Victoria Cruise, Three Gorges

As we arrived at the riverside at dusk, it became evident that the city of Chongqing takes tourism seriously.

All the surrounding high-rises had sailing ships outlined in lights and the

dinner tour boats were glitzy.  Our boat is the calmer one in the middle.  

 A Chinese band played Sousa to welcome us as we came on board.  A bit surreal!

 Glitz.  Comfort.  The Victoria "Selina".

 After the first night sailing down the river--which is actually a reservoir--we stopped at 

"The City of Ghosts" Feng Du.  A temple complex on Ming Mountain 

portrays many Buddhist ideas on the afterlife.  

It was fun having my sister Terry with us.

It drizzled and drizzled.

 I mentioned that the cruise through the Three Gorges is actually on a reservoir formed by the

Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River.  It's a controversial project, as a few million people had to relocate and reservoirs fill up with silt (especially this one as the Yangtze River carries a lot of silt).

On the positive side, there is hydroelectricity--which China needs desperately and the devastating flooding is a thing of the past.  With some of the major floods of the 1900's, hundreds of thousands of people died.

At this time of year, the reservoir is not full, awaiting the spring run-off, and hence

we had a lot of steps down to the quay.

 Our cabin--very comfortable!

 The full-line is visible.  Homes have been built to relocate people. 

There is a tomb built right at the water line--relocated as well.

 The first gorge.  Absolutely breathtaking!  

And this picture is the same as is on the 10 RMB note (Chinese currency).

As we approached, all the rain stopped and we had a great view.

 A hydrofoil passed by like we were standing still.

 Over the past few thousand years, holes in the cliffs have been used for burials.

A plank is wedged in, then the small box laid on it--I'm unsure whether it was the ashes from a cremation (as is usual here) or the actual body.  These caves would have been incredibly inaccessible when the water used to be at river-level.  No one knows how they did it!

Entering into the second gorge, and the rain came again.  Not hard rain, just constant drizzle.