Blogs from Three Gorges Dam, Hubei, China, Asia
Claire: 'I do!' Tabie: 'You do?' Claire: 'I do!' Tabie 'You do!'
Published: August 31st 2011Asia » China » Hubei » Three Gorges Dam
August 30th 2011
Our last morning on the boat and it was actually a little bit of a lay in for once, with us not having to be up and to breakfast until 7am. The boat had cleared all of the locks over night and when we looked out of the windows we were actually someway down stream and we could no longer see the dam from the boat. After a quick breakfast we were off the boat by 7.30am and we were driven to see the dam from land. Unfortunately, considering how wonderful the weather has been on the Yangtze, today it was back to the typical Chinese smog and haze, and we could only see part of the dam from the two vantage points we were taken too. Nevertheless the dam was pretty impressive and it ... read more
Three Gorges and Shennong Stream
Published: November 30th -0001Asia » China » Hubei » Three Gorges Dam
November 9th 2010
What a wonderful day today. We woke early again and were breakfasting at 7am to be ready to leave the boat by 8 am. Very cold today and the thermals came out for the first time - I had a scarf and ski jacket on and was very comfortable!! This time we transferred to a medium sized ferry which took us up the Shennong Stream, a tributory of the Yangtze River where the people of the Shen Nong Xi operate a Pea Pod Boat Little Gorges trip. There were 14 of us in each small pea pod boat which was propelled by 6 trackers, all from the same family group. We went further upstream and saw the Hanging coffin, amazing natural caves, very high and mist shrouded peaks and were given a history of the area ... read more
November 8th 2010
Early start today despite the early morning arrival - but this was another highlight of the trip for me. We breakfasted at 7am then off the boat by 8am to drive to visit the 3 Gorges Dam itself. The statistics of the Dam are mind boggling and I won't repeat too many of them but the trip to get there was an experience - we docked against 5 other cruise boats and had to wend out way through the lower level of at least 3 other boats to get to the shore - got to see the crew quarters - 6 berths to a small cabin with no bathroom! Then it was through market stalls to the bus which took us across the large span bridge that links Yichang to the dam administration site. Then through ... read more
Terracotta Warriors and Three Gorges
Published: September 26th 2010Asia » China » Hubei » Three Gorges Dam
September 26th 2010
Terracotta Warriors After exploring Beijing, we took an overnight train to Xian (shee-an). We had a soft sleeper which means each room has four bunks and each bunk has a pillow and a blanket. The trains are not as smooth as European trains and several times during the night there were significant jolts that left us wondering if we were still on the tracks When we arrived in Xian, our new guide, Dragon, was waiting for us with a sign that said “John Arthur Ingham, 4 pax.” Does that mean John is enough work for four? Our only reason to visit Xian was to see the Terracotta Warriors. They were made for Emperor Qin, the man who united China (by conquering everyone) and was the first Emperor of the Qin Dynasty. Unfortunately for him, the Qin ... read more
Yangtze River Cruise and Other Assorted Wanderings
Published: August 5th 2010Asia » China » Hubei » Three Gorges Dam
August 5th 2010
Where to start this time? We've been so busy over the past few days! We left our hotel in Yichang at 7 in the morning and took a tourist bus to visit the Three Gorges Dam. This mighty re-enforced concrete barrier curtails the world's third largest river, the Yangtze forming a massive reservoir causing a hundred metre difference in the water levels on each side of it. A massive lock system is in place to allow ships to pass through and the dam's purpose as a hydroelectric power station makes it the world's largest electricity generation system. On the bus we shared with a Chinese tourgroup we we're treated to an hours worth of some daft bint hollering down a microphone in Chinese so loudly that we all wanted to kill her pretty quikly and according ... read more
May 28th 2010
Well, going with the theme of one blog entry per country here's the China contribution. Missed a Mongolian section so will add that one next and to hell with chronological order! Trip to the Three Gorges Dam. * These photos are all unedited as the internet doesn't want to co-operate at the moment!... read more
Day 149: Yangtze River Cruise: Yichang, China.
Published: May 4th 2010Asia » China » Hubei » Three Gorges Dam
April 25th 2010
Day 149: Sunday, April 25th, 2010. Yangtze River Cruise: Yichang, China. Per Intrepid notes, "We arrive into Yichang in the morning of day 7. Yichang is the site of the massive and controversial Three Gorges hydro-electric project and we have the chance take a visit to the dam to see this incredible feat of engineering ourselves. We board a boat tonight for a journey along the mighty Yangzi River. We spend 2 full days on board a basic tourist boat, cruising through the Three Gorges en route to Yichang. Our cabins are simple and clean with twin-share with private bathroom facilities. Full board is provided while on the boat with typical Chinese cuisine. Please note that depending on the composition of the group you may be required to share a cabin with your leader or a traveller ... read more
October 17th 2009
As I type this we are sat on the deck of a cruise boat sailing down the Yangtze River. The boat itself is not up to P&O standards, but the scenery definitely makes up for what the boat lacks in luxury. The route we are taking is famous because of the stunning Three Gorges it passes through, as well as being the site of the Three Gorges Damn which opened last year. To get from either side of the damn (the water levels are about 150m in difference) involved five separate locks (which make the canal locks in England look like dwarfs) with each one taking us up 30 metres as it filled up in around ten minutes. In total it took four hours to reach the top before we continued our journey upstream. On board ... read more
Cruising the Yangtze River upstream
Published: October 11th 2009Asia » China » Hubei » Three Gorges Dam
October 11th 2009
Day 465: Wednesday 7th October - A journey with an uncertain ending I don’t know why I do it to myself but if I’m honest journeys like this are actually one of the fun things about backpacking in a strange way. What am I talking about? Well a journey where you have a destination in mind but don’t know if you will be able to reach it and one where you have no accommodation pre-booked. I’m sure 99% of the population would consider what I’m doing today a definite ‘no way I’m doing that’ but I belong to the 1% of crazy people. I have a bus ticket to get to Wuhan, which lies on the Yangtze River and is the capital of Hubei province. The bus leaves Tunxi at just before 8am. I get a ... read more
Cruising the Yangtze...In Style!
Published: October 25th 2009Asia » China » Hubei » Three Gorges DamOctober 9th 2009
Day One We arrived for our cruise at about 6pm, even though we'd been told from 6 to 9pm. Typical Prompt Canadian stylee! We were given the option of upgrading for 600Y, but as we'd paid a small fortune anyway, we decided to stick with our balcony-less twin beds. The danger of a Drunk Terri falling overboard also influenced our decision somewhat. We ate noodles and had a rave to the class Chinese techno that came already uploaded onto Jacie's sexy new phone. My favourite was the gay-techno song about giving blow jobs to make friends. The homo's know how to charm, don't they!? A man sat outside our window for most of the night, and we had an early one so we could make 7am taichi classes on the sundeck the next day. The ... read more
