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Published: February 15th 2008
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the 2nd gorge
Yangtse river Its been a while now, and so much has happened!! As i said in my last blog, i have been particularly loking forward to the Yangtse river cruise, as we booked a 4* luxury liner for our 3 day/4 nighter. We actually spent a lot of money on this, and wondered if we should have taken the chinese cruise instead, which basiclly meant spending the time with loads of chinese people, a chinese speaking guide and probably a lot of hastle. We wanted to spoil ourselves a little, and we had never been on a cruise of any sort before.
Our bus picked us up at 0630, and took us to a bigger bus, packed full of..............chinese!!! We were shocked at first, and wondered if we had been taken to the correct bus. We continued on to Chongquing, which is the start of the Yangtse. We were dropped off, expecting an english speaking guide, but they were none to be found. We managed to figure out that we were to drop our bags off, and return at 1800, to be taken to the boat. So we took this time to try to explore Chongquing. We didn't really know where we
were, and so, never really ventured very far, for fear of being lost and not finding our way back. Chongquing has one of the highest growing populations in the world, with a pop riviling Beijing and Shanghai (43 million people!). You could not tell it from where we were. It was cold, smelly, and with the ever present touts trying to sell you a yangtse river cruise, the first signs of frustration were creeping in. By 1800, i was ready to burst, and the guy took us to the boat.....well not quite!! He took us somewhere, and we had to wait in the bus for 45 minutes...not quite sure why, but we did. Then joined a massive chinese crew, who were to be our fellow cruisers for the next 3 days. This was not what i had paid for, and thoughts of a shitty ship welcoming us were becoming ever present in my mind.
Another 2 hour bus ride, and we finaly arrived at our boat. It was actually a bit of a shit hole from the outside, but inside was actually quite good looking, and our room was quite nice too. After all that drama, we hit the
hay like no ones business, and did not arise until 9am the next day, after we had set sail. Nearly missed the buffet breakfast.
We met Lyndy and Frank, a lovely couple from Australia, and as the only english speaking people on board, we obviously kept each other company. Our first tour was to the ghost city. This is a city built as a shrine by the emperors son, in hommage to his mother, who had done something bad, and was banished to hell. The son tried to save her by building this temple shrine, which is enthusiastically filled with scary looking gods, monsters and ghouls. The place is amusing in itself, and we even got in on some acts like rying to pick up a 182kg stone (without getting a hernia), and standing on a stone box on one leg for 3 seconds whilst looking at the demon god in the eye. It was an amusing day, except for the guide, who was more interested in the chinese passengers than us lao cai, and this was the first realy evidence that life on the boat was not going to be a 4 star experience!!
That night we
indulged in some chinese caberet, and yours truely took part in a bottom wagging competetion, which involved having a cardboard box filled with pingpong balls, and a small whole strapped to your backside, and you wiggling your ass trying to get the balls through the whole and into a bucket.I actually won, which says nothing for my chinese compadres!!!
The next day was an early rise to see the first of the gorges. At only 8km long, it was nothing really special actually. the water was dirty (ala the ganges), the chinese kept throwing their rubbish overboard, and the scenary was really unspectacular.
We later entered the second gorge, and this was more like it. Clear looking water, amazing undulating mountainside, small boats passing by, mist covering the riverway, creating a sense of mystique and enigma. It was beautiful.
We entered shennong stream, and this has to be the prettiest part of the river. It has a lifeforce all of its own. Villages rife with houses on mountainsides, schools, and even the odd climate polluting factory chugging out white smoke that chokes mother earth. We took a day trip onto smaller boats, and were paddled along the
shennon stream
Yangtse River Cruise stream in cool fresh water that looked so inviting, except for the hypothermia that would have surely followed that moment of madness!!
The 3rd gorge is the longest. At 142km long, we arrived at 1700 to get a gimpse of this gorge, before nightfall covered all traces. We entered the dam at about 2000, and the dam is indeed a huge engineering feat. As we entered the first lock, it entered our head that, well....should anything happen to the hydrollic doors, tonnes of water would bear down on us, and there would be no worry of how we would cope in a chinese hospital!! Each lock took 45 minutes to enter and leave. after the 2nd lock, we got bored, and went to bed.
The next day we visited the dam project and listened to the reasons it was built, and how it affects people today. It is amazing that the dam had risen so high. There is evidence of city drowned by the rising water level. People have had to move higher up the mountain to get away from the water, climate in the area is changing (milder winters and cooler summers), and the locals are afraid
Spot the coffin
Up the shennon stream, Yangtse River that the billions of dollars spent on this project will be wasted, as they will have to knock it down and build a bigger one, to combat the rising water, which has already risen 142m!!
Well, the boat trip, although having some memorable events, was a let down. The all inclusive offer did not include drinks (soft or alcohol), snooker, tabletennis or any extracirricular activities. It was boring on the boat, and I cannot say that the money we spent was well spent. Dragon cruises is rubbish. Victoria cruises probably a better bet, but the whole yangtse thing is a real let down, and did not hold the mystery i thought it did. Its sad that the river will probably eat up all this amazing mountainside and scenary. But the people don't seem to care about it, given he rubbish we saw them throw into their river.
"The Loft" has a lot to answer for if it is promoting this cruise company. Especially since it is not a 4 star, not english speaking, and definately not worth your money.
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