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Published: November 7th 2008
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Qutang Gorge
The first of the three Our departure from Tibet wasn’t straight forward, well there was no chance that it would be really was there! Our flight to Chongqing (the gateway to the Yangtze River) was cancelled and, after a lot of calls to the agent, we decided to head to Chengdu instead and take a bus to Chongqing. Any extra delay would mean that we would miss the departure of our Yangtze Cruise boat which we had already booked.
Eventually, we arrived in Chongqing and were met by a lovely old porter who insisted on attaching both our big bags to a pole with rope which he then hoisted on to his back. He looked really frail and both Andy and I protested at this, but he insisted and set off at a fast pace. We followed him about 500 metres to a funicular that took us down to the port and our home for the next three nights. We weren’t sure what to expect from the cruise. People who had taken the expensive foreign tourist boat, had had a really luxurious experience but we couldn’t afford that. Those who had taken the Chinese tourist boat had been treated to shabby rooms, dodgy food at
Chongqing
The start of the cruise regimented times and incessant karaoke. We had a decided to go on a mid-range boat which had an English speaking guide and included all our meals. We were really pleasantly surprised. As we approached the boat, a brass band started to play and we were welcomed by a big banner and a line of crew members. Our English-speaking River Guide, Susan, was very enthusiastic and after establishing that our names were “Lean and Aaaandee” she showed us to our cabin. It was small but clean and adequate for our needs. And most of all it was lovely and warm, such a welcome change from Tibet.
We had our “English-speaking family” briefing and got to know the other ten English speakers; three Germans, one Swiss and a Swedish family of six who had moved to Chongqing for two years with their Chinese adopted young daughters. We then slept very, very well.
The river cruise is very gentle. There is an excursions programme but it’s all well organised and the trips don’t take up too much time, so we found that there was plenty of time for us to catch up on the sleep that we had lost in Tibet.
Our ship
President No 5 - The Snow Mountain! Also, the food was great and there was plenty of it, so we were very happy.
The gorges are impressive, but it’s a shame that we didn’t make it here before they were flooded as the villages all look the same. This is because most people were relocated further up the mountains and were provided with identikit concrete houses which are a bit of an eyesore. Our favourite excursion was to the Shendonng Stream, a boat trip down one of the narrower gorges where the cruise boat could not pass. We got on a small sampan that was manned by local men who rowed and treated us to local songs. We think that this area would have been even more impressive prior to the flooding as the water level has risen by approximately 70 metres and previously it used to be so shallow in places that the boat men had to get out and pull the boat.
One of the main reasons for taking the cruise was to see The Three Gorges Dam, the largest dam in the world. Our boat was due to pass through the 5 stage ship lock of the dam at 10pm. From the
observation deck on the roof of the boat, we could see the dam looming, an impressive sight even at night. The lock is huge and we had been told that it could hold six boats in two lines. The loading of the boats took ages and we realised that it was being loaded with eight boats, a first for River Guide Susan. The boats are tethered to the side for safety (we’re not sure what happened to the ones that ended up in the middle of two boats?) and then the lock is opened. The first lock descended 15 metres; the other four each descended 22 metres each - a total of 103 metres. Just going down the first lock took over an hour all in all, so we didn’t bother with the other four! They’ve also built a boat lift that will take one boat all the way down in 40 minutes but it isn’t open yet.
The next morning we took a trip to the dam itself. Security is tight - everyone has to get off the bus to go through the metal detectors. The dam is not pretty but it is impressive. We don’t get to
walk across it or see any of the 28 turbines that each create 700 megawatts of electricity (that stat is for you Gus!). It cost 25 billion US dollars, 55% of that cost was on the construction and 45% was on the re-location of the 1.3 million that were in the way. The dam is a controversial project as it’s obvious that it has irrevocably changed the landscape and the movement of people has irrevocably changed the lives, and probably the culture, of many. But it’s hard to think of a way that could create the amount of energy that the dam does without more coal or nuclear power stations - neither of which seems an attractive alternative having seen the pollution that covers a whole lot of China already. It’s main purpose is supposed to be flood protection but apparently lots of the tributaries downstream flood, so it’s debatable.
Our cruise was a lovely way to recuperate from the cold of Tibet. I’m not sure that the scenery was as dramatic as we thought that it might be, but it was nice and it was interesting to see the realities of the largest planned flooding and relocation of
people.
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