My cruise along the Yangtze River in China was one segment
of a wonderful 17 day Trafalgar tour. We spent 5 days in Beijing, 4 days in Xian,
4 days cruising about 800 miles (1,300 km) down the Yangtze from Chongqing to
Wuhan, and 3 days in Shanghai. In my opinion, this tour was an excellent
combination of historical sites, museums, shopping, factories (like pearl
growing or jade carving), gardens, and free time. But I owe much of my enjoyment
of this tour to our guide, Jeremy Xu, and to the delightful people on the tour
from Australia, Canada, Mexico, and New Zealand, as well as the US. I was
particularly pleased to be able to sail this river now because the first
generator of the Three Gorges Dam is scheduled to begin producing power in 2003
and the water will rise substantially from Chongqing to the dam, a distance of
over 350 miles (600 km). But on with the show…
On November 4th, we flew from Xian to Chongqing.
We had a brief tour of Chongqing (formerly known as Chung King), a delicious
Sichuan dinner, and then boarded our ship, the Victoria Rose from the Victoria
Cruise Line. As we boarded, we were greeted by a brass band before being
welcomed aboard by the hospitable staff. We stayed docked in Chongqing that
night and set sail the next morning.
On November 5th, we had a lecture about Tai Chi
by the ship’s doctor, Dr. Qiu, who also led a Tai Chi class each morning.
Later we had a lecture about the river and found out its actual name is
Changjiang (only the section near Shanghai is called Yangtze) and that it is the
longest river in Asia (and third longest in the world after the Nile and the
Amazon). In the afternoon, we had a shore excursion to Fengdu to visit the City
of Ghosts. This place has been considered a gathering place for ghosts since the
seventh century because 2 men lived there whose combined names sounded very much
like “King of Hell”. We took a ski lift to the top of Mt. Minshan to enjoy
folk art sculptures and paintings of demons, ghosts, and the judges who
determine whether people go to heaven or hell. That evening was the captain’s
welcome reception when we enjoyed Chinese sparkling cider and delicious hors
d'oeuvre. After dinner, members of the crew modeled Chinese costumes from the
Han, Tang, Ming, and Qing Dynasties.
On November 6th, we entered the first of the
Three Gorges (Qutang) at about 7:00 am. This is the shortest of the 3 gorges
(less than 5 miles or 3 km) and only took about 20 minutes to sail through.
After breakfast, we arrived at Wushan, one of the cities that are being
relocated because they will be below the new water level. These cities are being
re-built at higher elevations nearby. I felt both sad and hopeful for people
from this area. It’s sad to destroy cities that have existed for over 1,000
years and displace over a million people. On the other hand, the dam will
provide hydroelectric power to modernize the area, improve navigation, and
provide flood control.
Our challenge at Wushan was to climb about 70 uneven stairs
from the ship to the road where the buses were waiting to take us to the mouth
of the Daning River. (Though there were sedan chairs if you didn’t want to
climb the stairs.) We took motorized sampans up the river to see the Dragon
Gate, Misty, and Emerald Green Gorges (also known as the Lesser Three Gorges). A
funny thing happened when we stopped for lunch on a sand bar (really more of a
rock bar). Local farmers came to sell things – mostly carved canes and bronze
bells – but one man had a plastic collector’s case containing 8 U.S. silver
dollars! (Talk about a global village!) I bought them for about $8 in yuan just
so I could tell the story of how I found them! The water of the Daning is so
fast moving that, although it took about 2.5 hours to go up river, it only took
an hour to come back. While returning to the ship, our bus was stopped while
engineers imploded a building in Wushan so that it would not be a navigational
hazard when the city was flooded.
We left Wushan and soon entered Wu Gorge where the tallest
peak of the Three Gorges (Goddess Peak) is located. After dinner, the staff
entertained us with Zigui Folk dancing. The entertainment continued after that
show when we went through one of the Three Gorges Dam locks that had just become
operational that morning! They had a fabulous fireworks display to celebrate the
lock’s opening day.
The next morning, we sailed through the Xiling Gorge to
Sandouping, the site of the Three Gorges Dam. We disembarked to visit the
construction site and the museum at the top of Jar Hill. Back on the ship, we
continued through the Xiling Gorge to the Gezhouba Dam, where we passed through
another lock. After lunch, we had lectures on Chinese medicinal practices and
freshwater pearls. And after dinner, there was cabaret entertainment and disco
dancing.
November 8th was our last day aboard ship. About
halfway between our morning and noon feedings, we had a very informative Q&A
session about life in modern China with Jacky Qin, the ship’s River Guide.
Passengers asked the questions they’d been storing up during their travels
around China. After lunch, we left the ship at Wuhan. We had a brief tour of
Wuhan – including a concert of the 2,400-year-old chime bells at the Hubei
Provincial Museum – before flying to Shanghai that evening.
Although this was my tenth cruise, it was my first cruise
on a river. This was a smaller, more intimate ship than most of the other cruise
ships I had sailed on, with accommodations for about 130 passengers. I thought
the crewmembers were friendly and professional and the meals delicious. All
shore excursions were included in the tour.
