16 MARCH 2008: YANGTZE RIVER CRUISE DAY 3

Day 13: 16 March 2008
Itinerary: Yangtze River Cruise Day 3


This was the iterinary for the final day of the cruise and the shore excursion to the Three Gorges Dam project was supposed to be the grand finale. Unfortunately, heavy fog meant that we were stuck in the 5th sector of the barrage for a long long while as the authorities suspended all river traffic for safety reasons. The fog, as I found out lthe next day, was to affect highway traffic as well. We were to missed seeing the 3rd one - Xiling Gorge as well because by the time traffic were allowed it was already past 8 pm. We were supposed to disembark at Yichang by noon but end up getting stuck on the ship for most the day! The chef did prepare additional one lunch and one dinner for everyone.

The 5th and final sector

The max height at the first sector was 175m, the 5th and last sector was 95m. In total the ship had gone through roughly 80m of water depth shift to get through the 5 sectors of the barrage.

The fog was really heavy. It was my first time being fogged-in by the weather!

Everyone was getting impatient as the day stretched on. News of the situation were reported on the internet the crew told us, there was nothing anyone could do as we were all at the mercy of nature. There were some suggestions that the embassies of Germany and Belgium be informed so as to get assistance from the Chinese government to arrange alternative transportation out of the docks. Yes, the Diplomatic route! It could work! As news had been reported, supposedly the respective embassies would have taken notice as both the Belgian and German groups were quite sizable.
There was nothing pretty much to do except to sit and wait. Guests either stayed in their cabins and watch TV or played their card games, game machines etc. or hang around the bar area for drinks, chit-chat, learn to play some mahjong etc.
Ah! But what better time to take another tour of the ship, right?

The front desk

Most accessible bow area of the ship.

The main ballroom/bar

Taichi lessons

As the day dragged on, desperation began to set in, not only for the guests but also for the cruise operator as they had other groups coming on board for the return leg. The respective tour groups were making alternative plans on what to do next as time was running short. Most had given up on the prospect to visiting the Three Gorges Dam project or to see Xiling Gorge as they were well behind on schedule especially for onward destinations and flights especially. The Europeans all decided to disembark at the first location where the ship could dock upon leaving the barrage. The cruise manager informed everyone that the ship would be skipping Yichang altogether due to schedule constraint and the new guests would be transported by coaches to board at the first port nearest to the barrage. Guests who wished to visit the Three Gorges Dam the next morning could stay on and disembark the next day. After making some guesstimation, I concluded that it was not feasible for me to stay on so I opted to disembark tonight.

The plan was as follows:
(1) Disembark at the next stop
(2) Find transportation to get to Yichang
(3) Stay for the night at Yichang with easy access to the Long Distance Bus Terminal
(4) Take the 1st coach out in the morning: Yichang to Wuhan
(5) If time permits in Wuhan, visit the Yellow Crane Tower
(6) If no time then head straight to the Wuhan airport for the flight to Shenzhen

By the time the all-clear was given for 5th sector gates to be opened for all the vessels to push on it was already past 8 pm.

Vessels started to move off, luckily ours was the 1st batch.

The ship docked at the nearby port at close to 9 pm.
The cruise manager was kind enough to arrange for me land transportation to Yichang by way of tagging onto the coach that brought a new batch of guests from Yichang to the ship ad who was taking another local group from another ship to Yichang.
The local guide who brought the new group over to the ship was a nice young lady who was kind enough to also booked me into the hotel opposite the Long Distance Bus Terminal in Yichang.
And so everything turned out OK as I checked into the hotel for the night.
The other local group from another ship that took the same coach to Yichang was actually changing to a smaller bus in Yichang to head out to Wuhan overnight. The lady guide tried to asked the local guide for that group if I could bumped in with them for the ride to Wuhan but the local guide did not think it was a good idea as the bus was packed and there was no space left.
It was just a hopeful thought, to improve the odds of being able to visit Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan the next morning. Ah! Well, things were not bad as they were. Potentially it could have been much worse! My contingency plan still looked OK.

The hotel in Yichang

15 MARCH 2008: YANGTZE RIVER CRUISE DAY 2

Day 12: 15 March 2008
Itinerary: Yangtze River Cruise Day 2

Today the ship will sail into two of the Three Gorges - Qutang and Wu Gorges plus an excursion into Shennongjia (Shennong Stream) via a ferry and small boats.

