China - Friday 15th May - Yangtze in reverse

It's raining a fair bit today, the temperature is perfect though...cool with a hint of humidity. We're setting off at around 9am and last night we were docked for the first day. Breakfast was at 7:00am and on arrival we were greeted with a noisy mass of Chinese passengers climbing over a buffet spread. These crafty buggers had already been in much earlier than us, some on second servings...mountains of food were transferred to their plates and they gobbled it up at the speed of light. These guys were mostly elderly too, amazing. I queued and got to the demolished buffet spread...I filled my tiny plate, noodles, garlic, dumplings and sweet muffins....not a drop of marmite in sight, it didn't matter, there was lots of strong coffee, good stuff.

During breakfast something kicked off on the table next to me. Victor (our guide) was standing over an older Chinese man hollering and waving his arms around, the old man with food bulging in his cheeks was shouting back, spraying pieces of dumpling accross the table, he was gesturing wildly with his chopsticks. Soon enough the restaurant staff had to step in to calm the situation.

Later I found that the problem arose due to the old fella was overheard saying something insulting about the Australians to his fellow passengers. Apparantly it was an insult, so rude, so bad and one of the most offending things that could be said. The man hadn't realised that Victor, who was sat on a seperate table was within ear shot and part of our group. It was remarkable that Victor, a tiny waif of a man had stood up to this chap, it seems he wouldn't take any abuse from anyone!

The initial part of the cruise is taking me from Yichang to the main Three Gorges Dam, about 4 hours travel. The cruiser is moving a snails pace which is perfect for gazing at the stunning scenery, steep gorges and slopes. The water is a gorgeous rich emerald green colour and occasionally small coves are revealed where tiny boats are moored bobbing in our wake. Clinging to flatter areas of rock are small dwellings built from simple brick and wood methods and each has a small vegetable plot, crop area holding maize or rape and tiny terraces holding rice paddy fields. Occasionally I could see a bird of prey soaring from a perch high on the cliff face, craning my neck to look to the very summit. They appear to be red kites but a deeper, richer colouration on their plumage. I'm sat in my cabin on a rock-hard bed looking out at the glorious landscape, the steep gorge fills the entire window space, from top to bottom. There are clusters of goats huddled on tiny ledges about half way up the slope. They're attempting to navigate a way down, possible to the waters edge to drink, where the vegetation is more lush.

We are heading to Chonqing as our first destination, there we will be taking a smaller vessel down a smaller part of the gorge. This section of the river leads to the first major lock at the dam site and the water here has been raised to around 75 metres. The original water height was around 2 - 5 metres and considered trecherous to navigate due to whirlpools and submerged rocks. The rising of the water during construction of the dam meant many of the underlying rocks had to be blasted by the army to improve the flow of the water and aid vessels navigating a route.

Sat here I'm amazed at the scenery, I think my mouth has been open for a while. There's huddles of houses with people sat on small porches, dogs milling around and beautiful sounding birds calling from shrub and tree lined rocks. Occasionally small clusters of tombs appear on the rocks. each grave consists of a large stone slab, turned upright bearing a Chinese inscription with a series of small stones stacked either side. The graves themselves are small round mounds of earth about 2 metres in diameter. Each one had a pole fixed on top or beside with colourful pieces of paper and shiny foil attached. Each grave represents one land owner, a parent who had tended this particular piece of land. The dwellings I imagine are little changed but were originally much higher from the waters edge. I can't fathom how many people had been displaced as the waters rose, belongings and houses lost...even the tombs of their relatives have been consumed by the ever rising tide.

It's 7pm, I've just finished a lovely tofu and squid dinner. I tried to stuff my face as much as possible as Chinese food is delicious but I guarantee being hungry again in a couple of hours.

Our vessel and 5 similar sized boats are currently sat in lock number 2 of the gorge dam, the big one.

It works on a similar principle to canal locks in the UK but on a massive scale. The water will rise to around 30 metres in 5 minutes. This allows us to pass through to the next lock of the dam and then the process will start again. Whilst we were dining I could see the walls of the lock about 1/2 a metre away from each window on either side of the boat. The sound of the karaoke machine was wafting down from the floor above, channelled and hemmed in by the vast concrete walls. The music was blending with the screeching and scraping sounds as we raised up the inside of the lock. Everyone politely ignored the racket as they ate, it was like some crazy carry on film scene.

We've just passed through lock number 3, a huge steel structure that could hold king kong. The depth in this lock is 135 metres, colossal! At 8pm we finally passed through the last lock which in the now dark landscape was a relief as we drifted toward a row of sparking lights emitting from other boats. On the top deck I looked back to the large dam, it was spread out to the right, must have been around 2km long and had a series of orange lights running along the top edge which gave it the look of a Las Vegas casino.