China 2015 Installment #3: Three Gorges Yangtze River Cruise from Yi Chang to Chonqing on the Victoria Jenna

Air China from Xi'an to Wuhan

The next portion of the trip was a river cruise on the Yangtze.  This started with a travel day involving planes, trains, and automobiles (and of course the boat itself). We woke up at 5 a.m. to enjoy the hotel breakfast before leaving for the Xi'an airport at 7:30. Our Air China flight to Wuhan took off on time at 10:10, arriving at 11:40.

Sharp at the Tibetan Restaurant

We were met by Sharp, a very personable guide and driver who drove us from the airport into Wuhan city for lunch at a Tibetan restaurant. We enjoyed chatting with him and getting to know him on the ride and at lunch. After we were finished eating, he drove us to the train station to catch our bullet train to Yi Chang. The station was enormous and immaculately clean.

Wuhan railway station

Bullet train from Wuhan to Yi Chang

Sharp waited with us until it was time to board the train, and he helped us to get seated in our very comfortable 2nd class seats in car 11. The train was very clean and modern. We left on time at 3:16. The train reached a maximum speed of 199 km/hr (though we hear it makes 450 on other routes), and the ride was very smooth and quiet. I had ridden the commuter rail in Boston a week prior, and the difference was astounding. As we got further away from the city, we enjoyed the rural scenery - rice paddies and farmland. Every station was announced several times in English and Chinese, and there was a sign which told speed, indoor and outdoor temperature, and the next station.

Wen and Craig in Yi Chang

We arrived at Yi Chang at 5:17 p.m. We were picked up by Wen, a cheerful guide who had spent 5 years working in tourism in Taiwan, but came home to Yi Chang a year ago. He was very friendly. We drove about 25 minutes to a restaurant, where we enjoyed a nice dinner in a small private dining room.

After dinner, we drove around 30 minutes to the boat: Victoria Jenna.  It was getting dark and we saw the lights of a 6-deck river cruise ship with capacity for just under 400 guests. We embarked through the lobby on deck 2. The lobby was quite stylish, and we could tell that this was going to be a very comfortable few days.

Embarking on a Yangtze River cruise on the Victoria Jenna

As we checked in, the cheerful staff offered us an upgrade from our standard cabin to a junior suite. We are always wary of the upsell, but we decided to take a look at the two cabins and then decide. We took the glass elevators to each cabin. Both had twin beds, a balcony, and an en suite bathroom, and would have fit our needs fine. But the junior suite was amazing. It had high ceilings, 2 beds, a love seat, desk and chair, large flat screen TV, and plenty of closet / storage space for luggage. It was the same size as a normal hotel room, and even had a full-sized bathtub in the bathroom. Not what I would normally expect on a ship! We decided to upgrade, as the price was very reasonable, especially given that we would be spending four nights on the boat. We were on the 5th deck (only one deck above us)), down the hall from the bar and lounge. We were quite happy with our new space, and it was nice that we would be in one place long enough to spread out a bit.

Our junior suite, #504, as taken in 2 photographs from out balcony

We had expected the cruise to be mainly comprised of western tourists, but it was actually a majority of Chinese tourists. This was nice to see. The boat was not setting sail until the next morning, so we got settled into the room and went to sleep.

We woke up before our alarm at 6 a.m. The boat started to move at 6:45, and we went out onto our balcony in our ship-supplied terry cloth robes to watch as the boat glided through limestone karst-lined gorges, past miniature lighthouses to keep ships at a safe distance. The air was pleasantly crisp and cool with a little breeze. It was very comfortable.

The view from our balcony, Qiling Gorge

We went to breakfast at 7:30, in the dining room on the top deck. We had table assignments, and we really liked our tablemates immediately: Birgit and Stephan from Norway, and Korean-American couple Jang and Yung and their adult son Brian. Jang had lived in Massachusetts for a while, and Brian had studied in Oslo. And yet we all met in China. What a small world!

After enjoying our buffet breakfast while getting to know our new friends, we all went to the English cruise orientation. The American cruise director was quite funny, and obviously adored his Chinese crew. He clearly is a good mentor for teaching the younger employees good hospitality skills. He explained everything and was quite entertaining.  Afterwards, we wandered the decks and went up to the observation deck. There were lots of Chinese tourists sitting up there, and it was like a middle school dance. Men on one side of the boat and women on the other.  A man was playing a 3-stringed instrument while his friends sang and tapped their feet. On deck 5, women played mah jong and men played poker.

Chinese tourists provide musical entertainment on the observation deck

There was an optional shore excursion this morning, but we decided not to participate. We would be going to the Three Gorges Dam this afternoon and through the locks tonight. Part of the point of this cruise was to relax and unwind a bit, so we didn't want to overschedule ourselves. Instead, we went to something much more low-key: a Chinese medicine lecture with the ship's doctor, Dr. Lee. He gave a lecture focusing on acupuncture / acupressure as well as touching on other treatments. This was to be his last voyage on the ship after 5 years of service, and he was offering free treatments for 10 passengers per day, first come first served.

