Yichang, The Three Gorges Dam and The Yangzi River

---

From Xi'an we took our second overnight train south to the town of Yichang, home of the Three Gorges Dam and gateway to the Yangzi River. This time we were in the more luxurious 'soft-sleeper' class and shared a compartment of 4 people. It was a bit more of a relaxing journey and the scenery outside the train started to change from industry to countryside.

After spending the morning in Yichang we went to visit the Three-Gorges Dam project. The dam is mostly completed, except for the power stations and the whole project is due to be completed in 2009. We had a local guide for this part of the trip and as we took the drive to the dam he informed us of how happy the community were to have this project built and how many lives it would save from the floods and that each person relocated would receive $300, but we wern't very convinced.

That evening we boarded an overnight boat which would take us downriver to see the gorges. We had the most entertaining night on board. After relaxing on deck and playing cards til the sun went down we were all encouraged by David to go to the disco/bar. This was a pretty big room with a large dancefloor. For the next 3-4 hours we danced and sang karoke which is very popular in China and they take it very seriously. I don't think they were amused by our group rendition of 'Hotel California' but we had a great laugh.

The following morning we took a smaller boat down one of the rivers off the Yangzi and met with some villagers of the Tujia minority who did a performance of traidional singing and dancing for us. The scenery around the gorges was spectacular. However the water had already risen in these waters as a result of the dam and it was very strange to think that we were going over villages 100 meters below us that had now been flooded. You could even see the tops of the remaining trees along the sides of the gorges as the waters continue to rise and kill the vegetation.

The boat was very relaxing though and we enjoyed sunbathing and looking at the scenery during the trip on the river.

---