GORGEous!

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The mist and sun are up and the river is smooth. Master Chin led those gathered in a basic tai chi sequence. I finished with some yoga poses facing downstream in the bow of the boat.

Breakfast was sumptuous -- as are all the meals (it is a 5-star cruise). Afterwards, we went to the upper deck to look at the Xiling Gorge followed by our entry into the lock system. {This is a bit of a repeat here if you've been keeping up with the blog.} It started to rain and most of us retreated to do whatever one does on a cruise.

The shore excursion to the site of the actual dam initiated jokes about the "dam(n) guide" and "the dam(n) driver". I'm not one for engineering sites so I just followed along with the rest of the sheep. My highlight was smiling into the camera of the Chinese government worker whose job it was to film us. I'm not being too smug or sarcastic -- it is a huge installation and there is fear of it being the target of attacks.

Returng to the ship, I decided to forego the ancient beast of a furnicular and take the stairs. Vertigo kicked in at step 4 of 100 and Irene ("I'm small, but tough") offered her arm for the rest of the descent. Back on the upper deck, the mountains rise out of the river and into the clouds. They are rounded at the top and the variety of peaks and ridges is astounding. The houses perch on the sides of hills with no visible support or means of access. There are often no other houses nearby and I cannot help but wonder how they built anything on such steep terrain. The land is terraced for growing -- there would be no other way. Some of the terrraces start at the edge of the river and rise hundreds of metres. I have to remind myself that this area has already been partially flooded. Further upstream there are sections where the rock is a sheer, flat rise straight out of the river: the slope to the shore is underwater. All along the banks are markers of where the river will end up. It is sad to see whole towns that will be flooded -- though that's pretty much a done deal, i.e. they are already long gone.

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