On the Yangtze River

The morning, dawned cold and what else – foggy and hazy.

Today is to be one of the highlights of our journey down the Yangtze – the Three Gorges.  Here is where the landscape changes from a meandering river to deep canyons on both sides.   It is known primarily for its scenery.  Three Gorges is approximately 120 miles long.  It is one of nature's most extraordinary sculptures along this portion of the river. 

As the day progressed, the sun came out and burned off the fog.  And what an afternoon we had.  At one point we pulled into a little dock and boarded our pea pod boat. 

early morning on the Yangtze

Today is our last full day on the Yangtze.  A thought that has plagued me all the time on the river: the destruction of all the towns, homes, way of life, etc.  All this is now under 120 meters of water thanks to the dam.  I talked with several of the tour guides.  They have mixed feelings about the replacement of so many towns and over a million people were displaced.  New towns were built but higher up the mountain.  Now you see high rises where 1 story homes dotted the mountain.  The Chinese are proud of their ancestry, and have always honored those that came before them.  Now all those graves are under water. The ecology of the area is greatly impacted by the dam.  The sturgeon is endangered and now being bred in fish farms and released into the Yangtze.

The reasons behind building the dam were to control flooding during the rainy months and to make the Yangtze navigable.  Before the dam, the water levels could drop so low that shipping was impossible.

coffin in cave on hillside

Carlos on pea pod boat

Kathleen poling down river

high water mark in gorge

limestone gorge walls