A slideshow of Qutang and Wu Gorges:


A slideshow of Shennong Jia:


Shennong Jia is truly a beautiful and unspoiled area along the Yangtze. The natives are a minority race and are not affected by the National 1-child policy. Most have been relocated away from this area and very few families still stay within this area. As we were told, in the old days children need to travel 8 to 10 km by foot or a combi of foot+boat just to get to school as it was not financially feasible for the families to put them into boarding homes near the schools.
The finale of this excursion was a throwback to the old days where the boatmen who rowed the boat would also be the first to reach the shores and pulled the boats in using ropes using their hands, shoulders etc. You could see the boatmen are all very strong and fit. When we reached back to the ferry, these boatmen rowed off in their boats back to their homes and the exchange of goodbye waves were quite something, considering how isolated the place was apart from these tourist trips. I sincerely hope more tourists can come to visit this place as it would be a significant income for those families still residing near or within this area.


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The ship reached the 1st gate of the Three Gorges barrage at about 8 pm. I guess everyone was really excited and overawed by magnitude of the construction, except perhaps the Belgian guests who had seen their own proven technology and history of building dams back in their own country. I supposed they too, marvelled at the scale of such a construction. There were a total of 5 sections that ships/vessels need to pass through this barrage and each section took at least a couple of hours to complete with the closing of the gates, equalisation of the water level differential between adjacent sections via pumping in or drawing out the water, opening of the gate into the next section, moving all vessels to the next section etc. These were repeated for each of the 5 sectors. The pumping in or drawing out of water (as the case may be) takes the most time.

14 MARCH 2008: YANGTZE RIVER CRUISE DAY 1

Day 11: 14 March 2008

Itinerary: Yangtze River Cruise Day 1

The name of the ship was 银河一号 （translated as "Silver River No.1") , christened "MS FORTUNE".On board included 2 big groups - one from Germany and the other from Belgium. There were also 2 couples from Britain, another couple from France (I think), 3 guys from Malaysia (I was sharing the cabin with one of them) and the rest were locals including a big group from Zhejiang province.

The facilities and service standard were good and well organised. This is a full-board cruise, unlike those smaller cruise ships run by local operators, and is owned by an Indian company apparently. I understand that there were 2 new luxury cruise ships just launched that were operated by American companies and were fully booked! As this ship caters mostly to Europeans, the service standard naturally need to be of a certain level. For meals, each table is permanently allocated accordingly to cabin numbers and timing was staggered into 2 by half an hour apart of each so the queue for food was well managed. We were considered 散客 （small groupings) , hence our table included just an elderly Chinese couple, the 3 Malaysian, myself and 2 other tour guides - one, the local guide for the German group and the other for one of the British couple.

The ship docked at Chongqing till early morning. Sailed off at about 7-plus a.m. Programme sheet were given each day of the 3 day cruise, for the first day there was a shore excursion at Fengdu(豐都) to the Ghost City (鬼城).

During breakfast, one of the local guide sitting at the same table as us mentioned that there was turmoil yesterday (13 March) in Lhasa where shops were set on fire. There was some commotion during my last night in Lhasa but I never thought things would turn to this bad. I managed to catch some news report on TV in the cabin. (Note: As things panned out, Tibet was closed off to all foreigners after the numerous unrests that followed and only re-opened to foreign visitors towards the end of June 2008 - more than 3 months!)


Set off from the Chongqing jetty

Many such bridges along the route, some still under construction.

Another cruise ship along the route.

Looks deserted! Arrived at Fengdu Ghost City.

The cable car ride up to the temple and back down again later.

Entrance to the temple.

Three bridges for visitors to choose to cross from (one for wealth, one for health and the other for marriage, love etc. - if memory served me right. Visitor is only allowed to choose one.)


Sleeping Buddha upclose - so peaceful and serene!





This is interesting stuff - weighing at least a 100 kg, it is used as a test of a man's love for the woman he loved. A man needs to bring the movable piece to sit on top of the stationary piece, no mean feat I assure you. One British tried and did not succeed. A performer did

demonstrate how it could be achieved and he is a professional who had trained for this. Looks deceptively easily but in reality a gigantic task!

The group from Zhejiang.

Back to the ship.

The Captain at the Welcome Banquet with the local cruise coordinator (lady), the local guide/intepretor (German) and the Belgian tour guide.

The Welcome Dinner Banquet - quite a feast!