Three Gorges

Chongqing
Another day, another train - this time the overnight train to Chongqing in Sichuan province. We were initially troubled to find that we were to be sharing our 4-birth soft class cabin with a small child (accompanied by his parents), but actually he was extremely well behaved so didn't interrupt our sleep. Instead this was disturbed by the cabin attendant who woke us up a good hour before we arrived at our destination at 6am. [A short aside on children's toilet habits in China: it appears to be the custom for toddlers to wear trousers with no gusset and no pants or nappy. This conveniently allows them to urinate and/or defecate whenever and wherever they need, including in the middle of a busy street or market.]



We arrived in Chongqing on time but dazed, confused and starving. Unfortunately we had no idea where to go, no guidebook and a good eleven hours to kill before we could board the boat for our Yangtze river cruise. We started by ordering a bowl of killer spicy noodles with assistance from a friendly local who could manage a few words of English – it was looking like communication was going to be considerably harder here than in Beijing or Xi'an. Richard then ingeniously managed to buy a town map and although it was all in Mandarin we decided that the obelisk looking thing might be downtown and finally we got a taxi to agree to take us there. It turned out to be an excellent guess and we soon found ourselves in the central square surrounded by elderly ladies doing their early morning Tai Chi and in sight of both the Golden Arches and a KFC. However, as the thought of sitting on our rucksacks all day didn't appeal, and there was no sign of left luggage at the station, we checked into the nearest hotel. A bit flashpackery I know, but it was worth it for a shower and free internet.




Chongqing is situated on a rock peninsula at the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers. However, the pollution is so bad that despite our hotel room being on the 19th floor all we could see of the rivers was a white haze. There didn't seem to be much to do for tourists which was evident by the fact we didn't see another westerner all day. However, we enjoyed quick walk around the park, listening to the twittering of birds in cages and the beautiful sound of the Chinese hacking cough followed by a powerful spit. Richard was relieved to get me past the cages of puppies for sale without me buying one.



At around 7pm we jumped in a taxi brandishing the address of the dock for our boat written in Mandarin. We arrived at what we were assured was Pier 3 and proceeded through a security check and down a cable car to the dock side. (All of the piers are currently considerably below the level of towns to allow for the rising level of the Yangtze as a result of the Three Gorges Dam project.) We were a bit suspicious that something was amiss when we could see no sign of our our boat, The Emperor, and no sign of any other western tourists. After some rather frustrating attempts and conversation with the staff at the pier, a panicked phone call to our travel agent in Beijing, and a frantic run to Pier 9 (to which our boat had been relocated), we finally made aboard. We knew that we were in the right place this time as we were greeted with a chorus of drums and a dragon.



Yangtze River Cruise
We were in two minds as to whether doing the cruise was a good idea, fearing that we would be in tacky tour group hell, with badly performed cabarets, talent shows and audience participation games. We were not disappointed and all of the above were included with the extra special addition of early morning muzak wake up calls over the PA, announcements telling you to go to dinner or attend a Chinese embroidery demonstration.



Despite this, it still manages to be quite a magical experience watching the majestic Yellow river drift by look up in awe at the towering gorges. You also feel quite lucky to be here now as by this time next year the river should be another 30 meters higher because of the dam, potentially diminishing some of the grandeur.



We had two half day excursions – the first to Fengdu, a temple complex nicknamed “the City of Ghosts”, which is a little disneyesque and nothing to write home about. However, the second, a boat trip through the Little Three Gorges was lovely – the rising water level has turned this once shallow, fast moving tributary, into a long, thin lake. Eventually it becomes a river once more, and we transferred to small traditional wooden boats which were rowed up the narrow gorge by a team of six boatmen. When the river gets too shallow and rapid for rowing they jump out and pull the boat via a series of ropes – extremely hard work. In olden days they used to do this in the buff to avoid chaffing. Unfortunately they now wear clothes so as not to shock the tourists, although given the eldest was a sprightly eighty perhaps this is a good thing.



On the final day, we had a tour of the Three Gorges Dam. The guide wheeled off a series of mind boggling facts – The world's largest hydro-electric power station, the dam measures 185m high and 2km wide. The project is expected to have cost just under 30 billion USD and has required over 1 million people to be relocated When complete it is expected to produce 22.5 gigawatts, improve navigation of the river and provide a significant defence to flooding which has had a devastating impact on millions of people in the past. However, you probably only need 15 minutes to visit the site rather than the hour we got.



In all, provided you approach the tacky parts tongue in cheek it was a worthwhile experience. We particular enjoyed the rendition of Michael Jackson's Thriller by one tour group in the talent show and the chance to strut our stuff on the dance floor in the tacky disco.