The Three Gorges Dam Project

Around 10-30pm on the second evening of the cruise, we arrived at the Three Gorges Dam, the largest in the world. I had only visited Hoover Dam a few years ago, and whilst it sounds a bit sad found it very impressive and fascinating. This was, not surprisingly given its China, on a far grander scale and more impressive.

The Dam site consists of a series of locks, an elevator currently being built which will ultimately transport smaller freight boats and the dam itself. In the evening we went through the five locks, descending 22 metres in each and therefore 110 in total. Most people, like me, watched us go through the first lock (about 40 mins) and enter the second lock, and then retired to bar or bed.

In the morning we awoke to a mooring just down from the dam and were transported by bus to get a closer view of locks and dam. Those facts (that i can remember as there were a lot) were i think:

- built over 17 years, with a couple more to go before the elevator is complete;
- cost of 28bn dollars, 45% of which was the cost of resettling 1.4m people;
- at the height of construction, 30,000 people worked on the site; currently 2,000;
- it produces 5% of China's power requirement;
- its the largest of its kind in the world.

Cruise down Yangtze

Thinking about this, its probably the first proper cruise i have been on. I remember going on the Rhine as a child, but i think that was really a coach trip. There was also a Norfolk broads trip (i remember we ended up mid broads one morning due to some dodgy knot work) and i have many years ago been on the Woolwich Ferry and across the channel......but none of these count as proper cruises.

The boat itself is plush for Yangtze, we have passed some that looked like they would struggle to survive the whole journey, but from what i have heard it is not really on a par with Cunard or other main cruise companies. Its functional, safe and food is good, although there is no sight of any midnight buffet.

Having upgraded to the smaller restaurant, the table is an interesting mix of Canadians (4 - from Toronto and Quebec), Irish (2 from Cork) and London (x 3 including me). The strong southern Irish accent, has amused the north American audience - you can take the couple out of Cork, but you cant take Cork out of the couple.

There have been a range of excursions, i have been to both afternoon trips, which has left the mornings for relaxing, reading and watching the world go bye. The view has varied from large cities (high rise apartments covering the skyline like all of China) and the main attraction of the three gorges where the skyline is more stunning. Many of the cities are new, as the creation of the Three Gorges Dam lifted the river by something like 90 metres, flooding old towns and the agricultural land which had previously been the local economy.
The government resettled numerous communities, providing some compensation to individuals.

Tomorrow we arrive at the dam, with a tour early morning, checkout lunchtime and mid afternoon flight to Shanghai.

Cruise

The flight from Xian was delayed by an hour or so, so there was less time to see Chongqing than planned, that said the guide managed to pull together a quick tour of the old town - full of facts about this small city of c 33 million people. Boarded around 6pm and boat left around 10pm.

Next few days are spent cruising down Yangtze, with some included and some optional excursions. This is the relaxing part of the trip. The boat holds around 300 passengers and has normal range of services, and plenty of additional sales opportunities. Within 30 mins of getting on, i was offered opportunity to:

- upgrade cabin
- upgrade restaurant
- buy the 3 day wifi package
- opt for the cheap laundry option
- opt for the "all you can drink" package
- sign up for the optional tours

Passengers appear to be c 75% overseas tourists, with a significant level of American accents to pick from.