Monday, 26 September: To Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze

A very early breakfast to get out by 7:30 for the Lesser Three Gorges excursion. Once again, some challenging walks along piers, across gang-planks and through hordes of vendors. 

The first hour or so was on a good-sized excursion boat with a transparent roof. We spent much of the trip on the forward deck from where we could see the caves, interesting vegetation and a few white goats. The scenery is just amazing and we also saw a "hanging coffin" -- actually in a cave high on the mountain.  Since the water is already up at least 16 meters from original level, many villages have disappeared and some sites are closer to the water.  sharp turns in a "z' shape.  

The last part of the trip was in a smaller sampan because it is narrower and shallower.  Now they can use motors, but before the water started to rise the boats were pulled upstream by naked men. Farmers walk from their farms every day to drive the sampans and also to stage little tableaux along the riverside, singing and so on for the benefit of tourists. Our drivers and guides sang to us, so we sang back -- Land of the Silver  Birch, My Paddle and so on.  As soon as we got back to the cruise ship we headed for the front observation deck for the trip through the Wu Gorge. We now know not to take hats -- those gorges are windy!

We chose to eat in our room and use up some of the food we've been carrying -- actually welcomed a break from Chinese cuisine, lovely though it has been. Our guide, Michelle, phoned to see if we'd like something sent to our room. She takes such great care of us!  In the late afternoon we gathered once again on the forward  observation deck for the Xiling Gorge passage -- again a windy experience.

In the past, this was the most treacherous of the gorges but now, with deeper wider channels it's OK. That brought us to the 

 

 

 

Three Gorges Dam, so we went ashore and visited it. It's really a marvel of engineering! Sadly, the gift shop failed to produce the hats we were commissioned to acquire for Robin & Candy. We'll keep watching. Dinner was very late and followed by picture-taking, a brief entertainment by the crew, and packing for the last leg of our journey.

 Photos 26 Sep Yangtze R  Three Gorges Dam 

Continue To Shanghai and home 27 Sep to 01 Oct