Chongqing and the Chinese Yangtze boat
Trip Start
Aug 24, 2008
1
23
116
Trip End
Aug 01, 2009
Chongqing,
Chongqing,
China
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Sandy's Yangtze
We have come to an area in which there are straight walls rising up out of the Yangtze River. I have been listening to the birds singing among the thick vegetation. It seems so calm, so peaceful and wonderful. The vegetation flows downhill and touches the water line with no trace of a shore, something that seems quite unusual.
The Yangtze River rose 50 meters in 10 days in 2003. This is when many people saw their homes flooded. The older generation has found this process difficult and sad, whereas the younger people have been pleased with the changes. They have received money from the government to relocate. Their new towns are for the most part higher in the hills that their old homes, and are newer, cleaner, and, more modern. Many people however have moved to different provinces entirely. The woman we spoke to was happy for the move because she was able to increase her house size from 40meters square to 50 meters square. This meant she was able to buy new furniture to fill the extra space that she had. For this extra space she took a bank loan to be paid back in ten years for 30,000 Yuan (about $5,000). She earns 16,000 USD per year.(? I'm not sure about the reason for the money whether it is for moving or for tour guiding) The second phase of flooding was in 2006 when the river rose another 25 meters in 40 days. The Yangtze has begun to rise again since September 21st, 2008, and is going to a high water mark of 175 meters. There are 175m signs all along the Yangtze. They are written on large white sheets of plywood in red paint.
There is such a contrast between this sludge infested bacteria, mould, and virus pit Chinese boat that we are in, to the serene calmness of the wilderness. I really don't like this boat we are on. I can't believe the amount of disregard for cleanliness on behalf of both the crew and the passengers. Has personal hygiene and cleanliness not been taught here? It doesn't seem so for I have seen people throw not only orange peels into the river, something I could probably live with, but paper, plastic, and cigarette butts, which are produced with frightening regularity. Bird life seems to be healthy here, (what this means is that I have heard birds from time to time), but I am a bit of a sceptic where wildlife in China is concerned. The Chinese are rule breakers, and they love a rule breaker. As a matter of fact, rule breakers are applauded. On one particularly pretty part of the river Chinese people were climbing over the safety railing to stand at the front of the boat for a photo op. This went on for some time, each person taking their turn in the rain. A crew member came along and told the present rail hopper to come back over to safety. He glanced sideways at the crew and held his pose until his photo was complete. Then just as he was going to come back, he decided he needed another photo and posed again which brought loud and long babble from the crews man. Finally he obeyed and the crews man was happy that he'd done his job and left. Not thirty seconds had passed before another person ran over the rail and posed with peace symbols on both hands and smile across his face. The people standing around cheered and laughed, then clapped at his audacity. The Chinese love a rule breaker.
For awhile this morning (6:30) I was able to stick my head out the window to listen to the birds and smell sweet, fresh air. It makes me think there is hope in this world to hear nature sounds. I can still hear the birds (now 8am), but it is intermingled with horking and the smell has changed to cigarette smoke. There are a lot of Chickadees which I find comforting. When I first awoke I saw a chickadee flying in the same direction as us with its flap and coast sort of flight pattern. It cruised on past us, which tells you that we are travelling at a leisurely pace. It is just right to see things out the window and be able to dash to get the camera in time for a photo. The other pervasive smell in our room is the sewage/urine aroma that wafts through from time to time. Isn't this fun!!!
I have wanted to see the Yangtze ever since I read about it in the National Geographic. I was interested on many levels. The human level of displaced people numbers in the range of 1.5 million. The cost of lost archaeological sights is mind boggling. They calculate that 10 percent of what was available to dig, was unearthed prior to flooding. In terms of ecosystems, biologists were hard at work trying to relocate plants that grow no where else. The sight of trees with only their tops sticking out of the water reminds me of the great sand dunes that swallow trees slowly but relentlessly. I can actually see a patch in the sky that is quite bright, the sun trying to poke through. There has not been much sun in China. It is either cloudy, smoggy, misty, or hazy. They all probably have something to do with pollution. As I sit here in our room, listening to the neighbouring Chinese conversation, the birds, the frequent sound of some sort of liquid being thrown overboard, smelling the stink that is our room, I am glad we came here. It has been an education, and when I concentrate on ignoring the bad, I feel quite content to glide along looking at the spectacular scenery. The building of the Three Gorges Dam has been likened to the building of the Great Wall. This Dam however has so many implications. I read in our Lonely Planet book that 100 cracks running from top to bottom of the new dam were found. The Chinese say that is normal for a dam of this size, and they have all been repaired. If the water was to break the dam, all the people in Yichang numbering 480,000 would perish.
Our time on board this boat has come to an end. All of a sudden we were told, "come NOW", so we got our gear on and went out to the lobby area of the boat. Then we waited. Just after we decided to put our packs down, we were told, "OK go NOW!" So we hurried to follow orders, and started to go toward the exit. The boat hadn't even docked yet. We foreigners made a polite line up, leaving space for people to get by if necessary. It didn't take long for the Chinese people to push their way into the spaces and then keep the pressure on, pouring into every available crack and crevice like water flowing between bricks. We stood there for over 15 minutes, starting to get hot, and wondering if we really needed to be standing in this pressurized line up. We did start to move, and Becca who was at the front gave me a look, putting her hand back toward me causing the woman beside her to relent her push a bit for this mother daughter team to remain together. There was a group of British people who were a bit pushed for time to catch a flight once they got to Yichang, so we left space for them to go ahead of us, they were thankful, but the Chinese people began to push on us to move forward. I leaned back and resisted them.
We had to catch a tram to get up to street level. Once the tram got to our level, there were a few guys with a bunch of food boxes and bags who had to unload before we could get on. They got about half of their stuff off when the Chinese people took over and pushed past everyone. At the top we boarded buses to take us to Yichang. We were separated from the three girls as well as the Polish people. I had hoped that we could stick together, as decisions are easier when in larger groups. I had no worries though as everything has worked out fine so far, there is no reason to believe this would be any different. Our bus ride was an hour long through some of the most amazing mountains, and tunnels pushing through them. We climbed way up onto high mountain roads, and one tunnel in particular was almost 10 minutes long! The mountains were precipitous and so beautiful.
A Doctor from Shenzhen we met on the train from Wuhan to Shenzhen was like a ray of sunshine. Qi and his wife Qin (pronounced Ching), have a son in Toronto who is doing a home stay for the year. He invited us to his home to freshen up after the long night train, and then took us out for dim sum. Qi told us that the level of education in China is very low, and this is how he accounts for people pushing all the time, and their bad manners, none of which Qi exhibits.