After the lecture we were the first to sign up. Since Craig's MS diagnosis, he has been very open-minded about treatments, and is willing to try anything that is offered to him. He had never tried acupuncture before, and was eager to give it a try. Dr. Lee saw us immediately. We discussed Craig's MS. He said that although the Chinese don't have this disease, he can try to treat the symptoms. After about 20 minutes of interview about Craig's current condition, he said that he thought that Craig's liver and kidneys were weak, so he did acupuncture mainly on Craig's liver and kidney lines (top of feet, inner calf, inner forearm, chest, etc.) He left Craig with the needles in for a while, then removed them and added a few more for shorter time. Craig could barely feel the needles, and they weren't uncomfortable at all until Dr. Lee tweaked the needles a bit, and it caused some brief minor pain.  He then gave him some herbal pills and gave him instruction to take them before every meal. He said to book a follow up appointment tomorrow; he wants to know how Craig feels. He likes challenges and learning about conditions that are unknown to him.

Dr. Lee performs acupuncture on Craig

When we got back to our cabin, the front desk called to say that we had a phone call. A phone call? For us? We hope everything is ok. We went down to the lobby and took the call. It was Wang Jun! It was so nice to hear his voice! He was checking up on how the trip was going so far, and telling us that he and his whole family were looking forward to our arrival in Guiyang in 2 weeks. We were just as excited!

After a lunch buffet with our tablemates (we found out that Birgit and Stephan were in the cabin next to ours), we met on Deck 2 for our excursion to the Three Gorges Dam. We were split into small groups, and ours included Birgit and Stephan, as well as a group of Singaporean tourists who were very friendly. We got off of the boat and took a bus for a short ride to the visitor's center via the Xiling Yangtze Suspension Bridge. At the visitor's center, both the tourists and the bus itself were screened before letting us through to the dam site. First we saw a scale model of the whole project, complete with flowing water. It really gave us a sense of the overall scope of the project. Despite all of the pros and cons of dams, there was no denying that this was a very impressive feat of engineering!

Three Gorges Dam viewed from Jar Hill Mountain

The idea of the dam was first proposed by Sun Yat-sen in  1919. John Louis Savage of the Hoover Dam came in the 1940's to help to realize the project, but WWII halted progress. In the 1950's, 30,000 people were killed in a single flood season. Not only would a dam be capable of generating power, it would also save lives by lessening flood impact, and just generally evening out the seasonal fluctuations of the river. (Before the dam, when water was low, men would physically pull boats along rocky areas of the river to prtovide passage). The Gezhouba Dam was constructed in Yi Chang in the 1970's, and its success gave the Chinese the confidence to embark on the massive Three Gorges Dam project.

Two five-stage ship locks viewed from Jar Hill Mountain

Xiling Gorge was chosen as the site because it is the widest of the three gorges. The exact location was selected because of the stability provided by granite bedrock there, and also the presence of an island to aid in construction (the island is now submerged). The dam was built between 1993 and 2008. It took 28 million cubic meters of concrete to build the project - the largest concrete dam in the world.

The final ship lock

There were 40,000 workers involved the project in 1993 (a whole boom city sprung up to support them and their families), and 2000 still remain.
The only part of the project that is still under construction is the ship elevator, with an estimated completion date of 2018. Although our ship would be too large to utilize it, the elevator would lift a container full of water, so that small boats could avoid the locks.

We went to Jar Hill Mountain for a nice view of the dam. We took 4 separate escalators to get to the top. There was a great view of the dam on one side (it is low water season, so there was no overflow of water as you sometimes see in footage of the dam) and the pair of 5-stage ship locks on the other. One set of locks is for passenger boats, and the other is for cargo ships. They took 9 years to construct. Unlike the Panama Canal, it does not cost anything to utilize the locks. The government owns the project and wants to facilitate trade along the Yangtze. We then walked down to an observation area where we got a good view of the ship elevator. It was all very interesting and the sheer magnitude of the scale of the project was mindblowing.

Three Gorges ship elevator

Getting back onto the boat after the Three Gorges Dam excursion

When we got back to the boat, we took nice hot showers to freshen up and then headed to the captain's welcome reception. We sat at the bar with Birgit and Stephan. We sipped tasty sparkling white wine while Captain Li, who has 43 years of experience despite his youthful appearance, welcomed the passengers. We enjoyed some appetizers and then headed to dinner together. Once again, there was a nice buffet which served a variety of Western and Chinese fare.

