Cruising down the Three Gorges

  Chongqing, Chongqing, China
Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Our ship, the Victoria Katerina

Sunday August 3rd
Alison: We finally touched down three hours late in Chongqing and dashed out to find a taxi, Mike pushing to the front of the queue by explaining it was an emergency! The taxi driver spoke no English, but managed to understand the urgency of the situation and with his hazard lights blinking and constant beeping of his horn raced us through the crazy Chinese traffic to the boat, getting us there just by 9.00! Mike gave him a big tip and we rushed onto the boat, only to discover another big tour group had also been delayed, so they weren't leaving for another couple of hours anyway!...
Our junior suite on the boat was very comfortable as they managed to squeeze in two narrow single beds for the kids so everyone had a bed. We got ourselves a late dinner on the boat and chatted to a nice American couple who had been on the same delayed flight. It was lovely to finally get to bed, feeling the gentle rocking of the boat as it took us downstream.

Walking from the boat to Fengdu

Monday August 4th

Decorated bridges on way up to temple

Alison: We arrived in Fengdu at some early hour of the morning, and had an early start as we had an 8.00 a.m. shore excursion to the 'City of Ghosts'. This required breakfast at 7.00 which was much earlier than we had been used to on this trip, but we all coped! At the breakfast table we met the guests at our allotted table - a fabulous family from Iceland with 3 boys, the youngest one about Tom's age, and a gorgeous Finnish couple. We all got on brilliantly and the boys quickly became bosom buddies, spending hours playing together during the cruise.

We had to get up all these stairs in 1 breath

Then it was off to walk our 350 steps up the mountain to the Tang Dynasty temple of the King of the Underworld (a bit of misnomer considering how bloody high up it was!)

Mike by 1 of the Underworld ghosts

Our guide was very nice and told us lots of superstitious things to do on the way up at various stages, which was rather fun, as well as explaining the different statues and figures of Underworld beings. Rachel bought a passport to the Underworld on a huge piece of paper covered in Chinese writing - just what every girl needs!

Buying a passport to the Underworld

Finally we headed back down the steps and back onto our cruise ship, the Victoria Katerina, and collapsed on our beds for a while. Then we headed up to the Club bar on Deck 4 for an interesting talk introducing us to the Yangtze River and Three Gorges by the river guide Jeff. Actually, we should not be calling it the Yangtze at all, as that is the name it goes by locally down close to the sea and the British then applied it to the whole thing. The whole river is called Chang Jiang which means Long River, and indeed it is, being the 3rd longest river in the world after the Nile and Amazon (and now I've been on all 3 so there you go!). Anyway, he was very informative and then it was lunch time, a yummy buffet lunch with plenty of choice to keep everyone happy. We got to know our other table members even better and afterwards the kids ran around together and we relaxed. Then we played poker with the Icelandic kids upstairs in the bar and had a few drinks before going to a 4.00 lecture called 'Chinese 101' where we were introduced to some basics of Chinese language - very handy for the upcoming weeks, especially how to haggle which Mike was very keen on!

The Captain's Welcome Reception

After more relaxing in the bar, chatting to other guests and moving on down the river, we had a Captain's Welcome Reception where we were served yummy nibbles and sparkling wine in the bar and then a lovely dinner in the dining room with all sorts of delicious Chinese dishes presented to us - we certainly wouldn't be losing weight on this trip!

Just when you thought this was enough, they then put on a 'Fashion Show' for us!

Fashion Show entertainment

The crew, who are all multitalented, modelled a variety of Chinese costumes from regions and periods of Chinese History, which Rachel especially loved. She sat right at the front and took lots of photos with her camera! At this point we headed off to bed, in the knowledge that another early morning awaited us as we entered the first of the three gorges at 7.00 a.m.

Qutang Gorge

Tuesday 5th August

Alison: We were up on deck at 7.00 to watch our passing through the first gorge, called the Qutang Gorge, with Jeff giving a commentary explaining its features during the half hour it took to pass through its 8 kilometers.

The whole family in Qutang Gorge

With the Three Gorges Dam now in place and almost at full capacity it was interesting to see the tall gorges towering over us and imagine how much more spectacular it must have been when the river was way down below.

Entering the Lesser Gorges

We had breakfast at 7.30 and then at 8.45 headed onto a smaller boat to take us down the 'Lesser Gorges', which is on a tributary to the Yangtze River. These were even more spectacular as the river was narrower and the gorges more towering. We got to glimpse examples of the famous coffins placed in crevices up on the cliff face about 2000 years ago, and saw wild monkeys playing on rocks by the riverbank.

2000 year old coffins in cliff crevice

The vast majority of the area's inhabitants have all be rehoused now, but with the dam about to be pushed to full capacity in October and go up another 15 meters to 175 meters above sea level, some of the houses we were looking at were about to go under.

An island soon to be flooded

Most of them had already been demolished, but it was interesting looking at a little island covered in vegetables etc that the farmers were obviously planning on harvesting before their time was up and the island was drowned.

Rocky outcrop looking like a reclining woman

We then transferred to even smaller boats to go up the 'Mini Gorges' along a tributary to the tributary! These were really lovely and again even more spectacular.

Doesn't Mike make a handsome boatman?

The boatman wore a traditional costume which Mike got to try on for the camera, and he (the boatman, not Mike!) and our female guide sang some traditional songs from the area which was rather nice. Then we transferred boats again and headed back the way we had come through the 'Lesser Gorges' back to our cruise ship. The kids had a great time playing 'piggy in the middle' with the tennis ball up the aisle and totally ignoring the scenery during most of all this!

Kids playing on the boat

By the time we got back it was lunch time and after a very nice buffet we headed up on deck to witness going through Wu Gorge, the second one with its famous Goddess Peak which we managed to glimpse high up on one of the peaks through the misty air.

Goddess Peak is a little bump on RHS of peak

We then headed back to the bar and introduced the Icelandic boys to the card game 'Peasant' which they enjoyed thoroughly and had a few drinks. At 5.00 we entered the final Xiling gorge and then around 6.00 we docked at Maoping, just before the entrance to the 3 Gorges Dam Locks.

Dug out cliff roads to drag boats along gorge

Rachel had noted that there was a masseur on board so she convinced Mike that she and I definitely needed one. They managed to squeeze us both in before dinner while Mike knocked back a few G&T's while chatting to other passengers, so when Rachel drifted out into the bar after her blissful time (she has been hanging out to have a massage for ages!) then I knew it was my turn. The masseur was excellent and it did me a power of good as my neck and back had been dodgy for a while.

Our great dining table

I emerged from my massage, oily but happy, and went straight into dinner which was a special farewell banquet. We had another great meal with lively conversation and more wine and beer flowing. Then it was up to the Club bar for a Cabaret, with the crew putting on a most impressive series of acts of music, dancing etc. They really are multitalented! This was punctuated early on by a lovely elderly Japanese man singing Unchained Melody to his wife to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary - he sang it beautifully, being obviously well practiced at karaoke and it was very moving. Finally they got some of the passengers up on stage to dance and of course Mike and the kids were there having a great time while I took photos!

Dancing at the Cabaret

Then it was off to bed before a frighteningly early start, with me having to pack before I could collapse onto the bed. I finally finished about midnight, conscious that we would be woken around 6.00.