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30th March, 2001
Yangtze ! Yangtze ! An Exciting River Cruise From Chungking To Wuhan.
The Yangtze River water, laden with silt, carrying the yellow earth down to the sea, was in stark contrast to the clear mountain waters we had seen during our visit to Dazu. Our first glimpse of the river was from a good vantage point on the upper levels of the peninsular, when we were taken to see a Transmitter Station, and from where we could see the mist shrouded waters below. To get to our boat on the day of the cruise, we walked down a series of wide concrete steps, down which porters had hauled our heavy luggage, and there were many more porters waiting for us, hoping to earn a few extra yuan by taking our hand luggage to the boat.
There are hardly any "statistics", technical or otherwise, on these Yangtze pages, but from the photographs ( Not in chronological order) and short comments, you may have a glimpse of life on the river and embankment, which will soon disappear as the water levels rise on completion of the new, "Three Gorges' Dam".
Clicking on the photos will take you to larger copies in new windows, use your back button to return here. Enjoy your cruise !
Our cruise boat named, "White Emperor", on its maiden voyage down the Yangtze, gleamed and sparkled when compared with the other river traffic we saw during the course of our journey. This photo was taken in Wuhan, at the end of our cruise from Chungking.
Before we started, there was a good opportunity to see the local people boarding other Yangtze boats, large enough to carry hundreds of passengers, whose luggage probably included a few ducks, and perhaps a piglet or two.
Is this a boat or a landing stage ? Whichever it is, courage would seem to be needed to walk the planks over the treacherous waters, to get on board.
These small motorised cargo boats, one loaded with coal, had an easier time moving against the current than the ancient boats with their oarsmen and sails.
Oars and sails were still in use, needing much skill with steerage to avoid the more treacherous eddies. There was no visible means of access to the small white house on the cliff, but as we passed, a man worked on the terraced plots of ground.
There was as much interest in the country's "Guests" as they had in the passengers and crews of other boats, perhaps understandable on seeing a flag bedecked cruiser on its maiden voyage.
On the morning of the second day we made our approach to the three gorges, with the sun breaking through the clouds to welcome us.
We arrived safely at the Gezhouba Dam, waiting our turn to leave the lock as the gates slowly opened. On arrival at Yichang we were shown a film about the construction of the dam, which was really quite impressive, with the spectacular scenes at the end when the final closure was made by dumping massive boulders into the angry waters. We were also taken to another gorge where the shallow river of mountain water was as clear as crystal !
There are three other Yangtze pages to be seen. Just click the links below !
