Feng Du

Sunday 30th September...

This is sadly the last day of our Yangtze River cruise and we arrived at Feng Du, located on the northern bank of the river, 176km downstream from Chongqing (pronounced Chon Chin). This 'small' city has a population of 760,000 and is known as "Ghost City" dating back to the Eastern Han Dynasty when 2 officials from the imperial court, Wang Fang Ping and Ying Chang Sheng, became bored with the political life in court and came to Mt. Minshan outside Fengdu city to practice Taoist teachings. Their surnames combined together sound very much like "king of hell" in Chinese so people began to call Fengdu the "Ghost City". Taoist teaching on hell and final judgement replicates the social structure and bureaucracy of the real world but basically rewards those who are pure of spirit and subjects those who are sinful to severe punishments - a religion full of fear and superstition where immortality can only be achieved by "self-cultivation". What a contrast to God's grace and forgiveness found in our Christian faith?

Although China is a socialist country many of the people still practice their Buddhist/Taoist traditional beliefs and we have been asked to pray for good weather by our guides on more than one occasion!

Anyway, today was our first really sunny day and quite hot. We thought we would have to take all the 600 steps to the top of the mountain so were relieved to find that we could take a chair-lift to just above the half-way point.

The views across the Yangtze to the city of Feng Du itself were fantastic as we ascended and only got better as we approached the top and some beautiful pagoda temples.

We managed to get another 2GB of memory here (cheaper than the UK) and Carol bartered for traditional Chinese conical hat - only 80 Yuan (5 pounds 40 pence). John had already purchased an Emperor's hat with the traditional black plait hanging down the back (he's very excited to have some hair at last!) so we're all kitted out for a Chinese fancy-dress now - just need our pyjamas and a party to go to!!

So ... we have this afternoon at our leisure to pack and get ready for tonight's Captain's Farewell Dinner followed by some traditional music. This 8 days has gone so quickly but we have enjoyed every minute, made even more special by the lovely people we've met and shared our experiences with. We disembark tomorrow after breakfast at Chongqing. We are looking forward to a tour of the city and visit to the city zoo - where hopefully we will see some pandas - before our evening flight to Xian and the Terracotta Warriors.

Our itinerary is pretty full for the next few days so our next update may be delayed until we get to Beijing - will speak as soon as we can. It's been good to hear from a few of you and would love to get your emails, however short if you have time.

Love to you all,

Carol & John xx

Wu and Qutang Gorges

Saturday 29th September ...

Today we passed through the second and third of the Three Gorges - Wu Gorge and Qutang Gorge.

Wu (or Witches) Gorge is said to be the most beautiful of the Three Gorges and is the home of the 12 famous peaks including "Goddess Peak". We entered Wu Gorge mid-morning and our river guide, Michael, was on hand to give us a detailed commentary as we stood on the decks of the Victoria Prince and viewed the fantastic scenery with cloud-encircled peaks, said to embody supernatural spirits. Still rather hazy/misty but brighter than yesterday and very atmospheric.

After an early lunch we disembarked at Wushan for a smaller ferry, complete with pagoda style roof, to enter the Lesser Three Gorges on the Daning River.

Wushan itself is quite a small town (about the size of East Grinstead with a population of 30,000) so very small compared with the large cities we are visiting on this trip (Shanghai has a population of approx. 18 million and Chongqing 30 million). The town is situated at the confluence of the Yangtze and Daning Rivers.

We spent about one and a half hours winding our way through these beautiful lesser gorges - the water is strikingly clear and green here compared to the muddy, turgid waters of the Yangtze and the river is much narrower (hence the smaller boat). The flooding as a result of the Dam (to date) has meant that the landscape has changed dramatically in the last few years - the bridge which once stood high above the mouth of the Daning River is now semi-submerged and will eventually be demolished once the new bridge further down-stream is finished.

The first and most dramatic Lesser Gorge is known as Dragon Gate Gorge - the river here is only 10-30m wide with the cliffs soaring to 800-1000m on each side. The three gorges are separated by terraced fields - everything is very lush and green and many crops are grown including green beans (I've never tasted such delicious beans), egg-plants, cotton, wheat and tea.

