Yangtze River Adventure

This National Holiday in China, we decided to take an adventure on one of the most famous rivers in China. It would be a three day adventure on the Yangtze River and a one day visit to the city of Chongqing.

Our adventure started with a flight from Shanghai to Wuhan. Once in Wuhan, we boarded a bus for a five hour trip to the beginning of our cruise in Yichang. We arrived like a ghost in the night and boarded the world famous Cruise Ship Splendid China Presidents No. 3. Below is the photo of this magnificant ship!

The first day begin in the early morning, we entered the Xiling Gorge. Unfortunetly I slept through the entrance of this gorge, but heard it was magnificant. The Xiling Gorge is 66 km long and is home to the world famous Three Gorges Project. Our morning excursion was a visit to this project.

The Three Gorges project was done to harness the power of the Yangtze River. Its benefits include flood control, power generation, and navigation improvement. The project includes a dam, a spillway dam, two power plants, a double-way and five-step ship lock, a ship lift, and navigation facilities.

This photo shows the Three Gorges Dam. The spillway is located in the center and the power plants are at each side of the dam.

This is the entrance to the upstream side of the double-way and five step ship lock. It would take us three hours to pass all locks and continue our adventure on the other side of the Yangtze River.

This is a picture of me entering the first lock. Doors close on each side of the lock. Then water fills to raise the boat to the level in the next lock. When the correct level is reached, the front doors open and we pass to the next lock. This process is repeated five times.

Isaac enjoying the scenery in the Xiling Gorge.

Another beautiful view in the Xiling Gorge.

The second day took us to the Shennong Xi River. It was in this river that trackers originally would fight the current and pull their pea pod boats upstream. Originally, these trackers would wear no clothes. The fabric would cause serious skin problems and irritations, so it was not used. Enclosed are two pictures of the trackers pulling us updtream and fighting the currents.

That same day we passed through the remaining two gorges. The second gorge we passed through as we travel upstream was the Wu Gorge. It is 45 km long and has many twist and turns. The most notable view of the Wu Gorge are the twelve peaks.

This photo shows the men of Delphi traveling through the Wu Gorge.

This is another beautiful photo of the scenary of the Wu Gorge. You can see that it seems that the river ends straight ahead, but it is one of the many twists and turns in this gorge.

The last gorge we passed through was the Qutang Gorge. It is the shortest of the three gorges and is only 8 km long. On both sides of this gorge are very high cliffs and the narrowest spot on this gorge is less than 100m.

This particular photo is at the exit of the Qutang Gorge. It is famous because it is pictured on the back side of the 10 Yuan bill. Here Sonia stands in front of those same mountains pictured on the bill.

Once we were through the three gorges, it was safe for a ship our size to sail through the night. It would be the first night and only night we would sleep on a moving boat. The next day included a visit to the FengDu Ghost Town and sailing to Chongqing.

In Chongqing we visited an area of town which makes the local treats. Enclosed is a picture of the busy streets, along with the making of peanut candy.

The cruise was a beautiful adventure. It is a perfect place to relax and view scenery. Just sit on the deck forget about the outside world and let the mountains pass. Take of your watch and let time pass because you are not going anywhere fast.