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Published: July 24th 2005
Note: Thanks all for your comments. Sorry I had not had time to respond.
I swore that I would never get on a tourist cruise boat until I am old and decrepit (or have kids, the same thing really), but here I am in Yincheng having just got off the cruise boat. There's no better way to see the Yangtze River though, and the completion of the Three Gorges Dam and subsequent flooding of sights in 2009 demanded immediate action on my part to see it now. So three days ago I hopped on a bus from Chengdu to Chongqing to board a cruise boat on the famed Yangtze River.
Chongqing turned out to be quite a pleasant city. China 's westward development plan had already reached Chongqing, with big bad European and American stores like Armani claiming their capitalistic stake of the yuan at the plaza centered around that communist relic, the People's Liberation Monument. Ironic isn't it? Another sign of the changing times. I fully expect a billboard with Chairman Mao wearing cargo pants with the tagline "Old Navy, nifty pants for the people" or him holding a tire with the tagline "Good Year, the only spare I'd share." Actually what I liked about Chongqing is that it's a hilly city at the confluence of the Yangtze and another river. The dramatic sights are best savoured from new monorail line, which runs along the river on a hill, affording panoramic views of the river between the second and sixth stations. Plus the monorail ride only costs a quarter!
After sorting out that "HLANS" on the travel agent's list is actually me (my name being HUANG...buying from travel agents in China is sometimes fraught with fraud and you can never be sure until the end whether what you were told is what you paid for...often they will surprise you with hidden charges at the end or once you are onboard), I boarded the Domestic Cruiser Number 6 with my new shipmates Niels and Nicole (nice couple from Germany on leave from business school) and Rebecca (a feisty software engineer from England). I served as their unofficial interpreter, while they gave me company and tips from their previous trips in China. Chinese kids pointing and staring at them was a constant amusement for me; being Chinese, I don't get too many looks in China (though the locals can always tell I am not from their native province). When they ask, I usually say I am from Fujian Province or Hong Kong, rather than Taiwan, for safety reasons.
The primary attraction on the Yangtze are the Three Gorges and historic sites along the Yangtze. When the big dam is completed in 2009, the water level will rise to 175 meters. The water level on the Yangtze has already risen from historic levels, with about 30 to 40 meters left to rise. Subsequently some of the ancient historic sites are already gone. We were told that more than 1 million people will need to relocate, with many new towns (Chinese towns have population of 500,000 people) constructed on higher grounds directly across the river from the old towns, which are to be demolished and inundated.
The first historic site we visited was the Ghost Town, which is named not due to the abandoned city below but to the temple dedicated to house ghosts from China. During the day it plays host to hoards of tourists; at night, the ghosts take over. The government is building a levee to protect most of the temple. Luckily so, since it contains one of the oldest buildings in China. The scariest part of the site are not the depictions of scenes from hell (ie people getting split open, deep fried, served to the tourists); rather, it is monks giving away incense and then soliciting money at the end, as well as the complex of recently built haunted house and Chinese fable scenes (ie tourist trap). Cheesiness is apparently an ancient virtue.
Luckily the next historic site was a three-hundred-year-old wooden pagoda built into the hillside. While the climb to the top was crowded and sweaty as usual, all in all it was nice to experience something genuine (discounting the usual food and souvenir stalls lining every conceivable path between our boat and the pagoda). I actually feel quite bad that these poor people drag all that stuff in the heat to this place to sell (as their old farms have now been flooded and no other livelihood is I assume possible). Nonetheless, I bargained for every last penny (us foreigners drive harder bargains than local tourists). My favorite part was when the food sellers would yell "Harro, poe-ta-toes" to the German couple. Of course, what else would germans eat but potatoes? Not the fish from the trash-strewn Yangtze River that they're selling.
Over the next two days we cruised down the Three Gorges (absolutely gorgeous and amazing, with small villages built into the cliffside like some fabled Shangri-la), with a smaller ferry taking us to the Little Three Gorges and a wooden boat taking us to the Mini Three Gorges (all the while selling us commerotive stamps and coins). The funniest scene was a farmer leading a goat going up and down some steps, being paid to pose for tourists. There was also a coffin laid in a hole in the cliffside. Apparently the ancient rich like to show off even in death. Incidently the rising water level had cut the journey time by half, turning rapids into peaceful rivers (I wonder if the scenery was even more beautiful before). Effectly this opened up more areas for tourists, allowing more locals to establish stalls. There were many kids selling crafts of various sorts. My favorite was a girl selling a bag of river-worn rocks while standing over a bed of river-worn rocks. Apparently she skipped her marketing class.
During the last night we visited the Three Gorges Dam, which was longer but shorter than I expected. It is the largest water infrastructure project in the world, and will generate a ton of electricity. But the most important thing that night was that they would allow our boat to go through the locks after all, despite their previous warning that the unusually high flood water would make it too dangerous for passage. Effectly this saved me a night's hostel money, as we could stay in the boat longer rather than changing into a bus that gets into our final destination faster. I don't care that this also allowed us to see the amazing new locks (which I didn't really get to experience. as we were behind schedule, having spent too much time watching lame performance of ancient battles with Chinese rodeo riders and plastic weapons. The boat was not going through the locks until 2am, so I went to bed, unlike the heartier local tourists). Sleeping and saving money, are, after all, more important than seeing one of the greatest man-made structures at work.
Off to Shaghai...stay tuned.
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Niels
non-member comment
That's it
Hi Steven, nice report about our trip on the Yangtze. You just forgot to tell your audience that the beautigul Yangtze is actually Chinas "largest toilet", beeing brown and with lots of waste swimming on it (especially shoes) :-) But you're right, it was an amazing trip. We already managed to get to Suzhou. We took from Wuhan a nice Sleeper Bus, which dropped us off in Wuxi and then there was a guy telling us, we have to pay 39 Yuan to get to Suzhou. "That's not that, what we have paid for" we already thought. But then the driver from our bus came with our tickets and showed us our way to our bus. So, even without understanding it was possible to get there. Have a good time in Shanghai (and perhaps you can give us a good advice where to stay) greetings Niels and Nicole