Ship to Yichang Airport - 23rd October 2007

After lunch we disembarked from the ship and we were not impressed that we had to walk up a very steep hill to find our bus - 500 metres they told us (500 Chinese metres that is) - More like a kilometre. Our Chinese guide showed us around Yichang City by bus then we stopped at a park to fill in some time before going to the airport to meet our plane.

We had a nice relaxing time there walking through the park checking out the locals resting up and playing cards (photos attached) we played on the gym equipment (photos attached) and had icecreams (photo attached) as we walked along the waterfront.

We arrived at the airport in plenty of time to catch our plane to Beijing which thankfully left on time.

Three Gorges Dam - 23rd October 2007

This was our last day on the ship. During the morning we had our third off shore excursion being a visit to the Three Gorges Dam project. It was an amazing piece of engineering and well worth the visit to see the magnitude of the place.

We were able to view the dam & the locks (through the smog). We noticed that they were very careful with security around the dam and we had to enter through a security check on the way in.

They had some good displays and many places to walk & view the project. They had a large rock on display outside the main area (see photo attached). It was collected off the bottom of the river when the project first started.

The Three Gorges - 22nd October 2007

Today was our second offshore excursion being a river cruise to see the famous Three Gorges. We joined our Ferry Boat at the wharf which took us down the Daning River to the entrance to the Dragon Gate Gorge the first of the three gorges.

Our English speaking guide explained how the water is to rise to the 175 metre mark that is shown all along the river bank. Millions of people were moved to a higher ground so that this project could be done. You can see by the attached photos that the city was moved high above the intended water mark and a lot of work is still going on to shore up the sides of the gorges so that the water can rise safely.
The photo of the bridge over the Denning River shows the height that the water will go & it will be level with the bridge which is hard to imagine.

The Dragon Gate Gorge was fantastic with many interesting things pointed out along the way including a cave on the river bank that was used to hide treasures.

The next Gorge was the Misty Gorge & was just as beautiful. This was followed by the Emerald Gorge - magic. Along the way we saw the "Hanging Coffins"; limestone cliffs and in the heavily folliged areas there were small brown monkeys. They were hard to see at first but then we spotted some quite large families living along the river banks. We did not see a lot of bird life along the way.

There were a few little villages and remote farms along the way. The water was green & much cleaner than the Yangtze River where our big boat was moored.

Overall we had a great day and enjoyed the excursion through the gorges. The only downer for the day was that Fred lost his camera on the Ferry Boat.

To add a little salt to our wounds the "Yangtze boat moored next to our "Blue Whale" and their passengers had to disembark through our boat. You can see by the photo attached the difference in appearance from their "Five Star" and ours. The windows and the outside of our ship needed a big steam clean which is another reason why I think our ship was bought out of storage for this trip. No self respecting Captain would allow his boat to look like that.

When we got back on the ship we adjourned to the "special" lounge for a bit of relaxation (photos attached).

Images attached: "Yangtze" & "The Blue Whale" side by side; The 'new City' moved to higher ground; the Daning river; the 175 metre marker & bridge leading to the gorges; brown monkeys on the side of the river; on our boat deck (Blue Whale); Our group inside the Ferry Boat; Along the gorges; relaxation time in our 'special' lounge.

Videos: There are three videos of the gorges that you can view on www.youtube.com/jmmtravel First one is the Emerald Gorge; Second one is a family of brown monkeys living on the water edge of the gorges; third one is the Misty Gorge. They will give you a good image of what the cruise was like.

Captain's Welcome Party - 21st Oct. 2007

At 6.30 pm we attended the Captain's Welcome Party where we shook hands with the Captain on entering the room. We were then given a complimentary drink & sat in the auditorium and listened while the Captain made a small speech in Chinese which was translated by Tony, the River Guide. As the Captain could not speak English there was no other conversation. At 7 o'clock we had dinner & then our group retired to our special lounge area for happy hour and to practice our "Talent Quest" song which Wendy was our leader. It was not a pretty sight or sound. Thank heavens we were a good way from the rest of the cabins so we did not disturb anyone with our rendition of "Advance Australia Fair" among other songs that we could not remember all the words to. We had a big day scheduled for tomorrow at the Three Gorges so we wanted to get some quality sleep tonight and be fresh tomorrow especially after the stress of the evening before.


Images attached: Happy hour in our special lounge area; our bedroom prepared for us with curtains pulled.

Fengdu- Ghost City - 21st October 2007

During the afternoon our ship docked at Fengdu where we had our first offshore excursion to see the Ghost City of Fengdu. We were allocated an English speaking guide who walked us to the Entrance. We had to take a cable car to the top of the mountain which was interesting in itself as we could see out over the Yangtze River and the surrounds.

After the cable car there were a lot of old ancient steps that led up to the ghost city and even more steps inside the passages leading to the temples and statues of all their gods etc. There were a lot of stalls selling local goods, souveneirs etc.

We stopped and watched an exhibition of strength. A local lad had to lift a very heavy stone and balance it on top of a pointed rock (pictures attached). It was very heavy & had to be manipulated in a circle & the momentum lifted it to the top. It would have required a great deal of skill & strength. All the people in the city were very small (as in most of China). Very tiny in height & stature - but very strong and are very hard workers.

We looked through their temples and statues & colourful buildings. We learned the correct way to cross the bridges and entrances through gates so as to have good luck for the rest of our lives. Females had to step with left foot first, males with right foot first. The bridge to choose depended on your wish to be healthy or rich.

There was a concrete box at the entrance to one of the temples which had a sharp point inside of it. We all had a turn of stepping into the box (without touching the sides) and balancing on one foot on the point for 15 seconds (photo attached)- not as simple as it looked.

It was a pity that we were all lacking in sleep from the night before, we would have been much more receptive on another day to all the incredible history surrounding the place. We returned to the ship in time to get ready for the Captains Welcome Party.

Images attached: A map of the Ghost City; Story of the area (you can click on the images to enlarge them to viewing size. click your 'back'key to return to this page; Unusual statue to find in a Chinese community; Our group of girls in front of the statue (you can see I am on the mobile phone speaking with Greg about our troubles and woes); going up the chairlift; concrete balancing box; various group photos; local lad demonstrating his lifting skills; our group at the Ghost City of Fengdu.