Trips

        Back on the boat we stood on the observation deck as we sailed through the Qutang Gorge and the Wu Gorge.  (The third gorge is Xiling Gorge.)  The river gets much narrower and the landscape became steep tall cliffs.  It is interesting that the rock walls have deciduous trees covering them.  In November these trees will turn red.

Sailing away from the White Emperor's island	Steep sided gorge
House on the bluff	Buoy marking the channel
Wushan Arch Bridge	Pagoda
Pagoda at the Goddess Peak in the Wu Gorge	Goddess Peak
Goddess Peak	Goddess Peak
Going up to the Pagoda at the Goddess Peak	Spiderweb
We docked in the Goddess Stream and looked back at the Goddess Peak and the Goddess.  This rock design is like a Chinese Lorelei.  There were four other larger riverboats at the dock and we all got on 30-passenger boats to ride up the narrow Goddess Stream.  This gave us a closer look at the cliffs, trees, and farms high on the steep slopes.  We had to use our imaginations at some of the named cliff patterns.  It was a nice day to be out in an open boat even with at least 50 other identical boats.  At the upstream end we got off and walked on a floating dock (very tricky footing!) and up to the old road to take pictures.
Goddess Stream boats	Cliffs along the stream
Submerged walkway	Floating dock
Floating dock from above	Unnamed dish
Rock abatement along the river	Rock abatement along the river
Cliffs	Mon., 10/13/14 – Yangtze River, The Three Gorges Dam, and Wuhan             During the night (from 12 to 4 AM) we went through the downstream section of  the five-step (or stages)  locks of the Three Gorges Dam.  Each lock lowered our boat about 65 feet.  By 6 AM we were tied up just down-river from the dam.  We began our excursion to the dam site at 7:50.  Our local guide, Jessie, spoke very good English and gave us facts and figures about the dam project.  We had to get off our bus and pass through metal detectors and have our purses and backpacks scanned while our bus was searched.              We looked at a model of the river, dam, and locks and then went to several places on a hilltop to try to take pictures.  It was too foggy/smoggy to take clear pictures but we tried.  This is a large dam, but Hoover Dam is higher and the Aswan Dam is longer.  There is a debate over whether the dam is beneficial or not.  It supplies clean electricity, increases navigation, and controls annual flooding, but it also destroyed farmland, cities and towns, and historical sites, and led to the relocation of 1.4 million people. (Link to a satellite view of the dam.)
One of the 5-step locks	Model of the Three Gorges Dam project
Locks from above	An elevator to lift small ships is under construction
Another great sign - at the bottom of the walkway to the viewing platform
Height of the dam	Upstream side of the dam
You can barely see the downstream side of the dam!	Picture from the internet
High bridge, deep gorge further down the river	Sampans
From the bus on the drive to Wuhan	From the bus on the drive to Wuhan

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