Arriving in Wuhan by train and then transferring onto a bus which took us up the Yangtze river to Yichang, was the first really large scale city I traveled through. A massive concrete jungle split by the Yangtze delta into three different parts, one dominated by government, one by business and one by industry. Traffic jams here are as bad if not worse than anywhere in the world and even the use of electric buses cannot resolve the problem or pollution. This was also Anton's current home town. The smog and concrete made the city look less than impressive, though the first crossing of the Yangtze is always impressive, like crossing the Mekong in Vietnam.
The 1 and half hour drive to Yichang is not worth noting, but the arrival at our hotel was particularly notable. Again our lazy tour tour guide arranged to have us dropped off near the hotel instead of the bus station. This probably happened while talking with the bus driver to keep him awake after his head started dipping. The road where the hotel was located had been turned into a construction zone and the adjacent building flattened. All except for one household which seemed to be holding out against the march of progress. So we ambled along the dirt road, around construction debry's with our heavy backpacks to the hotel. Another over priced and not spectacular three star hotel. Yichang is not a city with sites and is little more than the starting point for tours up the Yangtze river and the three gorges. The Yangtze runs along the side of the city at about twenty metres below the shore line level. Leaving a large concrete sloping wall exposed on both side from which the locals fish and observe the passing water. Along the shore there is also part where after dark the people coalesced, had a small fair, and sent fire lanterns into the sky. Weary after such a lot of travelling and shopping for three days food we rose to our lofts and watched the late night workers do further destruction on the paper walls that posed as buildings.
The following morning it was up early, some quick fresh hand made noodles at a street stall, before hopping in a taxi to the dock. Getting on the boat was easy enough but the boat itself was less than impressive. The boat had seen its fair share of use, the cabins were small and weathered even in first class, and poor Anton as tour guide had
to pay for his own room other wise he just gets a piece of floor somewhere. The boat is also aimed at Chinese tourist as opposed to the wealthy westerners, that come past, so that we and a few other represented the western world on the boat.After setting into our cabins we endeavoured to go to the foredeck and were promptly refused entry as it was a VIP zone. A quick word to Anton and ten minutes later we had new passes giving us access to the foredeck were we watched the city of Yichang pass by. Going back to the aft deck we got a look of looks from the Chinese population and a whole group of them burst out laughing when they saw my hairy legs. I didn't really appreciate that as at first I didn't know what they were laughing about and then be came very self conscious. I am sure that was not their intention though.
The Yangtze river is of course the site of the infamous Three Gorges Dam which is the largest dam project in the world. There is plenty of information available online about the size and scale of the project and so it was with anticipation that we progressed upstream. At first you pass through the locks of a supplementary dam which was built to test the larger three gorges dam, and see if it was possible to dam the Yangtze. Apparently so!
A further 30 min upstream you approach the locks of the dam, which sits on the other
side of a small hill to the main wall. As we went through the lock the boat was quite quiet as the rest of the passengers left to have a guided tour of the Dam (our guide advised us not to take the tour as it was in Chinese and not very interesting) So we went with the boat through the five locks of the dam with 5 other boats simultaneously. Each lock is a couple of hundred meters long and 40 to 50 meter wide. The locks raised us from 56 meter to 145 meter above sea level as we progressed through the first four locks. The fifth one has been built but not in use as the last stage of filing the dam occurs in 2009, which will raise the water level to 175 meters. I could write more about them but I think the pictures say enough. The thing is huge. The only thing that disappoints is
that due to the supplementary dam you can't see the full extent of the height of the front dam wall. There has of course been much criticism about the dam and it impacts but it remains a stupendous piece of engineering.Finally passing the the final lock several hours after we had entered the first, it is interesting to note that even with this delay it is quicker to put trucks onto boata, ferry the through the locks and upstream to Chongqing than it is to drive there directly. One of the sub projects of the three gorges dam is to improve the road infrastructure along the Yangtze to facilitate increased trading up and downstream
(the other is a pipeline transferring water to Manchuria a few thousand kilometers away.)
