The second half of my May vacation was a boat trip up and down the Three Gorges part of the Yangtze River. On Thursday we (Becky, Zach, Destin, Linda a Chinese friend and I) left Wuhan for Yichang where we got on the boat. It was only a four hour bus ride but another four hours of waiting before we left and once we got to Yichang. When we finally got on the boat we were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was! Our rooms were much better than a lot of the hostels I’ve stayed in here. There were two beds in each room and a private bathroom with a toilet and hot water. That’s luxury! After eating a delicious supper of instant noodles (a few steps up from Ramen) we explored the boat. The top of the boat had the best view. In an hour or so we were in a lock. After about 7 or 8 boats floated into the narrow chamber, it started filling up with water. We rose about 30 meters (there were markers on the wall) then the doors opened and out we went. It was a pitch black night so we went back to our rooms to go to bed.
The next morning I was very excited to wake up and see beautiful mountains and cliffs outside my bedroom window. The first time I woke up (thanks to the hordes of children running up and down the hallway) I peeked out the curtains and my only view was a cement wall. We were in another lock. I rolled over and went back to sleep expecting things would improve. An hour later it was the same. We didn’t appear to have moved at all. I got dressed, grabbed my breakfast and a book and went to the top of the boat. Sure enough, we were in another lock with again about 7 or 8 other boats. I was glad that my room was on the wall side. When Becky and Zach woke up, they were looking into someone else’s room on another boat. We stayed there for two more hours. Linda translated the message over the loudspeaker that they were waiting for the wind to calm down before letting us out. And windy it was! Within about twenty minutes of leaving the protection of the lock, everyone had to leave the top of the boat. The plastic chairs were threatening to blow over board! So we just went to the balcony on our floor. Around lunch time we went around a bend and the wind wasn’t so strong anymore.
In the afternoon, we got off the big boat and went on a smaller, faster passenger ferry that was shaped like a torpedo. We zipped up river to get on another boat to go on a tour of the Small Three Gorges. Becky, Zach and I choose the seats on the top of the boat in the sunshine which were shunned by the Chinese for fear of a suntan. We had a beautiful view of the river and the surrounding cliffs. One of the most interesting things we saw was the hanging coffins. The group of people who had lived there thousands of years ago buried their dead in boxes and put those boxes in holes in the sides of the cliffs. How they put them there is unknown. At the end of the ride, we got to watch the sun slip behind the cliffs. We had time to go on the shore for supper. It was so much better than the instant noodles and PBJ that we had been eating for the last two days.
About 9:30 we got back on the big boat. Destin and I went to our room. We talked and read for a while, then went to bed around 11. I was just starting to fall asleep (hordes of children running up and down the hallway still) when someone was knocking on our door. At first I thought it was one of the kids but then I heard Linda’s voice. She told us that everyone was getting off the boat to go to someplace. We had no idea what the place was but we said ok. Everyone looked really tired and not very excited about going to the mystery place. As we were waiting to get on another smaller boat we found out it was a temple. The thing with temples in China is once you’ve seen one or two, you’ve seen them all but Chinese people love them. So there we were on a boat at midnight on our way to a temple when we would have rather been in our beds asleep. To get the temple we had to go up about 14 million steps (I counted). There were guys with chairs offering to carry you up for a price. I joked that they charged 2 yuan per jin (half a kilo) which is how we normally buy our fruits and veggies. The temple wasn’t all that exciting (no surprise). The highlights were the display of bones from some hanging coffins and ink prints they make from stone carvings. Even though it was almost two in the morning when we left there were still vendors out there hoping someone would buy something from them.
The next morning we were all a little tired (I can’t imagine why). I took my breakfast and a book to the top of the boat again. This morning the scenery was much better. As I was trying to enjoy my book and the view, some guy decided that I needed to give his daughter an English lesson. It was terrible. She spoke even less English than I speak Chinese which isn’t much at all. Then dad pulled out the video camera. I had already used up three of the four basic questions. Luckily she could understand “what is your favorite fruit – shui gua?” “Banana, apple”. Wow! What a performance. Then Destin and I decided that we should get some lunch.
Before we could get any lunch, we had arrived at the dam. When I say the dam, the mean THE DAM. It’s a huge 2000m long, 185 meter high monstrosity that will eventually displace 1.5 million people and ruin the scenery along the river. It will also produce electricity equivalent to 18 nuclear power plants. All for the cost of $20 billion (give or take a few billion). We paid a lot of money to go on the tour of it (more than I’ve paid for any other tourist site here) and it wasn’t worth it at all. We just drove around on buses and got to take pictures of the dam at four different places. It was kind of a let down at the end of the trip but it didn’t help that we were all overtired and the weather was hot and muggy.
After our less than fascinating tour, we got on a bus and headed back to Wuhan. We got back around 10. I packed up and went to bed. The next morning was an early one. My flight back to Beijing left at 8:20. Zach walked me to the airport bus that left at 6:20. I was so tired, that I fell sound asleep on the plane. I don’t even remember taking off. I didn’t wake up until breakfast was served and only then because the flight attendant woke me up.
It was nice to be back in Beijing. Bernie was already back at home after her adventurous vacation with Paula the dog. (She’s still missing a patch of fur…) I met Kim for lunch and we compared vacation stories. Then I planned my class for later that afternoon and walked over to school. After class I had study at Jon’s apartment. I was so sick of walking I stopped at every bike shop on the way looking for a cheap bike. Finally I found one for a mere 150RMB (about $18). The color can only be described as hot peptobismo pink! I’ll have to take a picture before it gets stolen…
