Travelling through the Gorges

Having travelled a fair distance down the Yangzi overnight we disembarked this morning for a visit toWhite Emperor City which is not really a city but a small peninsular town with a temple on top of a hill, of course. The temple is to give thanks that the king Liu Bei entrusted the care if his kingdom and the care if his son to Shute Liang, his prime minister. This proved to be a wise decision as when the Prime Minister eventually died his son proved to be a bit of a wastrel. There are several steles ( stones with writing and poems ) and it is interesting to compare the different scripts of the Ming and later dynasties with that of Chairman Mao's simplified script.

We then sailed through the first of the gorges Qutang Gorge. Whilst the karst cliffs still rise high above you the effect has been somewhat diminished because the Three Gorges Dam has raised the water level and consequently broadened the channel of the Gorges. I suspect my Gorge photography will not be very effective as it was very cloudy and light levels were very low.

After lunch we then travelled through Wu Gorge and then transferred to small pagoda boats to travel up Shenu stream which was much more impressive. Prior to the arrival of the dam this was literally a stream which was not always navigable but now it is a navigable river and this is the location of my blip.

The day was rounded off with the Captain's Farewell Dinner and between 10.00 and 11.00pm we were able to see the cruise liner navigate through the first of the Three Gorges Dam locks ( there are five in all and it was a bit like watching paint dry as it took the best part of an hour to get through the first lock.