Yangtze cruise - Three Gorges

And so begins three days on the Yangtze - the third largest river in the World.

Our cabin

Cabin bedroom

Despite being told that we would have a relaxing time on the cruise we still had an early start.  Mike wanted to take advantage of the Tai Chi class that started at 6.45am.   It wasn’t a great success as only 5 people turned up and the teacher assumed an understanding of the moves so Mike had to follow 24 moves that was difficult for a novice.

Rosa and Helen - lifeboat drill

getting supplies on board

Breakfast on the boat is served from 7am to 8am, again necessitating an early start. Meals on board are a mix of Chinese and western style food – there was normally something you can find to eat that you enjoy although Chinese meat preparation is not to our tastes as all is very bony.

Very wobbly bridge to the Red Pagoda

Red Pagoda

Once breakfast was out of the way there was time to relax. I read a book most of the day whilst Mike went off to hear about chinese medicine and acupuncture. This led him to book an acupuncture treatment for his wrists for the afternoon.  I accompanied him on this so that I could check hygiene etc. It was an interesting experience. Mike had four needles inserted. 3 along the wrist joint and one further up the arm. These were then electrically stimulated for 15 minutes. The session ended with his wrists being covered in plasters containing the essence of 40 chinese herbs. Mike did feel some benefit but unfortunately this was not long lasting but perhaps enough to make him want to explore further once back in the UK.

In the afternoon the ship moored at around 4pm and we disembarked to visit the Red Pagoda. The original village that surrounded the pagoda was flooded when the Three Gorges dam was built. The locals were relocated into a new town and a wall was built around the base of the hill that the pagoda sat on to protect it - with water levels rising 175m this was very necessary. The locals may have been rehoused but they lost the land they farmed and now their main income comes from selling goods to tourists. We had to walk through various market stalls to reach the pagoda and although the Chinese were obviously anxious that we bought from them we did not feel as pressurised as we have in some other countries.

Day 10

Unfortunately today we woke up to rain.  I say unfortunately as today is the day that we travel through the gorges and the weather is going to affect our visibility. Breakfast on the boat was again served from 7am to 8am so although it is more relaxing being on the boat we were still up early. After breakfast we went to the lounge so that we could take in the river views.  The talk this morning was on the Chinese language. Mike and I have learnt very basic Chinese: Nihao for hallo, ding ding hao for good and Xiexie for thank you. We have also learnt some basic numbers. An additional difficulty with the language, apart from the thousands of written characters is the tonal features for example the word  Ma if pronounced in different ways can mean mother, numb, horse, scold or question. We were warned not to call our mothers a horse!

At about 11.30 we reached the first of the three gorges. Although the creation of the Three Gorges dam has caused the water to rise up to 175m and thus reduce the depth of the gorge the scenery was still stunning.  Due to weather conditions we did not get particularly good pictures but it was very atmospheric seeing the clouds and mists on the mountains.

After lunch on the boat we were ready for our  journey into the next gorge.  It was still raining rather heavily but both Mike and I braved the elements to see the scenery. At this time of the year as the trees emerge into spring everything looked very green – even the water of the Yangtze was an emerald green. Around 2pm we moored up underneath the Goddess mountain and here we transferred onto smaller boats to travel up the ‘lesser gorges’. By now the rain had eased and the mists were clearing from the hill tops. These smaller gorges were much narrower – hence the need for smaller boats and therefore felt much more dramatic.  We were accompanied by a local female guide who gave us local information about the families who had lived in the gorge before the dam was built and since.  Over 1.3 million people were displaced when the gorge was built. With waters rising 175m many villages were flooded and farming livelihoods lost.  The guide spoke of the benefits eg navigation and flood control. 

Many of the people were offered better and larger accommodation but at what price to their local heritage. We later heard from a more outspoken guide that 45% of the funding for the gorge was spent on resettlement but it appears that little of that reached those most affected in the form of compensation with monies going to developers and resettlers.  Life in the gorge is still hard for locals. There are primary schools within the area but for higher levels of education children must walk from their homes to the river to  pick up a boat and travel for 1-2 hours each way to reach their school.  There are basic medical facilities in the gorge but no hospitals. Visiting friends in other villages requires much walking as no other transport is available.  Life still appears very hard here. However the area was really beautiful.  On the way back our guide sang to us.  This was a local love song and was given as an example of how couples courted with each other when living on opposite sides of the gorge.

This was our last night on the boat so once back we got dressed up for our Captain’s leaving dinner.  For this meal we left our former buffet style eating and returned to the Lazy Susan where we were again presented with lots of chinese dishes and as a special treat from our own guide David a large bowl of chips.  Many of our fellow travellers were very pleased with this. After this meal there was entertainment provided by the ships crew.  It appears that all are multi talented but Mike and I ducked out of this as we had to pack for an early start and we were both quite tired.