Third Class on The Yangtze

I am typing this from Yichang, a city somewhere on the Yangtze. The "Three Gorges Scenic Cruise #1" dropped us off here last night. The 4-day "cruise" was definitely an adventure! I had booked 2nd class, which meant a 4-bed room, somehow assuming that I would be put in with a nice Chinese family where I could teach the kid the a-b-c's. No such luck, instead I got three sweaty men in tank tops rolled up to their necks smoking and drinking lager. I quickly changed rooms to third class, which had six beds, and shared with 2 foreign couples. One couple, a French guy and a Vietnamese woman, were absolutely horrified at the state of our room. Cramped bunkbeds, squat toilet, brown water, malfunctioning 'aircon' and the roar of engines at our heads. The other couple, Steve from England and Dr. Zuzana from Slovakia, were much more positive and optimistic about the adventure and the showerless days; so I hung out with them and chilled on the top deck with two young Dutch lads who were also happily enjoying the scenery.

The Yangtze river itself and the gorges are absolutely stunning, though the water is murky and the air was smoggy for most of the time. It was a peaceful ride, and we went through the lesser three gorges on a traditional boat with Chinese singing folk songs. At the end of the journey was the controversial Three Gorges Dam, the largest and most ambitious engineering project "in the world". The purpose of the dam is to provide hydroelectric power to Shanghai, much-needed water up to Beijing and elsewhere for irrigation, and most importantly for the Chinese, flood control. While Lake Nasser (the human-made reservoir from the Aswan Dam in Egypt) has the highest capacity for irrigation, the Three Gorges claims to have the highest storage capacity for controlling floods. It is estimated that about 1.5 million people have been displaced (official Chinese figures), and lost their homes and livelihoods. We went through the town of Wuchang, where the farmers and mountain dwellers have been resettled. At this point we got off the boat and enjoyed a hotpot and beer, and witnessed the Chinese doing their nightly communal dancing and aerobics in the main square.

I'd like to say more about the Three Gorges, but won't until I am in another land.

Now I'm about to enjoy another 20 hour train ride to get up to Beijing, where I am looking forward to duck pancakes, trekking on the Great Wall, seeing the Olympics sights, and drinking red wine with a couple of friends of friends living up there. Would be nice to have a bit of normalcy at this juncture!

Thanks again to Joey for posting this for me :)