Our second full day on the MV Dragon was our biggest day on the Yangtze River cruise. After a wonderful breakfast we embarked on an optional shore excursion, which I would highly recommend. We visited the White Emperor City or BaiDi Cheng which overlooks the western end of the first of the three gorges that we would transit. The Qutang Gorge is the shortest and narrowest (110m at narrowest point) of the three. It is featured on the ten Yuan note and we had an opportunity to observe the vista immortalized on the currency.
- Ten Yuan Note Showing Entrance to Qutang Gorge
The next gorge was the Wu Gorge, which for me was the most spectacular of the three. My neck was sore from looking up at the jagged peaks and the green cliffs that studded the landscape on each side of the river. All the passengers crowded together on the top deck and our cruise director joined us to describe the individual peaks and the many interesting sights along the way.
After lunch we docked at Badong to visit Shennong Stream, a beautiful tributary of the Yangtze. We boarded a smaller ferry-boat like vessel for the long ride up the stream, which got narrower and more beautiful as we progressed. Finally, we reached a small outpost where we got off to board smaller boats which carried about 12 passengers each. This was one of those places where you feel like you are way out in the middle of nowhere, far from civilization. Our boats were propelled by about five men in traditional dress, including loose, baggy shorts, bare chests and bare feet. There were three in the front and two in the back of our boat and we were told that they were poor farmers who had been displaced by the rising water from the dam and that they were very fortunate to have this job. A little farther up this smaller stream, I heard an all-too-familiar ring and was surprised to see one of the oarsmen pull a cell phone out of his baggy pants and proceed to carry on a conversation while he paddled along. So much for being ‘out in the middle of nowhere’! At one point the oarsmen got out and pulled the boat along from shore, demonstrating how it was done in times past. It was a fun excursion and fascinating to see life along this beautiful stream. Sitting right behind the front oarsmen, I got quite a bath from the splashing water and was glad to take a hot shower when I got back to the ship.
Small Boats on Shennong Stream
To be perfectly honest, there were a few disappointments on the Yangtze River cruise. One was that we did not get to visit the Three Little Gorges on the Daning River and another was that much of the transit of the third and final Xiling Gorge took place in the dim light of the evening. And finally, the transit through the locks of the Three Gorges Dam took place at midnight, but I did get up to watch part of it along with several other dedicated travelers on the ship.
The locks were very impressive and it took about four hours to get through the entire series of them. We awakened the next morning on the lower side of the dam and after breakfast boarded buses to take the short ride to the observation area of the dam. From there we could get a good idea of the monumental scope of this project. We started by visiting a huge model of the dam, which gave a good overview, and then actually looking down on the locks and the dam itself. We returned to the ship for the short transit of the lower portion of Xiling Gorge below the dam. It was a bittersweet time, because my 300 new friends and I would soon be disembarking from the MV Dragon and going our separate ways.
Thanks for sharing the video. It’s neat to see raw footage of this part of the world. – Matt
What a wonderful experience to see this part of the world! Loved the singing on the boat.