Today, Sunday 19 June, our magical two day cruise of the mighty Yangzi river came to an end. We're spending the night in Yichang before taking a bus to Wuchan tomorrow, from where we will board a night train to Guilin.
Our two days aboard a passenger boat (with about 20 Chinese tour groups!) gave us an unrivalled insight into the natural history and culture reliant on the the Yangzi, the third longest river in the world (after the Nile and the Amazon). The awe we felt gazing up at the sheer rock faces of the Three Gorges, and the Lesser and Mini Gorges, was overshadowed by the knowledge that, by 2009, this landscape will change forever, due to the completion of the world's greatest, and most controversial, dam project. We are both very glad that we have had the chance to experience the astonishing beauty of this area before its glory is diminished for good.
But, despite these heavy thoughts, all 12 of us had tremendous fun on board. So here's a round-up of our time on board.
Friday 17 June:
Left Emei Shan early this morning in the pouring rain - luckily, the wet weather seems to set in for our long bus/train journeys, and then it clears up when we arrive! The bus ride was long and slow, on a road full of potholes. Saw quite a few accidents along the way, and our bus driver also had us praying for our lives as he indulged in a few dodgy swerves and moves.
After a 7 hour journey we arrived at Chongqing port, where our boat was docked, along with many others. We boarded just in time for the departure at 8pm. The double cabins were a little shabby but clean and comfortable enough, with an en-suite bathroom. Our local guide, Harry, gave a safety briefing and outlined the programme for the next two days, and explained that the boat would be stopping at a number of places along the way for some sightseeing. Enjoyed a good meal in the onboard restaurant: Harry, ordered a selection of dishes on our behalf - but more about Harry later. We rounded off the evening with a few glasses of bad Chinese wine on the deck, and a chat with two interesting German guys. After a long day on the bus we were ready for an early night.
Saturday 18 June:
After yesterday's rain, we woke up to a glorious morning. Our boat had docked at 6.30am so that passengers could visit a temple complex if they wished to, but of course the two of us were too lazy. However, I went ashore at 8am to go and check out the village on the banks - it was abandoned and the buildings were being demolished in preparation for the flooding of the river upon completion of the dam in 2009. This was to be a sight we would see all along the shores in the next couple of days - ghost villages on the lower banks supplanted by sprawling new apartment blocks higher up. Many of the 1.9 million people who would lose their homes to the rising river have already been relocated.
We spent the morning sunning ourselves on the foredeck as the boat chugged downstream, and went ashore at 2pm to visit a beautiful wooden pagoda built against a rocky outcrop. From the top, the view over the river was spectacular - it also gave us some idea of the scale of riverside farmland that will be lost in the flooding. The pagoda itself is being spared a watery end by the construction of a dyke around it.
After an hour ashore, our cruise downstream continued and we made ourselves comfortable on the foredeck with some beers. After dinner, the boat made another stop for another temple, which we did not visit, but took the opportunity to stretch our legs and buy some fresh fruit for brekkie from the friendly local farmers. We whiled away the warm evening on deck, chatting, sipping beer and working our way through the two dreadful bottles of red wine Rich had bought - the Chinese seem to love making wine that tastes like a mix of sweet grape juice and methelated spirits! After I went to bed, a few folk, including Rich, concluded the evening with a few songs in the dodgy kareoke bar on board... his hilarious rendition of 'Let it be me' was captured on camcorder - cringeworthy!
Sunday 20 June:
Woke up at 5.30am this morning as we cruised through the first of the three majestic gorges, - the sheer cliff faces and high peaks all around seemed quite ghostly in the early morning light. At 7am we docked in Wuxian, where we boarded smaller sightseeing boats for a 5-hour cruise up the Daning river. The socalled 'Lesser Three Gorges' are located on this river - in some ways they are more spectacular than the Yangzi Gorges, as they are narrower, steeper and draped in lush vegetation. Our guide pointed out a wooden coffin high up a cliff, in a shallow cave - these 'hanging coffins', perched in the most impossible places, are found throughout the whole Yangzi region. On the way up the Daning, we passed a couple of farming villages with charming mud huts - again, all this will be lost, as the giant flood markers show.
Having cruised through the Lesser Gorges, we boarded even smaller boats - traditional fishing boats called sambugs, I think - and puttered up a stream through the 'Mini Gorges'. Here the water was turquoise, as opposed to the muddy yellow of the Yangzi, and steep cliffs and lush green surrounded us. We had a few giggles at the sight of locals on the shore singing shrill songs through megaphones while we cruised by - they were obviously hired by the boat operators to provide a 'sense of local culture'!
After the morning's sightseeing, it was back to our big boat to continue the journey downstream. In the afternoon we cruised through the second great gorge, and went ashore again at about 5pm for some more sightseeing - a temple and small museum housing the remains of a few 'hanging coffins' retrieved ahead of the flooding. Our group also indulged in spot of dragon-boat racing (which originated in this area) and beat our Chinese opponents! The dance show supposedly showcasing the talents of the local Tuji minority tribe was such crap that we were pleased it only lasted 30mins. But at least the dragon-boating was fun.
In the early evening, as we approached Maoping port (just upstream from the new dam) and the end of our cruise, we passed through the third gorge. We disembarked at about 9pm - a private bus was waiting to take us to our hotel in Yichang, an hour away. On the way to the hotel, we stopped off to view the massive dam wall - 200m high and 1.2km wide, it boasts the world's most advanced lock system, and the hydroelectricity from its turbines is expected to supply 8-10% of China's needs. Upon its completion in 2009, it will greatly improve the navigability of the Yangzi and will hopefully reduce the risk of devastating floods upstream. It is indeed a great feat of engineering - the Chinese government views it as a passport to even greater strides in economic development, and a display to the rest of the world that it can undertake projects of massive scale.
However, the dam project is also highly controversial, internationally and locally, for reasons which were painfully clear to us on our journey downstream. With the water level behind the wall set to rise by another 85m to create a reservoir 600 km long, the landscape will change forever. Two cities, 140 towns and 1,500 villages will be lost and their inhabitants, 1.9 million in all, relocated to new cities and towns higher up. However, 40% of people are not being compensated for the displacement, and it is estimated that 40% will not be able to find work in their new settlements. Many of those displaced are farmers with little or no other skills - the long term human costs are sure to be high and the benefit to the local people questionable.
Needless to say, the ecological costs just as great. The habitat of several rare amimals, including the Siberian crane, Yangzi dolphin and Chinese alligator will change, and a native sturgeon will be cut off from its breeding grounds upstream. And of course the unique scenery of the Three Gorges will be greatly diminished, and this will probably have an impact on tourism. So all in all, it remains to be seen whether the benefits of this ambitious project outweigh the costs. We're certainly glad we've seen it now!
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