Blogs from Three Gorges Dam, Hubei, China, Asia

Easter Sunday began for us on the Yangtze River with the first glimpse of the sun we’d had all week. We went up to the fifth deck Lounge to see if we could connect to the ship’s Wi-Fi because the connection in our room this morning was spotty. We also decided not to do the Tai Chi class this morning. Sharon was able to upload yesterday’s blog as well as some pictures. We went to breakfast and ended up joining a table that filled up with travelers from Canada. At 9 am we went to a lecture by Bob on the Three Gorges Dam which we will be visiting this afternoon. This dam is the world’s largest generator of electricity by a renewable source. The need for this dam has been recognized for about a century, ... read more

After a final message for us over the tannoy system in the morning from Dennis 'Peace out man!' we left the Oriental Emperor and bid farewell to the crew who had looked after us so well for our amazing Yangtze River Cruise. A tour of the Three Gorges Dam now beckoned and we boarded coaches to take us towards the early morning awakenings of Sandouping where the dam is sited. In terms of capacity our guide is proud to tell us that The Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest although she admits the Aswan dam is five times higher size wise. The site was chosen due to the granite rock and the width of the river bed at this point. Then followed many statistics that just became, blah blah blah to me. I much prefer ... read more

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

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

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