Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

3/31/2005, China trip day 8: Yangtze River boat trip day 2, stop in Wushan, Three Gorges dam

The second day of our trip down the Yangtze River, like the first, was rich with beautiful sights, but not so much interesting story.  It was rich with scenery so we took lots of pictures and I decided to put most of them in here.  I only plucked the truly bad or boring photographs.  So, without fruther ado, I give you photos!

Cruising

We woke up to stunning views of the famous Three Gorges.  Although I didn't know about the Three Gorges before I left, I've found most people in Japan know of it.  And, Akemi once read a 10 volume set of books about the history around the Three Gorges.

Three Gorges scenery.

Yangtze River scenery.

Yangtze River scenery.

Yangtze River scenery.

Yangtze River scenery.

Stopping in Wushan for several hours

After some cruising, we stopped in Wushan, a medium sized city in the midst of the Three Gorges.

Here's a market in Wushan.  Markets in China were surprisingly dirty.  Once, I saw someone selling fish, with the fish lying on a filthy sidewalk with fish blood running everywhere.  Many people laid their produce right on the bare, filthy sidewalk where people regularly spit and urinate.  This one wasn't too bad, though.

Here's a meat shop.  I think these are pig legs.

Up a little closer.  Do you think these are pig legs?

A donkey (or is it a mule, or a goat or a sheep?) walking down some stairs in Wushan.

David and I walked all over Wushan.  We climbed down a steep hill.  I met this woman at the bottom.  She spoke no English.  But, I wrote some Japanese characters on a piece of paper telling her I am an American and I teach English in Japan.  It was fun.  Japanese and Chinese sound completely different.  The writing is also totally different, but they are derived from the same set of characters, originally.  Both languages have changed the characters to their likings since then.

Here she is again.  I think she is cute.  She was nice.  She offered me some water.

Cruising

We got back on the boat for more pretty scenery.

Yangtze River scenery.

Yangtze River scenery.

Yangtze River scenery.

Yangtze River scenery.

Yangtze River scenery.

Water splashing on the side of the boat.

Stopping in a small town

We made another stop in a small town.

It had some historical stuff, but we didn't want to pay the seemingly high ≈$3 fee to see it.  So we walked around the outside.  Actually, we were still forced to pay 25 cents just to get off the boat and enter the town's little shopping area. (photo credit: David Dewey)

It was a beautiful area, like everything else. (photo credit: David Dewey)

We saw some exotic animals.  Well, not so exotic. (photo credit: David Dewey)

Here's an exotic animal I saw.

The back of the pretty buildings we didn't want to pay to see. (photo credit: David Dewey)

I think one of these boats is ours. (photo credit: David Dewey)

Pretty buildings. (photo credit: David Dewey)

And a not so exotic animal. (photo credit: David Dewey)

Cruising

And back on the boat.

More scenery.  Notice the lines in the hill.  It is terraced to allow farmers to grow rice or other crops on the edge of a steep hill.

Apparently people live out here.  There is nothing around.  I can't imagine there are any roads.  I expect these are some real country people.

Three Gorges scenery.

Chinese tourists on our boat watching the scenery.

A tug boat we passed on the way.  There were countless interesting boats on the Yangtze River.

David and I weren't the most polite guests.  We snuck into an area on the front of the boat that is supposed to be for crew members only.  We wanted to enjoy the scenery without the crowds.  This crew member told us to get out.  But, we found that he wasn't going to try very hard to get us out, so we just stayed and took his picture. (photo credit: David Dewey)

He honestly didn't seem too worried about us, despite our defiance. (photo credit: David Dewey)

Maybe he was enjoying the scenery too. (photo credit: David Dewey)

Eventually some Chinese people saw us and decided to join us.  They listened to the crew member and got on the other side of the gate.  Eventually, soas not to make people hate us, we got out and watched from the official viewing area.

Three Gorges scenery.

Three Gorges scenery.

Three Gorges scenery.

Three Gorges Dam

We entered the locks of the Three Gorges Dam right around bedtime.  Everybody was excited.  It took all night to get through.  I went to sleep but David stayed up most of the night.  He was really psyched about seeing the dam.  All of these dam pictures were taken by David.

It was hard to take pictures since it was dark.  The boat was moving, so a time exposure wiht a mini-tripod wouldn't do the trick.  I tried and failed to take pictures of the dam.  David had better luck.  He's a much better photographer than I am.

The side of the inside of the locks where you tie up your boat.

Inside the locks.

You lock your boat or ship to these floating things.  Not sure what to call them.  They follow your boat up when the water rises.

The walls of the dam, the next day.  It took a long time to get through.

The walls of the dam opening.

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