Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
By 7.30 this morning we were passing through the Qutang gorge, the first of the 3 gorges, and even though it was hugely misty and raining, we all stood on the top deck and watched the fantastic gorge walks come, then disappear into the fog. It was really impressive but could have been so much better had the sun been out and we could actually see the tops of the amazing mountain range and gorges surrounding us! The Qutang gorge is only 8 km long and is home to the 'emperor city' who's picture features on the front of the 10 yuan note. After passing through the first gorge and having breakfast we moved on to the lesser 3 gorges that spur off of the main river, by smaller boat. The water gets narrower, the walls higher and sights even better. Though it carried on raining, the visibility got a bit better and we could start to properly appreciate the three gorges, as we entered under he red arch bridge and into the first one. - the 'dragon gate gorge'. The second little gorge was called 'misty gorge' and home to the hanging coffins. These coffins have been there for thousands of years and how they got there is still a mystery, scientists and historians still have no logical solution as to how they got there as they're suspended by ropes inside caves in the cliff side, hundreds if feet up (check out the pics!) important people were buried this way by local tribes at the time and the only feasible explanation is that the level of the river was much higher all that time ago, or that they used ropes to somehow lower them in?! I got some really good pictures ( on my amazing new camera ) and we spent a few hours on the small boat sailing around the 'little 3 gorges' including the last one called the 'emerald gorge' named because of the emerald colored water it features.
We returned to the boat and went through 'wu' the second gorge, and spent the rest of the day pottering around on board and had the captains farewell banquet in the evening which consisted of loads of local Chinese dishes continuously brought to the table, and needless to say, was really good!
We had a couple of beers that night to help us try and stag awake until 12, when the ship would be passing through the lock. We made it stood for hours at the back of the boat in amazement as we went trough the biggest ships lock in the world. Though the gorges were amazing, this was my highlight! It consists if 5 consecutive locks and we were crammed into a little pen with 3 other ships and watched as the huge gates in front if us closed and the eater started to empty out. I knew it would be impressive but it actually nearly rendered me speechless as we started to drop 150 meters over the 5 locks, over 4 hours in the middle if the night lot by floodlights and the other ships. It was amazing and the engineering involved is absolutely incredible, it's part of the 3 gorges project which also includes the dam and took 19 years to complete. The pictures simply don't do it justice!
We stayed up until about 3 in the morning watching the locks pass, then was woken again at 6am as we were passing the dam and entering the last of the 3 gorges ' xiling gorge '. The dam is the biggest in the world, not size wise but due to the efficiency and amount of electricity if produces. We got off the boat and onto a coach for a tour of the project, going up to the highest viewing point over looking the dam and locks for an incredible view across the vastness if the whole project , so big in fact, that they had to redirect the river whilst building, an their next step is to add a ships lift that literally lower ships sown the entire length of the locks in 40 minutes, impressive considering the locks take 4 hours. We returned to the boat and ventured into the last gorge before ending our journey in Yichang and getting ready to start our journey to Wuhan. A five and a half hour bus journey away.
It was an amazing few days and gorges were amazing, the weather was unfortunate but we made the most of it and it was an amazing experience. Since the gorges, paddy's joining us for Wuhan and shanghai, we had a nightmare getting transport from the boat to the bus station in Yichang 30 minutes away. Paddy had booked through a different company and her transfer bus had failed to turn up, so we refused to leave her in an abandoned ships dock, by herself and ended up cramming 6 of us plus bags into a minibus after a lot of hassle a few arguments! We went through tiny villages, on pot holed dirt roads to get to yichang bus station but just about made in1 piece and got our bus to Wuhan!
- comments