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The Three Gorges cruise we had booked with Victoria Cruises (via Wendy Wu in Sydney) was our first exposure to 'organised' Chinese travel. I think 'organised' must mean something else here judging by the farcical nature of our transfer from Yichang Ferry Terminal to the boat itself. We made it there through luck rather than by virtue of any information provided - the 'embarkation' at the ferry terminal eventually turned out to be not to a boat but to a bus which drove us 2 hours further up the river where we eventually got on the Victoria Grace and promptly reduced the average age of passengers on the boat by a good twenty years.
If we thought the passengers were old they had nothing on the cruise director who looked like he retired from working in the US 10 years ago and decided to live out his retirement by pretending to be a nice man to his elderly passengers and then shouting at his young Chinese staff every time most of his guests were out of hearing range. I don't think he had anticipated our young ears. The cruise was also structured to appeal to that audience, with a range of interesting activities in the afternoon such as guest lecturers and commentary as we sailed through key points of the Gorges. The evening entertainment on the boat was something that wouldn't be out of place at a Butlins holiday complex (or a Peruvian train to Puno) - dance and fashion shows, a cabaret night with the worst attempt at magic I've ever seen, and a dress up like an Emperor evening. All of which were entertaining in their own way when enough Jacobs Creek is consumed.
A lot of the passengers were amusing as well - I think being older and retired many of them had complaining down to a fine art as they must have very little else to do with their time. But they didn't complain to the cruise people, they just complained to each other constantly. Whinging might be a better description. The transfer had been a nightmare (I'll give them that). There weren't enough seats on the boat. The Chinese tourists from the boat were hogging the best seats. It was raining and they didn't want to get wet. There were too many steps to the temple on the top of the mountain in FengDu. Every little thing totally consumed them in a giant whinge, until the next irritant came along. If you didn't laugh I swear you could get caught up in it and become a bitter retiree overnight. We were very lucky to be assigned a restaurant table with four other reasonably young people who found the whole thing as amusing as us. Each of our local tour guides spoke excellent, but accented English, and had all been taught to spell out the words that people didn't understand which along with the whinging, became a theme of conversation over dinner. That's D.I.N.N.E.R. Dinner. Ahh, you probably had to be there….
However, this was all an amusing distraction - the main reason to take the boat was not for the entertainment (organised or otherwise) but to see the three gorges themselves, and they did not disappoint. We began with a trip to the Three Gorges dam - 'the largest water conservancy project ever undertaken by human being!' - which created the landscape which we would be sailing through for the next four days. It took 17 years to complete the project which cost $US 27 billion, 40% of which was spent on relocating 1.39 million people whose homes - indeed whole cities - were submerged when the dam caused the water level in the Three Gorge section of the Yangtzee river to rise 75 metres.
According to the Lonely Planet, China controls about 7% if the worlds water, but has 20% of the world's population. Water is being used up at a rate of knots through farming and industry, and the Government needed to do something big to help conserve water. The Three Gorges dam was it. The dam is also a hydroelectric power plant which creates enough power to keep most of the surrounding area (including Shanghai) in electricity. It also plays an important role in flood control along the river, and has significantly improved the navigational conditions for boats that carry supplies between the cities of Yichang and Chongqing.
But it is not without controversy - as well as the displacement of so many local people ('the most ever in a single dam project' our local guide proudly shared with us), the dam has created a new local weather system (mostly fog and rain based because of the increased water in the area), and had huge impact on wildlife with a local breed of dolphin dying off completely, and local fish having to be artificially bred outside the river because they can no longer migrate up and down stream to have their babies the way they always have because this great big dam is in the way.
The dam is really huge - 2.35 km long, and 185 metres high. It takes ships 4 hours to pass through the five stage locks at the side of the dam, and it has created a reservoir upstream that is over 600 kilometres long. The reservoir is bigger than the length of England - it's another reminder of just how huge China is. The dam itself wasn't that interesting to look at - particularly as it was very foggy when we arrived and you could barely see the other side. But it was great context for the next three days as we travelled upstream on the Yangzi river as we tried to get our head around how much the area had changed since the dam opened in 2003.
The pattern of life on the boat was trip in the morning, buffet lunch, afternoon lectures, happy hour, buffet dinner then entertainment and lights out by 10pm. As well as a trip to the dam we also went out on a smaller boat along one of the Yangzi tributaries to see the lesser three gorges (and then the mini three gorges) - each one supposed to be more beautiful than the main gorges themselves. The effect was somewhat spoiled by a singing boatman dressed up in authentic costume made from palm trees but it was still spectacular. I don't think any of the photos we took (and can't upload until we get back to the UK) will do the scenery justice - although the fog and mist created an eerie backdrop for the mountains, it doesn't really photograph well.
Our final trip was to FengDu, the ghost city. FengDu was a city of 50,000 inhabitants on the north bank of the river. It is now on the South bank of the river - all 50,000 people were moved to the higher ground on the opposite bank and the original city was submerged. That's not why it is called the city though. The original city had an old Buddist and Taoist temple complex located on the top of the mountain which contains a temple to the 'God of Hell', who oversees the organisation and associated admin of dealing with the souls of the departed, which is where the name ghost city comes from. It's one of the oldest original temple structures in China because during the Cultural revolution the soldiers were too scared to destroy the ghostly temple. The temples are gradually being 'restored' which seems to mean something different here - more of a rebuild and paint in bright new colours to make them look shiny and new, rather than carefully restore to original glory. We had to climb over 800 steps to get up and down from the temple but they gave us a golf buggy to take us the 5 minute walk from the boat to the temple entrance. Very odd.
And so three days and 600 kilometres later we arrived in the port of Chongqing - after the excitement of dressing up in a fake Emporer costume, we had retired with our last bottle of overpriced Jacob's Creek and were sat on the balcony with an excellent view of the city. Like the other Chinese cities we have been to so far the first thing you notice is the towerblocks. These are primarily for residential use and we counted over 50 of them in the north of the City alone. Chongqing is sometimes (incorrectly) referred to as the largest city in the world. There are 33 million residents of Chongqing, but Chongqing is actually a municipality, and 'only' five million live in the city itself. It's amazing to be in a city of so many people that the vast majority of people in England have never even heard of.
We were here because Jon was very keen to try one of the hotpots that the area is famous for. After checking in at our hostel we noticed a free walking tour was departing that morning and signed up. Again, this was like no other free walking tour we had done so far - because it was a free walking tour up to a temple on the top of a mountain. Chongqing is also apparently known as one of the four furnaces of the Yangzi, with humidity reaching 90-95% in summer. It's not quite summer, but not quite 90% humidity is still pretty hot. The views over the city started off spectacularly, but from our vantage point we could see the clouds coming in, and the rain started. We took shelter in a local restaurant for lunch that we wouldn't even consider stopping at if we had been on our own - everything was ordered off menu, and we shared a 10 dish banquet - basically in someone's front room - for the pricely sum of £1.90.
When we got back to the hostel we both agreed that hot showers rather than hot pot was the priority, and spent the evening in the hostel with a couple of beers chatting to an English couple who had also done the walk with us that day.
Next up we are taking the train to Chengdu to hang out with some pandas, and try to figure out how we can factor watching the Champions League final to our plans….
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