2014 China Trip
At times when we were docked, another cruise ship would tie up to our ship. The boats have to dock along side each other as the docking area in not very large. This sometimes woke us up in the middle of the night or early in the morning.
On September 23,we had to walk through four other ships to get to the cable cars that took us to the bus station. The busses took us to the Three Gorges Dam which opened in 2008 It is the world's largest artificial generator of electric power from a renewable source. It is designed to withstand a 7.0 earthquake. The concrete and steel dam is 7,661 feet long and 600 feet high. Despite generating so much power and reducing the risk of floods the dam still caused controversy. Over a million people who had been living along the river were displaced. There was also destruction of some scenic areas and archaeological sites.
After our tour of the dam we went back to the ship. After lunch the ship sailed through the five dam locks; a process which takes four hours! Due to the ten days of rain the water flow had been too heavy to allow boats through the locks. Some boats had been waiting for three days to go through them. Fortunately we did not have to wait. Our boat was next to a coal barge as we went through the locks. There is very little space between the vessels or walls once they enter the locks. As we left the last lock we had a nice view of the "Golden Gate Bridge".
After dinner we enjoyed the Crew Cabaret Show -- lots of fun and laughter.
The next day we stopped in Jingzhou and went to a Viking sponsored primary school. Students played the drums as we entered the school grounds. The school children entertained us with dancing and singing. Then we visited the classrooms. The children were just delightful. This is a memory we will always carry with us.
Later that day we toured the ship's bridge. We were amazed by the small steering mechanism.
The next morning we arrived in Wuhan. After checking out of the ship we went by motor coach to the Hubei (pronounced Hu bay) Provincial Museum. We watched a performance of bronze bells. The bells are on racks and are played by tapping the inside of the bells. The very large bells are struck with a pole. The set of bells is a replica of one found in Marquis Yi's tomb, which is on display in the museum.
That afternoon we flew aboard China Southern Airways to Shanghai.
Yangtze River Cruise - Days 3 to 5