Yangtze River

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Day 9-11 (March 22-24)

We set out the following day for Chongqing by train, 4 hours. It was very comfortable and good to look out at the scenery. Lunch was of course noodles on the train which is the staple fare for train travel. Our leader arranged for the local hostel where we were going to have dinner to pick us up (better than the crowded local bus).

Arriving on the Yangtze waterfront winding down from the hill. The tide was well out and so there were many pontoons aligned to make a pathway out to our Cruise boat. We were lucky to be able to check in early to stow our luggage before setting out for an early dinner.

As Chongqing is built into the hillsides that rise from the banks of the Yangtze there were banks and banks of steps to get anywhere. The local people seem to take it in their stride - they must be very fit.

We ate a delicious and cheap dinner at the Youth Hostel balcony area overlooking the River. A nice place to while away a few hours and watch the city lights come to life. It is very un-Chinese to linger over dinner, where you eat as much as you can as quickly as you can and then leave as soon as you are done. It is one custom we haven’t been able to adopt.

After dinner we set off to find a local supermarket to stoke up on cheaper snacks as the boat was meant to be a bit expensive. After winding through alleys always going higher and higher on the steps and not finding anything like a supermarket just helpful locals always pointing further up the hill at each stop we made, we decided to give it a miss and made our way back to the boat.

The boat was very comfortable with big windows to view the scenery outside. Apparently it has twice accommodated various presidents of China and so actually has bullet proof glass. Our Captain apparently had 30 years of sailing on the river (I think he must have started as a toddler as he barely looked 30!).

We were not going to begin sailing until the following morning so we made ourselves comfortable and had an early night. The following day we awoke to piped music to ensure that we woke in time for breakfast, the tune became our groups theme song as it was one of those that stuck in the brain.

We set sail farewelling Chongqing and it’s 32Million people and headed downstream. It wasn’t long before the buildings had been left behind and a green and rich looking countryside took it’s place. After a morning meet the Captain event followed by lunch, we reached the first gorge (I hope the photos do it justice).

We pulled into a little township called Fengdu and were met by a local guide (complete with high heel shoes). We again had to navigate the pontoon type walkways and up the now expected steps to reach the top of the bank. Taking a chairlift up to Ghost city where there is a temple and tests to determine if you are a good person. If you pass the tests you are ok, but if not then you best amend your ways so that you avoid the tortures of hell.

Fortunately all out group passed the test, the first was to walk across a curved bridge in 9 steps. Our group leader said to the couples if the guy really loved his partner he needed to carry his wife on his back while crossing the bridge in 9 steps. That was a challenge but the two couples made it safely, and know it is true love!

The next test was was to enter a gateway careful to step over the barrier with the correct foot first (right for women, and left for men).

The final test was to stand on a small stone inside a box for 3 seconds on one leg. Once we had passed the tests, viewing various temples and statues along the way we were taken into an area that had little statues showing you what hell was like (various tortures to suit the crimes of peoples lives). All to encourage you to lead a good life. This was a very picturesque spot and a little fun along the way.

Back on board we settled in to watch some more spectacular scenery pass by and we soon reached the first gorge. It is truly a spectacular sight and I can only imagine the scene before the flooding occurred and we would have been over a 100 metres lower with the cliffs appearing even higher. Regardless it is still an awesome sight. I have spared you my multitude of photos (everywhere you looked called out for another press of that shutter button!)and just selected a few.

Eventually we came in from the cold and after dinner a fashion show (modelled by the crew) showing various outfits from the past and also regional cultural dress. A lot of fun (and I don’t envy the crew that this was part of their job). The following night they entertained us with a talent show (traditional dances and songs) which were really great and the girls in particular were elegant in their various dances. A definite class above the passenger contributions for the most part.

The Chinese passengers were not shy about jumping up and participating unlike our group. A French group did offer some funny moments but the best passenger was a Chinese one who gave us some interesting songs and won flowers from the audience (this is the way of showing appreciation).

Our second day on the Yangtze involved getting off our larger boat onto a smaller one to go down a side gorge. This would give us a closer view and also show a little of how the river was before the flooding. The day was actual blue sky with little haze. A perfect day for sailing down a river and taking photos (I snapped about 200 as we were truly surrounded by beautiful countryside. We have been fortunate so far that for these sites the good weather appeared.

Previously, the river was only five metres at times - it is now at 162 metres and has been tested to 175 metres. The flooding has meant that that over a million people needed to be relocated. This was done I think they said over a 10 year period. Whole towns were moved higher up the hillsides (to different spots) with people being given an allocation of space per family mostly 2 or 3 times what they previously had for a lower than value price.

For those that lost jobs (such as the men who used to pull barges along using ropes from the shore) or some farmers were moved to other areas (some ironically back to places in China that their ancestors had migrated from 300 years previously).

There is a program that tracks how each of the resettlers are going (apparently) so it seems from the local guides perspective to have been done as fairly as could be done if these views are true, it never being easy to do such massive relocations I suppose. Our guide herself had been relocated and spoke of her parents optimistic view, saying that this generation is very lucky to have a China that is so much better than what they had and to make the most of it (sounds familiar to what many parents the world over think!).

However, I’m sure there are those that are not so optimistic also, and that haven’t adjusted so well but a lot seems to have been learned from previous smaller ventures on how to avoid the mistakes (probably that the spot light has been on such a controversial project wouldn’t hurt either).

Bridges also had to be rebuilt - there are many large bridges throughout the journey we took. Some are being rebuilt again, as the testing to 175 metres revealed that a few were still too low.

The loss of the depth of the gorges and the homes of so many was apparently justified not just for power and water supply, but also for control of the flooding which has cost over a million lives over the years. It is still a mighty river, which even with it’s heavy use by large ships was quite pristine which was surprising. I was expecting it to be crowded with container ships and perhaps dirty and noisy as well but we barely noticed the many industrial ships which we passed as the river is so wide and not visibly polluted.

Our next high light on the trip was the navigation of the locks. We were told that it is the biggest such system (to date), and quite worth the wait to experience it. We reached the locks about 10pm and had to wait for some time before the light came on and the ships ahead of us began to move.

12 large ships had to be carefully navigated into the locks before the large doors could be shut behind. This took until about 12:30am and some angst between a couple of crews as someone didn’t do something right (maybe they didn’t move far enough down to allow the last boat in - there was lots of yelling and jumping on board each others boats but it seemed to settle down without any real violence).

The gates shut regardless and the water quickly and quietly levelled out to the next lock. In total we needed to be lowered over 100 metres going through 5 locks which was expected to take 3-4 hours. The express lift is due to be finished in 2012 which will only take each ship 40 minutes - you float in and press down and you are taken straight down the elevator (that would be weird - I hope it is better technology than the lifts at 55 Collins).

After seeing one lock I decided that the others would all be the same and went off to bed, but really glad to have witnessed the whole thing. I managed to figure out how to take photos in the dark with my high ISO setting so hopefully you’ll get a sense of the magnitude of the engineering that went into the locks. It was definitely one of those experiences that you are glad you’ve been a part of (even at 1:30 am).

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Photos

Squeezing in one more
12 large ships are accommodated at a time