Cruise director Dick Carpentier, Captain Li Long Hai, and river guide Steven Xu at the Captain's Welcome Reception

We went to the lounge to prepare for the evening's entertainment, a fashion show where crew members dressed up in a variety of costumes representing the various ethnicities of China. We had drinks with Birgit and Stephan and enjoyed the show. We were seated near a door to the deck, and
at around 8 o'clock,  Birgit noticed that we were parked in front of two large doors waiting to enter the first of the five locks. We headed out on deck with all of the other passengers to watch. It was so amazing! As we watched, the doors opened ("like the gates of Mordor," as Stephan would later say). It took about 2.5 minutes to silently open. Then we passed through the doors into the lock and stopped right before the second set of doors.

Victoria Jenna crew fashion show

We went back inside as the fashion show was starting, but we continued to be distracted by what was going on outside. Looking out the door we could tell that the ship was rising, and quickly! I went out on deck and could see the depth markers on the walls, and I looked down below us at the 95 meter marker. We watched the rest of the light-hearted fashion show, and then the four of us went up to deck 6 and watched the whole process as we passed through the next three locks. We could reach out and touch the slimy walls of the lock; there was not much extra clearance on the side of the ship. It was so cool; we were fascinated by the mechanics of it all.

Touching the wall of the lock...not much clearance!

As the locks filled with water, the weights on the sides made a very eerie ghostly noise. Bats were circling, eating insects in the ship's spotlights.  And a red moon was visible overhead. The evening was a magical blend of nature and engineering. We entered the last lock at around 11 o'clock. Birgit and Stephan decided to go back to their room. We went to our room as well, thinking that we should probably get some rest before tomorrow morning's excursion. But once we got to the room, all we could see from our balcony was the concrete wall of the lock a foot in front of our balcony. The whole experience was so exciting...and this was the last lock before reaching the open river. There was no way we could go to sleep. So we grabbed our jackets and went to the bow of the ship on our deck.

Stephan and Craig as the locks open

The final lock was not as tall as the others.   We went through the final gates and there was the river in front of us. We were done with the whole process at midnight. What an adventure! And the passenger locks had  been closed up until 2 weeks ago, so our timing was impeccable. We wouldn't have wanted to miss this!! (They had bused passengers around the locks, where they had boarded a different ship on the other side).

Small boat ride down the Goddess Stream

The next morning after breakfast, we disembarked in Qing Shi (in Wu Gorge) for an excursion. Small boats took us through the scenic gorges of the Goddess Stream, a tributary of the Yangtze. The scenery was quite beautiful, but the weather was hazy. I had realized last night that my battery charger for my good camera was broken (and had been for a while, apparently, as the batteries I had been recharging were all dead), so today I needed to resort to my inferior backup camera. Unfortunately, the weather made the lighting very unfavorable for this lesser camera, and the photos don't really do the scenery justice. But we were very thankful that we had brought the old camera, so we were still able to capture our adventures. The scenery was amazing, and we enjoyed visiting with Birgit and Stephan while taking in the beauty of it all.

Stephan and Birgit

Small boat ride down the Goddess Stream

Small boat ride down the Goddess Stream

We passed through narrow limestone gorges. You could tell the maximum water level by the height at which the vegetation grew. We saw a cave high up on Shangsheng Peak. This was a tomb of the Ba people, which contained a hanging coffin which was 2-3,000 years old. The boat ride felt like a Disney ride, as our adorable little yellow-tile-roofed boats made up a little convoy through the picturesque gorge. But it wasn't a ride, the boats were not on a track (as was evidenced when our motor briefly stalled).

Craggy peaks of the Wu Gorge

Back on the Victoria Jenna, we sailed through Wu Gorge, the second of the three. Once again, the weather was hazy and photos came out disappointingly. But the weather was warm and we enjoyed being on the observation deck with the other passengers, listening to the commentary of the river guide and enjoying the beautiful scenery. The water was a pretty shade of turquoise. We passed farms with terraced rice fields on the steep mountain slopes. Silhouettes of monasteries could be seen up on the peaks. As we emerged from the gorge, we passed under a modern bridge and approached a "village" where some of the people displaced by the flooding of the gorge for the dam project had been relocated. Only in China would a city of a million people be referred to as a village!

The Kui Gate of Qutang Gorge, and its image on the 10 yuan note

We then had lunch, followed by a lecture about the Three Gorges area.  Next, we sat at the bow of the boat to watch the scenery as we passed through Qutang Gorge (the final of the three gorges). The wind was really howling through the gorge, and it took about 30 minutes to pass through. It was one of the most picturesque, and reminded us a lot of Yosemite valley. Looking back as we passed out of the gorge, we could see the view of the so-called Kui Gate that is pictured on the back of the Chinese 10 yuan note. The thing that surprised us most about the Three Gorges area was that the gorges are much more narrow than we had envisioned.

