Cruising the Yangtze

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From Shanghai, we flew to Yichang to board the Century Star.

Besides us four Canadians, passengers consisted of two Australians, a small group of Germans, and mostly Chinese. The boat has a capacity of 306 passengers and we were told that there were 307 aboard.The breakfast buffet the first morning was a real eye-opener with people pushing and shoving as if they had not eaten for days.

Our cabin was spacious and well-appointed however many of the Chinese passengers smoked, a lot, which sometimes made even our cabin uncomfortable.

I was disappointed to find we hadn't left the pollution behind. The Yangtze is vast, third in size after the Nile and Amazon, and we sailed through some lovely scenery that would have been even better without the constant haze of pollution.

From the boat we went on a number of interesting tours that included Wu Gorge and the Goddess Stream, and the Three Gorges Dam. Disappointingly, we went through the locks beside the dam at night so were too tired to stay up and watch much of the proceedings.

Estimates range from 1.5 to 2 million people displaced when the water filled the gorges and valleys behind the Three Gorges Dam. Many of them have moved to Chongqing which has a population of 33 million; about the same as Canada!

Some of the more interesting signs we have read include:

"Have clothes easy to rescue the body on," (on a small boat we were on).

"Throw away a rubbish not arbitrarily."

"Disposable rubbish," (on a bin).

And "The rail danger. Please do not trust in," (at the top of a pagoda).

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Photos

Yangtze river
Entrance to the Gorge

Crane
Having trouble taking off

Wu Gorge
Side trip in the rain