower the gorge got, the stronger the winds.
After the Qutang Gorge, we had breakfast at the buffet wtih the group. We then arrived at the Wu Gorge, a 24 km gorge that takes 2 hours to traverse. It was beautiful. Many peaks along the way. Unfortunately, the smog and air pollution (which the Chinese tell us they don't have!) is so thick that much of the natural beauty is hidden in the haze. Such a shame. Air pollution is a huge issue in China with the many coal burning facilities that they use to make electricity.
At 9:30 we took a tour of the bridge. There are 24 people who work on the bridge in 8 hour shifts. Willie explained that the waters haven't risen to their full height yet. But right now they have dropped the water level to accommodate for the summer rainy season to control flooding. The waters will rise in the gorges another 16 meters or almost 40 feet.
We stopped forr a visit up the Shen Nong Stream - a tributary to the Yangtze. A ferry took up on a 50 minute ride to a barge where we got on a sampan navigated by men with poles. The the past the men worked on the boats completely naked (!) but now they wear pants or some had very small pants on (!). Our local guide was Iris in Badong. Our sampan had 5 rouwers and 1 captain who guided the boat from the back. We sat on hard wooden seats as they rowed us upstream. "Di E" was the rower right behind our seat at the back of the sampan. When he took off his shirt he have very little on - reminiscent of the olden days when they were naked. He sold us a marble egg for 20 REM that came from the mountains for our marble collection and then gave us Christmas ornaments as a gift from him to us. The boat men are called "boat trackers".
We went way up stream and the cliffs were beautiful. We saw a cave coffin too. Once they got us upstream we waited and waited and waited for the rafts that had gone before us to come out of the rapids. This took a while. We had no idea what was on the other side. Once we got our turn, the boat trackers pulled our boat up the rapids with bamboo cable strapped to their shoulders. They had a pulling song that they sang while they worked. At the top, we waited for the other raft then we went back - end of the ride!
On the way back to the ferry, Iris sang part of a song that brides sing before they get married. They sing a sad song about missing their parents, then about missing their siblings, then about concern that they won't like their new husband (!). They actually cry when they sing these songs. Iris did a very good job. We got back on the ferry - but we tipped Di E for being such a good strong rower (he knew no English). David had arranged for us to have stools so we could sit at the front of the ferry for the ride. We enjoyed having the front row seats both going and coming. He also bought us cold (Bing in Chinese) beer. We saw the cave coffins again. The ferry took us back to the MS East Queen and we immediately went to the lunch buffet at 3 pm. Excellent and varied selections of food that we ate with chopsticks again. We are eating all meals so far with chopsticks and doing a pretty good job.
After lunch we took a 45 minute nap before arriving at the last gorge - the Xiling Gorge. It was actually gale force winds so we didn't stay on the deck to see this one. It was more misty/cloudy/polluted by now and much too windy. We went to the foredeck lounge to see what we could see with a few of our travel group. We then showered and went back to the lounge for cocktail before dinner. It was so funny because this dinner was the "Farewell Dinner" the night after the "Welcome Dinner"! It was also the Emperor's Dinner and the staff were all dressed up. The meal was fabulous - especially the corn and chicken. Paul from Greece had bought some hot sauce mix and the kitchen staff mixed it in oil for him. He and Tim loved it and used it at each meal. After dinner we went back to the cabin and watched a TV movie while I updated my book journal. Tomorrow ends our day on the Hangtze. The entire Three Gorges Project is HUGE - massive and actually too hard to comprehend. It was approved in 1992 and won't be finished until 2009. We went through 4 of the 5 locks tonight to get below the dam. The locks were massive and accommodated about 8 ships in each section. The highest lock (#5) isn't used yet and won't go into operation until the water is fully raised. This has been so educational and such a fun trip.
Larry
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