City wall and white pagoda at Fengjie

Temple at Fengjie

Walking on the city wall toward the White Pagoda at Fengjie

Craig had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Lee, who thinks that the acupunture was not effective for Craig's symptoms, but that the herbal pills had been, so Craig should continue to take them. Then we enjoyed tea and cookies in the lounge. We had once again decided to skip the optional formal shore excursion to Baidicheng, but we did go ashore on our own in Fengjie, to explore for a little while. The late-afternoon sun was now shining and the sky was blue. We walked along a crenolated city wall towards the White Pagoda. The octagonal pagoda is 7 stories tall, and is quite beautiful. There was also a colorful building which appeared to be a temple, and a series of statues of what appeared to be Chinese philosophers next to it. The long rays of the sun cast playful shadows on the wall, and colorful flags flew in the breeze.  We chatted with some locals and made friends with some of their little children. Our self-guided personal shore excursion was quite enjoyable.

Peacock dance, crew cabaret

We had dinner onboard the ship and enjoyed the crew cabaret. Steven the river guide did a performance of Sichuan opera face-changing, which was very impressive, and got us excited for the Sichuan Opera which we would see in Chengdu in a few days. It ended with audience members being brought onstage to dance. I was one of them, and we did the macarena and YMCA. If only Sonam Tshering could see me now! (No Electric Slide though.) We had drinks with Birgit and Stephan on the observation deck. There were very few passengers up there, and we enjoyed looking up at the stars as we sailed along the mighty river.

Sun rising over the Yangtze River

The next morning, we woke up to a gorgeous golden sunrise over the Yangtze. After breakfast, we went ashore for our final excursion: Shi Bao Zhai, which is an island that we could see from our balcony. It houses a Buddhist temple and an architecturally stunning wooden pagoda. The actual ancient city is submerged as a result of the dam project, but the temple sat atop a 120-foot cliff, so it remained unsubmerged. A retaining wall was built surrounding the island to keep the seasonal high water away from consuming the lower levels of the pagoda.

Shi Bao Zhai

The temple was built in the 18th century under Emperor Qianlong. At the time, monks could only climb to the temple via chains attached to the cliff face. In 1819, a 9-story pagoda was built with 11 steps per story (99 steps total, since 9 is a lucky number in Buddhism) to make the ascent easier and less dangerous for the monks who worshipped there. It was built out of mulberry wood for its resistance to insects (it is poisonous to them). No nails were used in its construction. In 1956, 3 more stories were added. The topmost one just has a metal ladder for access. In 2008 following the earthquake, nails were added as reinforcement to strengthen the pagoda.

11 story mulberry wood pagoda at Shi Bao Zhai

View down at the gate and retaining wall from inside of the pagoda

We walked up a hill past shops and through a nice courtyard area to get to the "drunken bridge", with a floor of wooden planks which undulate up and down like a fun house attraction when you cross it. When we reached the island, we had the option to climb the pagoda or not, and we decided to do so. We passed through a fancy yellow gate and entered the pagoda. Inside were statues and altars. We climbed the steep wooden steps, and each story was narrower than the last. Each story contained large round window openings which faced the river. We climbed to the very top, (up a metal ladder through a narrow trapdoor) and had great views back at the ship. Then we walked through the temple which held some interesting statues. We walked down the steps on the back side of the hill, back over the drunken bridge, and back to the ship.

Craig enjoying a beer on the observation deck

Birgit and Stephan kicking back on the observation deck

It was very hot, so when we got back to the ship, Craig enjoyed a cold beer and I took a bubble bath. We went to lunch, and then spent a couple of hours with Birgit and Stephan up on the observation deck. We had the whole deck to ourselves. The sun was blazing down on us.  The hot sun is exactly what Craig should be avoiding with his MS sensitivity to heat, but when we were here in the moment, we couldn't resist the fresh air and beautiful views that the observation deck afforded. But by 3 o'clock, none of us could take the heat for a moment longer, and we retired to our cabins.

Brian, Yung, and Jang

We rested in our room for the remainder of the afternoon, and then went to the Captain's Farewell Dinner. It was the only non-buffet meal of the cruise, and it was quite nice to share delicious family-style food with our table full of friends. Birgit had even convinced the head chef to provide our table with some specially-pepared hot chili sauce to add to the food. Our table was one of the last to leave the dining room, as usual, because we always have so much fun chatting.

Dressed up as Empress and Emperor

Craig and I bought one last drink at the bar, and got our photos taken while wearing Emperor and Empress dress. Then we met Birgit and Stephan on the observation deck to enjoy one last evening together. Tomorrow we would arrive in Chongqing. We would continue on to Chengdu the following day, and they would return home to Norway.

The next morning, we enjoyed a final breakfast with our tablemates, and then disembarked for Chonqing, ready for our next adventure after a very enjoyable river cruise!

Disembarkation in Chongqing