The First Gorge

  Wushan, Chongqing, China
Monday, July 21, 2008

Monday was a much busier day than Sunday had been. Again we were woken up at 6 in the morning to leave at 6:30 (but she had been a bit more straight forward about the time). The first stop was to get off at Badi town, also known as White King Town. The town, on the west bank of the Qutang Gorge, got this name because the Gongsun Shu in the later part of the Han dynasty proclaimed himself to be the king of what is now Sichuan (then it was called Shu). Apparently, one day he saw white mist in the form of a dragon rising out of one of the wells in this town. He thought it was a white dragon, the symbol for luck, and thus he called himself the White King. The town then became "White King Town". There are several statues of Gongsun, as he was said to be a benevolent ruler and the people made statues to commemorate him.
When we got back on the boat (very early just to be safe), we received a phone call from our tourguide's translater that we would be sailing through the first Gorge (Qutang Gorge) in about 10 minutes. We went outside to reserve a spot on the railing. It was spectacular and the closest I can come to describing the view is the pictures that will be uploaded on this blog. Be sure to check them out. 

Pretty

I guess now would be a good time to fill you in one what is going on with the Three Gorge Dam. Granted that water power is a cleaner option for energy and this dam will be used to power half of China, but seeing the cost was saddening. The government made the decision to build this dam in 1993, and after the first section of it was completed the water level rose by 135 meters practically overnight. Half of the ancient towns, caverns, and famous sites that our book talks about were washed away or drowned. By the time the dam is finished next year, the water level will be at 175 meters and at least 1.3 million people will have been forced to migrate. Knowing all of this added a bitter taste to the beautiful scenery.
In the afternoon our tour guide knocked on our door to say that we had to go on the small three gorges cruise. We were not prepared for this (well, we would have been if we spoke Chinese but needless to say we did not understand any of the announcements made over the loud speaker), so we quickly got our stuff and headed off the boat. We let ourselves follow the current of people onto the dock and on to another smaller boat. The Three Gorges starts at the mouth of the Daning river, a branch off of the Yangtze, which is too narrow for our large cruise ship, so we had to board another and very quaint little boat. We were settling in as this boat started into the mouth of the little three gorges, and we experienced the scenery of the Longmen Gorge, Bawu Gorge, and Dicui Gorge. 

Our Peapod Boat

It was not long after we had gotten comfortable when this boat also stopped at a dock. Apparently, we were supposed to board another boat, but this was a little bit more difficult to get comfortable with. About 30 to 40 of us were herded onto a small wooden boat that looked like not much more than a wooden raft with a hatch roof and a motor on the back.

Jaydee on the Peapod Boat

Now we were about to use this Pea Pod boat to float down the Shennongxi River which is another tributary off of the Yangtze. We were told to put on our lifejackets, and the tour guide (who also did not speak English) started giving a very important sounding lecture that seemed like a what-to-do-incase-of-emergency lecture. It gets a little unnerving not knowing what these important talks are all about. Oh well, good thing I could swim.
Then the tour guide started singing some song that we did not understand, but based on the book it seems like it was a traditional song of the Tujia people, one of the minorities in China that used to be heard singing along these banks before construction on the dam began. There were other foreigners on the boat (from Spain and Czech Republic) that looked just as lost as we did during the singing, but we joined in the best we could when everyone else did. We sailed on this little authentic Pea Pod boat for some time, and I know it was beautiful because I could see a little bit through the people and the hatch roof. I was actually very focused on getting back to our bigger and much more stable boat. I have never minded small boats - I used to go on them all the time as a kid, but when they have 40 people on them that are speaking a language I don't understand it is a bit different. Our side also kept leaning father in into the water as the weight distribution was not even, but the tour guide did not seem to mind. Rachel and I just tried leaning our weight to the right, to little avail. It was still fun though.
We finally got back to the bigger-small boat, which was to make one more stop before we finally got back to the ship. This time we stopped at ancient Dachang town, which is several kilometers beyond Dicui Gorge (last of the small three gorges). The book that Rachel bought earlier in the trip says, "When the Three Gorges reserves water again in 2006, the ancient Dachang Town will become Dachang smooth lake. Stories and legends about the ancient town for 1700 years will be the everlasting memory of people." Nice. Since this is now 2008, I'm guessing they must have moved the buildings instead of opting for a "Dachang smooth lake." Anyways, it was a charming little town, but I think we were mainly there to shop, which we were not particularly interested in at the time. We were more concerned about when to be back to the boat, as we did not know what time it would be leaving (another one of those announcements, of course). Our strategy was to stay close to other people from our boat. There was one family whose daughter spoke a little bit of English and was very friendly to us, so most of the time we kept an eye on them. In any case, we followed the stream of people and made it back to the boat. And after the boat took off again, we actually saw monkeys playing along the side of the gorges! It was amazing. I tried to take a picture, but it would not come out because we were too far away. It was about 7 by the time we got back to the ship.