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Yangtze River,
This was probably the least exciting part of the China trip. Things weren´t helped as both of us were pretty ill at different times on the boat...still we managed to enjoy some of the experience.
Our river cruise covered 3 days starting at Chongqing. What to say about Chongqing...30 million people apparently,and the pollution to show for it! Most of the Yangtze river is similarly polluted and at times
it can be difficult to see the buildings and people on the banks due to the "smog fog". Day one was uneventful except for a trip to Chinas "Ghost City", Fengdu.
This is where the Chinese believe they go when they die. Now it is just a few temples on top of a mountain but previously it was a real city. The old city of
Fengdu had to be relocated as part of the 3 Gorges Dam project (which involves using the Yangtze River Valley Basin as a giant resavoir-another example of Chinese environmental awareness!!).
Day 2 was actually quite interesting and this was when we passed through the actual 3 gorges. See pictures for details but I have to say they are an impressive site. We disembarked for a few hours to travel on a smaller boat up one of
the smaller side gorges. This is where we came across the Longmen, men whose job it isto literally pull boats up the river. 6 men pulling a boat full of Western tourists is not the prettiest site. You have to wonder how much damage they do to themselves.
Night 2 saw us spend 3 hours going through the ship locks of the actual dam. From a engineering point of view the dam is amazing but from a scenery and general environment point of view it is an eyesore. It was a unique experience to be having a drink on top deck inside a giant resavoir though.
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