Well after sunset the rest of the passengers invaded the boat again and we retired to our rooms for some card games and chit chat. The next morning we cruised further up the river stopping at various point to allow the Chinese tourists to get off to tour the various temples on the way. Anton had advised us that it wasn't that interesting and it also gave us some time alone on the boat, at which point Anton also discussed China with us. At one such stop for a few hours we lamented the fact that we had an Ipod but no speakers to attached to it. But somehow through a sequence of events that I can't remember we managed to get hold of a Megaphone on the boat. With this tool in our hands and a little bit of sticky tape we manage to create our own PA system. Which proved to be quite effective and we held our own little party with this improvised contraption for the rest of the day and night. There is a video of us somewhere, partying on the back the back of the boat.
During this time we also proceeded through the three gorges. The three gorges are three consecutive regions of the Yangtze where mountains and cliffs become prominent
on both side of the river. The area is too moutainous to house large cities so there is a lot of natural forest, some farmland and many temples and traditional buildings. Of course there used to be more in the region as many buildings were destroyed before being submerged in the lake formed behind the dam. The area is quite beautiful and one of the gorges appears on the 10 yuan note. In some sections you can see coffins placed on ledges high in the cliffs that have been there for thousands of years. Some of these will be submerged in the final stage of the rise of the Yangtze, and work is apparently being undertaking to remove these coffins to protect them. This process is apparently being undertaken in accordence with the wishes of the traditional communities in the area from which they arose.The one additional tour that we did take was into the mini three gorges as Anton advised that not only is it interesting but will be totally a submerged after the final stage of the dam is complete. This involved transferring to another boat which
took us up a side river for a few hours. The whole time we were given information in Chinese about the gorges and everybody packed the outside decks to see things. Anton filled in a few bits for us he thought was significant. At the entry to the mini three gorges we transferred to small 20 person boats to head up the small gorge. The small river with cliff and steep mountains on either side is beautiful but apparently it is already not as impressive than it was before the dam was built. More entertaining was the very enthousiastic guide, on our small boat, who sang for us and also gave us the opportunity to dress up in traditional clothing including spear and sheild for a photo opportunity. Some of the Chinese took up the opportunity but we westerners balked at the prospect. Turning around and heading back down the mini three gorges, we where greeted with the singing by three staff from the main boat who had left before everyone else to prepare for their performance. Sometimes the tourism here seems very contrived.On the return trip to the main river, the Chinese were encouraged/told to stay on the downstairs floor of the boat where product were offered for sale with accompanying commentary, and occasional singing, all projected through the ships PA system. After about 30 min of this it became rather annoying and wearying, that the only option was to wait outside on the upper deck in the light rain, to escape the noise. The deck was now empty which meant that it was much easier to appreciate the scenery.
Returning to the main boat we headed further upstream to a city were we had dinner on
shore. we ate fish, which was hot and very delicious, though not to the taste of all. Returning to the boat, we prepared for the long haul back to Yichang. Originally we would continue further up the Yangtze to Chongqing, however the earthquake prevented us from going as the government closed the area for tourism. So we saw many of the sites that we saw on the way up the river and travelled through the locks a second time. Much of this time we talked, played cards, amongst ourselves and with some of the locals.
We returned to the same hotel, still in a construction site that we stayed in before and went out to dinner eating some snail, which again were very spicy, messy and worked up a considerable sweat. The after a little free time the youngn's of the group went out to a nightclub across the road and sang 'Country road, take me home' with the locals. Early in the morning Anton decided he wanted to take two of us to Karaoke and so we left the other to find a karaoke bar. Unfortunately the prices in the area were two high and so that plan quickly fell from the table. and instead Anton became hungry again so we went out for another late night snack. More delicious spicy fish and bbq lamb skewers. Mmmmmn! I love the late night Chinese snack!
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