The second Lesser Gorge is Misty Gorge (because it tends to be misty!) where we were shown one of the famous "hanging coffins" suspended high up on the cliff-face - a relic left from the Ba people who inhabited the gorge 3,500-1,800 years ago who believed that the higher up the dead body was 'buried' the more important that person was and the nearer to heaven - no-one knows how they managed to get the coffins up to seemingly inaccessible areas on the cliff-side!

Emerald Gorge is the third of the Lesser Gorges and is covered with bamboo groves and foliage and, having seen a few monkeys swinging from the trees or clinging to the rock-face on our way, we were pleased to see a whole colony of monkeys playing on the bank on our return journey.

Having navigated the Lesser Gorges we then transferred to Sampans to enter the Mini Gorges - much, much smaller and a lovely experience with a traditional pipe player and a local Chinese folk group performing to us as we passed by.

We returned to our cruise boat after 4 hours, then sailed onto Qutang - the final of the Three Gorges. We were all exhausted but exhilarated - definitely Carol's favourite day of our trip so far!

The crew put on an excellent and very colourful display of traditional Chinese dancing after dinner and we couldn't refuse when they encouraged us to join in (despite the aching legs from standing most of the day). A great end to a wonderful day.

Gezhouba Dam & the Three Gorges Dam Project

Sorry for the delay in posting the next few instalments but Internet access has been almost non-existent and our itinerary hasn't allowed much time for blogging!

Here are a few pics from the cruise fashion show on Thursday night, as promised - our guide, Jacky, had a guest spot, joining in a modern number with some of the cruise ship staff and causing quite a stir!!

Friday 28th September...

This was a fascinating day having eventually reached the stunning scenery we had been promised at the start of this trip. We were woken early morning with a thunderstorm - lots of thunder and lightening - which didn't bode well for the day ahead as far as the weather was concerned!

After an 8am breakfast we headed for the bar area to learn how to play Mahjong - a little like Rummy but with domino-like tiles. Carol had also booked a Chinese foot massage for 9.30am as her feet are still swollen following the flight - a little irritating as she can't wear some of her shoes! Well, it certainly did some good and she was finished in time to witness our approach and progress through the lock gates at the Gezhouba Dam.

It had moreorless stopped raining by now but a lot cooler today with lots of low cloud which has limited visibility and will mean that any photos aren't as good as we'd hoped. Everyone was up on deck for the hour or so it took us to get through the dam then we approached our first gorge - Xiling Gorge - very beautiful and atmospheric - despite the poor visibility we took lots of pics and hope that some will be worth saving.

Following an early lunch we disembarked for an afternoon visit to the Three Gorges Dam Project "the largest water conservancy project ever undertaken by human being" (according to the Chinese blurb!) The construction of the dam began in 1994 and is due to be completed in 2009 - at it's peak the project employed 28,000 locals; now only 5,000 remain to finish the work. For those of you interested in these sorts of things the Three Gorges Dam is 2,335m long, 185m high, 18m wide on top and 130 m wide at the bottom and will eventually raise the river water level to 175m above sea level creating a 600km long reservoir with a storage capacity of 39.9 billion cubic metres. By 2009, a total of 570,000 acres of farmland and villages in 19 counties and cities will have been flooded, resulting in the relocation of 1.5 million people. (We saw evidence of this mass relocation with large relocation towns being built all along the river gorges from the Dam site onward.)

The Chinese really know how to make the most of their achievements and we enjoyed a guided tour of the project, including the model version, with excellent views despite the rain and mist! Alongside the Dam is the five-step lock which we later passed through on our way up river - only 4 locks are currently operating so we had to go through the same process as at the Gezhouba Dam but 4 times over - it took us just under 2 and a half hours to reach the top and the second half of the Xiling Gorge. It was particularly fascinating going through these massive locks (a little different from the small locks we know on English canals!) alongside 2 other cruise boats - apparently they can get up to 6 small cruise boats in one lock at any one time so only 3 meant we had plenty of room!! We found ourselves going through the locks alongside a much smaller Chinese cruise boat (much like the "Chinese laundry" we mentioned earlier) - this provided great entertainment value for the Chinese as much as us - we were all taking photos of each other and the Chinese were keen to try out their limited English on us and reach out and hold our hands where possible.

