The Three Gorges Dam
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| One of the highlights of the Yangtze River trip was going though the 5 locks of the Three Gorges Dam, the world's biggest hydro-electric project! |
We reached out to touch the concrete wall of the first lock......We probably weren't supposed to be doing this....?????
We went through the first set of locks at night. |
| The gigantic doors of the lock, closing...... |
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| Inside the first lock, as the excess water is released.... |
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We toured the visitors' center, where there was a model of the dam and its lock (and "ship elevator") system. Information about the Three Gorges Dam  The next day, we went through a sixth lock, built at a "practice" dam, just down-river from "the big one."  There are some touristy little towns along the river, but otherwise, lots of industry and big apartment buildings line the way.  All along, there are metric markers, showing how much higher the water level will be allowed to come up. Millions of people have lost their riverside homes and livelihoods. We went to this museum of Art of the People of the Yangtze River.  Among other things, they had this set of bronze bells.   Every day, on board the ship, artists offered classes in water-color painting, creating wood-block stamps, or etching into stone. This artist is demonstrating his talent for painting scenes and animals inside snuff bottles. |
Every day, on board the ship, Tai Chi classes were offered before breakfast. I learned a little, and intend to practice (when I finish up this blog!) The doctor who taught the classes also performed acupuncture (with brand-new, disposable needles!) and massage, on me.....as a demonstration for the other passengers!
Our very favorite shore excursion was a day-trip to Yellow Mountain.
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| We got up to the "top" (not really) in a big cable-car. |
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In some places along the trails, tourists had attached locks, with engravings of love and hope for the future. The keys are then thrown down over the cliff.     |
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| Hiking with Rena, Yaiko, and Andi |
Beautiful mother-daughter relationship! |
| Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain) |
One of our favorite people on the cruise was "Christie, from Texas."
It rained....REALLY rained......on one of our shore excursion days.
Visiting the Mausoleum of Sun Yat-Sen, in the "south capital" city of Nanjing. Then, due to all this rain and stormy, windy weather, the Yangtze River was shut down to boat traffic between Nanjing and Shanghai!!! "TYPHOON off the East Coast of China!" |
| We visited a Confucius Temple, too. |
Confucius was a "miracle baby" who lived 550 years before Christ. Their life stories have plenty of similarities. **I'll have to read more about him....
Back-in-the-day, men of Old China had the customary, long braids. |
| Rena and I rang the temple bell. |
We had fun on the dance floor, after the evening shows:
Sometimes we convinced others to dance with us!
We had a tour of the ship's bridge, before our last night on-board. The next morning, we were all transported by bus, for five hours, on into Shanghai. We only wish that we could have ridden the Victoria Prince all the way into the Shanghai Harbor. (The Typhoon warning that closed down the river ended up doing very little real damage, thankfully.)
The Yellow Mountain photos are what most remind me of my own trip to China, twenty years ago. Though I remember the walkways as being, generally, more precarious. There were some awesome mountains and ancient monasteries.
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