Day 7
This morning it looks quite miserable outside. There is a very thick fog and it is very grey out there but at the moment it is not raining. After breakfast we will be walking to Tiannamen Square and then make our way to the airport for our flight to Chonquin where we will board our ship for our four night cruise on the Yangtsee.
On our way to Tiannamen Square we pass a large number of people cleaning and polishing everything in sight, mopping the gutters, polishing the rubbish bins, scrubbing the fences. If only they would stop them from spitting.
At 8.30am the roads are choked with traffic. Did you know that every single day 1500 new cars come on to the roads in Beijing.
There is actually not a lot to see in Tiannamen Square. The tank has long gone, only a lone soldier guarding a roped off raised square platform marks the spot. There is a large square building housing the remains of Mao Zetung and a line of people, 4 abreast snaking its way around the square in an almost never ending line. We were told 9000 people an hour from 8am till 5pm file past Mao抯 body. It is free for the people to view Mao抯 body.
Our flight from Beijing to Yichang took just over 2 hours.
When we arrived in Yichang we learnt that all vessels on the Yangtze were unable to move and our ship was many miles downstream. There was a very heavy fog which had bought everything on the river to a standstill. We had bus pick us up from the airport and take into the town where we had to wait for another bus which would take us to meet the ship.
We had some free time in Yichang to take in some of the sights. We walked through the park and watched some elderly men playing mahjong and another group of men who had birds in cages hanging up in the trees. They had whistles and were teaching the birds to sing. That was fascinating. We were then watching another group of men down at the waters edge taking a dip in the Yangtze.
Then it was time to board the bus for an hour and half ride to meet up with the ship. The fog and mist were very thick and it was beginning to get dark by this stage and the bus set off on the winding road with a lot of trucks, buses, cars and an assortment of tractors pulling carts, bicycles with carts, 3 wheel vehicles and people simply walking in the middle of the road. Anything goes here, there are no rules. If you are bored with driving on one side of the road, you simply change sides. We were certainly kept entertained for the next 1 ?hours. Just after 8pm we arrived at the ship and the crew were ready and waiting for us. Dinner was ready so we went straight into the restaurant whilst our luggage was brought onboard and taken to our cabins.
Almost immediately after dinner we went to our cabins and were soon ready for some sleep. Our cabins are very nice and each one has it抯 balcony and ensuite.
Day 8
Today was our shore excursion to the 3 Gorges Dam. It is huge. Larger than the Panama Canal. There is of course a lot of controversy about the project and millions of people have been relocated. Our local guide told us he is happy in his new city of Sandouping. The government has given him a very large house with a 揻ive star toilet?and his father is now a businessman as he runs a small supermarket. He then tells us that the bus driver is a good man, he is a member of the Communist Party. You then wonder if the guide is telling us what the Communist Party wants us to be told.
We return to the ship and as the fog has now begun to clear there is enough visability for our ship which has been stationary for 4 days (prior to our trip) to begin sailing into the 3 gorges. We have passed through the first two gorges this afternoon. We sat out on the top deck and took millions of photos of the towering mountains and precarious farmlets dotted along the way. There is also quite a lot of coal mining in the gorges. They build these almost impossibly sheer staircases high up the cliffs and mine for coal on an almost vertical cliff face. They have built dirt roads that wind their way up some of the mountains but for most of the gorges the only way in and out is by boat and these chinese farmers are like mountain goats they way they climb up these impossibly steep slopes to tend their crops perched high up the cliffs.

Day 9
This morning we entered the Wu Gorge, the witches gorge. It is renowned for its magnificent scenery. The lush mountains were shrouded in mist which enhanced its reputation with legends, rocks shaped like goddesses, animals and buddha抯. There are shrines, temples and pergodas high up on the cliffs. The mountains rise vertically from the deep emerald coloured water hundreds of feet in the air. Some of the mountains are a sheer cliff face dotted here and there with caves and it was here in the Wu gorge that we saw some hanging coffins. The hanging coffins of the Ba people are 2000 years old and are sitting precariously on ledges at the mouths of the caves hundreds of feet above the water. No one knows exactly how they were placed there.
Our ship docked and we transferred to a ferry for a cruise down one of the tributaries we were then transferred into smaller motorised sampans for travelling down the exquisite lesser three gorges. Here we saw, monkeys and goats as well as the occasional farmlet perched precariously on the mountain. There are lots of snakes in there too apparently. I wasn抰 really fond of the sampan ride as every time another sampan or other boat went past our little sampan would rock from side to side. I was relieved to return to the ferry.
We have just passed through the final of the three gorges, the Qutong Gorge, the shortest, narrowest and rockiest of the 3 gorges. It is only 500ft wide. The depth of the water in the gorges is about 130 metres, 80 metres deeper than they used to be. The cliffs rise about 1500 metres above water level. The gorges go like this, Qutong Gorge is the most magnificent, the Wu Gorge the most beautiful and Xiling Gorge is the most dangerous.
Each of the gorges is stunningly beautiful. Some are covered in a thick forest of green whilst others are a sheer limestone cliff with holes and caves. The jagged rock often resembling grotesque figures and shapes, it is easy to see how these legends grew.
I have been attending early morning Tai Chi, led by the ships doctor, Dr Wu. He takes the lessons very seriously and gets a little agitated with people who cant follow his steps. Me getting the giggles this morning did not impress him at all. I shall have to try harder tomorrow morning.
Last night the crew put on a fashion parade of costumes throught the ages. It was absolutely stunning, a very professional show. We saw esquisite costumes from the Ming and Qing dynasties