We were underway all night. At 6:45 this morning we passed through the first of Three Gorges. The river, which is about 1/2 mile wide, narrows to about 300 feet wide with high vertical walls on each side.
Soon after breakfast, we board smaller boats to go up a tributary and finally we get into a sampan. Each time, the river narrows making the walls seem even higher.
Still farther down the Yangtze from us is the Three Gorges Dam. It is the world’s largest dam and hydro-electric power generating plant. It took 17 years to build and is being completed this year. Actually, the damming of the water was completed in 2003. Over 1 1/2 million people had to be relocated, 13 cities, 140 towns and over 1300 villages were submerged. The major work still to be done includes the ship-lift, one of the power stations and some new bridges. We are now floating on water that is about 200 feet higher than before the dam was built.
After dinner, the crew put together a cabaret show. Many of them were dressed in fancy traditional costumes dancing or singing. One of the acts was the “Changing Mask”, a secretive act by one guy who changes face masks so quickly no one can see how he does it. It was really good! As the show ended, our boat approached the locks that will get us through the Three Gorges Dam. The locks have five chambers and it takes about 40 minutes to go through each chamber. We are lowered nearly 200 feet. Five barges are lowered with us.
As on the night we arrived, our little group helped close the bar. Actually, this evening all the guys left that dubious honor to the women.
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We awake at 6:30 to see the “Gate to the Three Gorges” – IMPRESSIVE! At 8:30 we take a smaller boat to sail up one of the tributaries to see the lesser gorges. We see many relocated villages due to the rising level of the river as much as 100 -150 meters. We also see the hanging coffins of the Ba people. The Ba are now gone as are most of the coffins, but we could still see two. It is a mystery as yet as to how the people got them up the cliffs — and why. We passed a boat of local people who were singing their local folk songs – eerie and lovely at the same time. The river guides on our small boats also donned the local garb and strutted their stuff on the front of our boats – that was cool (and fun). We return to cruise ship a bit chilled and we are greeted with warm towels and a glass of warm coke with ginger – a very nice touch – then lunch and more presentations. Fran