One of our party, Mary, became quite a celebrity -having shaken hands with one Chinese man he then called his friends and family members to join in and take photos! We were also rather surprised to see two of the passengers with fishing rods over the side of the boat - presumably trying to catch some fish for their dinner (inside a lock!!?) - a great photo shot!

Quite an eventful day and John's favourite so far!

Cruising up the Yangtze River

Today, Thursday, it is already a week since we left the UK & the time has gone really quickly.

"Coming into harbour at Wuhan alongside a brightly lit up river boat"

After cruising all day yesterday we eventually arrived in Wuhan at 8.30pm and were allowed 'free time' to explore on our own (as long as we signed a disclaimer form at reception!). The heat and humidity hit us as we left the ship and we were very glad we hadn't arrived earlier when the sun was out in force. As with all the cities we've visited so far, Wuhan, is a city of contrasts. We walked along the port-side with run-down bars and seedy looking characters sitting on the pavement - the smell of raw fish, from what we assumed was the local fish market, was quite overwhelming and we were not quite sure whether the pavement was wet with water or something else!

However, after about 300-400m we turned the corner and could quite easily have been in London's West End - modern Western shops with numerous neon signs (the Chinese seem to love these) and people everywhere all dressed western-style.

Shopping for souvenirs was high on every one's list as well as a trip to Wall Mart to buy some decent coffee! (There's only so much Chinese tea you can take!) One of our party had a bit of a shock in Wall Mart when a large fish (about 40cm long) jumped out of the open tank at the fishmongers and landed at her feet! The tank was full of an array of fish and other water creatures just waiting for someone to choose them for dinner - at least you can guarantee your fish is fresh!!

On our way back to the ship the contrast between East and West was again apparent with local traders/restaurateurs selling their wares on the roadside - open BBQs stood on the road itself with noodles, rice, 'fresh' (!) vegetables & meat arranged alongside. Cars, bicycles, vans, buses & mopeds weaved in & out of the vendors and the people walking in the road (as there was no room to walk on the pavement) - there are pedestrian crossings but the green man doesn't seem to mean anything so you take your life in your hands when you step off the pavement! Fortunately we had already eaten but I suspect we would have had to be very hungry to risk eating here!

We were glad to get back to the air-conditioned ship and, as is the custom on board after each trip, we were welcomed by the ship's crew with cold, wet flannels and a refreshing cup of lukewarm Chinese tea.

Today has been another full day of cruising so an opportunity to soak up the rays on the sun-deck. It remains very hazy with a warm breeze which takes the edge off the heat but less than ideal conditions for taking photos. The river widens and narrows at different points but we can always see both banks - we are slowly moving away from the industrial areas and most of the scenery today has been rural - some boat-building and lots of farming.

There have been a number of presentations/lectures on board to keep us occupied, including basic Chinese (Mandarin), traditional silk painting & silk embroidery.

We had a tour of the bridge this afternoon and were fascinated to see a number of potted Bonsai trees arranged as a garden on the deck just outside the bridge window - for the Captain I believe!

We have been keeping our eyes peeled for the almost extinct Yangtze Dolphin (although thought to be extinct they now estimate there may be as many as 60-200 left in the wild). Some of our party spotted some finless porpoises yesterday which are more common although still under threat. However, if you look at the colour of the river water (brown & muddy) it's amazing that any living creature could survive in it. However, we are assured by our guide that the colour is due to the high mineral content!

After dinner tonight the crew are putting on a Chinese fashion show which promises to be a colourful affair and another photo opportunity.

We're also looking forward to reaching the Three Gorge Dam tomorrow and will tell you all about that next time!

Signing off for now - lots of love from us both,

Carol & John xx