Well, I thought I was going to have lots of time to write in my travel journal. It hasn't turned out like that at all. Graham was sure that we'd be sitting on the balcony, listening to music and watching the river go by. While there have been times that we've done that, they have been less frequent that either of us imagined. I was convinced that there would be boats queued all along the river, and that it would be crowded with traffic. Again, I was wrong. The trip has defied expectation and yet, it's been absolutely wonderful. I am so glad we came and did this.
The daily schedule is published the afternoon before, so you know what you're in for. Never having been on a cruise before, I imagine this is fairly typical. Each of the days has followed a similar pattern. Breakfast, a tour, lunch, a tour, dinner, a party. There have been activities mixed in, such as demonstrations of local crafts or Mahjong lessons. Times for key river events such as passing through the locks or the gorges have been posted.
On Thursday, the first tour was the optional tour to the Tribes of the Three Gorges, in Yichang. A local tourist initiative, the buildings have all been constructed in the last decade or so, to showcase the culture of the local tribes, such as the Tujian minority. There is a walk up and down a gorge, to a couple of large waterfalls. As you walk along the walkway, the locals give performances, demonstrating hat life used to be like. There are people washing clothes, a young man courting a woman by playing the flute as she stands and twirls her umbrella, people fishing, and a mock wedding ceremony is performed at the end of the tour.
The scenery is magnificent. While the performances are great photo opportunities, the Yangtze tributary itself is simply spectacular. Graham and I both had cameras and went completely snap happy. Oh, to our complete surprise, only three westerners did the tour. We had an English speaking guide to ourselves. A large group of Chinese formed the other tour group and there were a number of groups from other tourist boats. We all wandered up and down the gorge before converging for the wedding ceremony.
It was the fourth English speaking tour for our Guide. Our fellow tour group member, Britt, is a German tour guide. it was interesting to listen to the types of questions she asked. She seemed more interested in the authenticity of everything. I was just enjoying the whole experience, while Graham was really into the scenery. Having such a small group meant that all three of us got to ask the questions we wanted.
There were a lot of steps. I'm glad we're both reasonably fit. This tour is doing Graham a valuable service, preparing him for the kilometres of walking he will have to do during the Canton Fair. It's also keeping me fit for my running. I haven't been keen on running in China because of the heavy smog, but I'm certainly staying running fit.
We arrived back in time for lunch, where we got to know the people with whom we would be sharing our meals for the next three days a little better. We are clearly the early birds of the group and we were finished breakfast before some of them even arrived. Our table companions include an old couple from WA, Stan and Maureen, and their son Brian, an English lady, Kim, and her daughter, Hannah, who is studying at Xiamen University, and an American couple, Joanna and Fred. We've also met some Kiwis, Kristin and her husband whose name I never did hear, and Aussies, Joanna and Steve, who are teaching in Suzhou. I haven't learned everyone's names. It doesn't seem to matter.
After lunch we climbed onto a bus for the Three Gorges Dam tour. This was spectacular, due to the sheer size of the dam. I enjoyed taking photos, as did Graham, and there was a book for sale at the site, with lots of facts and figures. We saw the two way, five step lock that we would be passing through that evening. It was astonishing to hear that it would take us four hours to pass through the lock. We also saw the ship lift, that is still under construction. It will take small boats through in 40 minutes once it's completed.
Back at the boat there was a freshwater pearl and embroidery demonstration. Graham passed on that. In fact, only a handful of people attended. It was really a "this is what we have for sale and this is why our prices are so high" demo, which I had expected, but I did learn some useful things, like how to recognise real pearls. I will have to test out my new found skill.
We approached the lock, which took long enough. It looked like we were going in, but the gates closed and we were in the queue for another 40 mins. We decided that we had enough photos from the sun deck on the top of the ship and headed back to the quiet comfort of our own cabin and balcony. Entering the first of the five locks was fascinating. The lock is 280 m long and the step was taking us up approx 22 m. The gates seemed to take forever to close and then the water poured in so quickly. We sailed into the second lock, then went to dinner. After dinner we went to the party for a while, then we're back in the cabin to see the boat pass though the final lock and sail out the other end.
On the Friday, the organized tour was a trip down Shennong Stream. We were divided into groups. Our local guide, Lilly, a member of the Tujian minority, met us on the cruise ship. We transferred to a smaller boat to begin our journey. The scenery was fascinating as we travelled through a series of gorges, before boarding smaller boats, called pea pod boats, which a group of five Tujian boatmen paddled upstream. The captain steered while the other four, three in front and one at the back with the captain. To our surprise, one of our boatmen was 80 years old. The oldest one is 86 and most of the boatmen were 60+. They row up to the meeting place, row us for an hour, then row back to their village. We were told that they have to row for three hours each way to get there. I read later that they share the rowing up and back and we did see that they were in groups on the trip back. For the seven hours they get paid 40 yuan plus tips. The suggested tip, shared between the crew of five, was 10 yuan per passenger and there were 14 passengers on our boat, so it seems that they make between 60 and 70 yuan for each day that they work. That's around $10.
We were treated to some Tujian songs, told about local customs, the trackers (3 of the 5 crew) pulled us along the stream with a bamboo rope while one boatman stood up front and used a bamboo pole to keep the boat from the shore and the captain steered. The trackers used to pull the boats naked up until about 20 years ago. Now that the water level is so high due to the dam, it was done just as a small demonstration for the tourists. We bought a book and DVD for additional information, which we found really interesting.
After lunch Graham and I headed off on the optional tour to the White Emperor Palace. We were the only westerners so we effectively had a private tour. Our tour guide was brand new, having arrived in the area to go to Uni to study agriculture only ten days earlier. She was so keen to do well, and was the best English speaker of all the local guides we had. This tour wasn't as interesting as the others but it did give us the opportunity to have our picture taken with the view that is captured in the 10 yuan note. We were both really pleased to do that.
We skipped the party, preferring to have an early night. We climbed a lot of steps on our second tour and we were quite tired. Apparently the climb used to be 1000 steps, but the water level has risen ith the dam and there are now only 300 steps. We climbed a few of them more than once as well, to go back for a photo at the 10 yuan view marker. It was worth the extra few steps as it was much less crowded when we went back.
On Friday we visited Fengdu, the ghost city. This tour was really good. Again, there were a lot of steps. there were 130 steps just to get from the boat to the beginning of the tour. Graham was a man on a mission, counting 459 steps to the top of the hill. There were lots of interesting things to see on the way. We took so many photos!
Back on the boat we had the afternoon to ourselves, although there were a few activities organised. I went to the gift auction, where the souvenirs that were available for sale in the boat gift shop were auctioned off at more reasonable prices. I didn't buy anything, preferring to save my mad money for the Yiwu markets or Shanghai. After that, I went off to learn to play Mahjong. That was a lot of fun. I can see why people enjoy it so much. Graham spent the afternoon relaxing. In fact, he was fast asleep when I got back from Mahjong.
The last dinner was quite enjoyable, particularly as our table had gotten to know each other a little better by then. One more night on the boat, and then an organized breakfast, pay your bill, and general exodus and our tour was done. We were both really glad we'd done it and would recommend it to others without hesitation.
No comments:
Post a Comment