Our Victoria boat on the evening we boarded in Chongqing
We’re not cruise people. We know that. Some years ago we had a fabulous time on a cruise in the Galapagos, but that seemed likely to be the exception more than the rule. Still, we’d always heard such great things about the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River and we figured it would be a good way for Mark to rest his knee while recovering. So we gave it a shot.
The highlight for me was a little side trip up a small river on a small boat with a few of our shipmates
The other highlight is making new friends, easier in a confined environment like a cruise. Here are Peter and Lauren, new friends from British Columbia.
The Three Gorges Dam is an interesting story. Damming the Yangtze was first suggested by Sun Yat-sen – founding father of the Republic of China – nearly 100 years ago. After a lot of talk and dreaming, construction actually began in 1994 and the dam was completed in 2012. At this point it is the world’s largest power station, while the reservoir it created covers nearly 250 square miles.
At the same time, the project is highly controversial (though, not surprisingly, you wouldn’t have known that from what we heard from tour guides and ship personnel). The reservoir displaced some 1.3 million people, buried important archeological and cultural sites, and changes various wildlife and flora patterns. At the same time hydroelectric power is certainly better than the coal-powered plants China has otherwise relied on. And controlling flooding on the Yangtze will same many lives over the years. Some pretty significant pluses and minuses.
And so we saw it. Or saw two of the gorges, as much as was possible given the fog and rain. But we’re happier making our own arrangements and being independent; it’ll probably be a while before we do another cruise.
Going through the first gorge. That highest, pointed peak is the image on the back side of a 10 yuan bill.
Our side trip up a little river was beautiful and peaceful. The steady procession of all the other boats doing the same thing somehow added to the experience.
This picture was supposed to show how the picture on the back of the 10 yuan bill is the same as the mountain in back. Amusingly, we have a similar picture of Mark from the Li River near Yangshuo with the 20 yuan bill. The fog interfered with that great plan, though.
One piece of evidence for the massive growth in China in recent years is the number of massive new bridges spanning the Yangtze River.
Nightly entertainment on the Victoria was, well, entertaining
Our final stop was the Three Gorges Dam itself. Here Mark is standing on a viewing platform to see the locks. Oops – too much fog!
And here he is next to the damn dam itself. After all that we really couldn’t see much at all.
Finally, one last view of the first gorge, this time from a temple we went ashore to before entering the area