Day 17 (20.03.10) – Three gorges day 2

Today’s our second day on the cruise and we have to report early in the morning 6.30am! The breakfast was not very appetizing and all of us ate very little only. After that, we went back to our room and wait for the PA system to announce for us to get down the cruise to visit the different sites. First site that we visited is the 觀音阁and we went to 白帝城 after that. We had to climb a long flight of stairs up to白帝城. There are also people offering services to carry us up to白帝城. I wonder how are we going to climb the wudang mountain next week as the distance up the mountain is much more longer! Went back to our rooms after that to wait for the next announcement whereby the cruise will pass by three gorges.

Our breakfast Sunrise!

This is actually 1 tree but it seems like there's3 trees!

This is the suspended coffin. It is a special burial custom spread around in ancient nations in the south of china.

Liu Bei entrusting his Sons to Zhuge Liang.
We passed by three gorges at about 10.30am and all of us quickly run to the deck to take photos of the three gorges. The three gorges is really beautiful. It is natural and not manmade and is definitely worthwhile to see it as we will never get to see it anywhere else. Went back to our rooms again as it is not time for lunch yet. The lunch they served is all processed food and was not really tasty.

Again, went back to our rooms to wait and rested for a few hours before the next announcement. At around 3 plus, we transferred from the cruise to a smaller ship which brings us to the shen nong xi by the chang jiang river. The scenery along the river is beautiful and there are actually people living high up on the mountains! They have no television, shopping malls and other entertainment living in such a remote area. However, the air up there is very fresh and the view from the top is magnificent. After that, we reached shen nong xi where the boat trackers are. Then we board the sampans and the boat trackers will roll the boat themselves. At some point, they will get down the sampan and pull the boat using their bare hands. After that, they rolled us back to our origin and we took a ship back to our cruise. This is really a tough job as they only earn 25rmb for each trip to and fro the origin using all the strength and might they have to roll the boat.

Shortly after we reach our cruise, we went for dinner and returned back to our rooms, again. We watched shows while waiting for the cruise to reach the dams. Waited and waited and finally, we reached the first dam only at 12am plus. The gate is extremely huge and there are 5 dams in total. In order to change the water level without the huge pressure, the ships must go through the dams. After the ship has entered the first gate, the gate is closed and the water level is changed. Then again, the second gate opens, closed when the ship has entered, and water level changed. The process is repeated throughout the 5 dams and it takes 4 hours to pass through from the 1st to 5th dam. Therefore we went back to our rooms and sleep.

First gate closing.

The water decreasing from 160m to 156m and even lower.

2nd gate closing.

Reflection:
The people in china live not only in the city but also high up on the mountains. There have no entertainment at all and all they can do is farming and chatting to each other. Perhaps, they like living in a remote area free from the stress and high standard of living from the hustling city. For me, I don’t think I can live in such a remote area facing the 4 walls everyday with no television, shopping malls, and everything else. I think we are too used to having high standard of living. In my learning plan, I have included how the lifestyle of the people in china is in my investigation. Now, after visiting so many places, I have found out the answer to it. Different people have different lifestyle. Some like living in the bustling city, in small villages where they can rear animals for a living, and some like living on mountains where it is peaceful and surrounded with scenic views.

The boat trackers work really hard to earn a living. The age of the boat trackers ranges from as small as 15 to 80 years old. While we are here having fun touring around and sitting so comfortably on the sampans, they are there rolling the boat so hard just to earn that little amount. The young did not have a chance to study and the old still have to work at this old age. This shows how fortunate we are being able to study and not having to worry about money. We should not complain about how bad our life is and cherish the chance to study now and be satisfied with everything that we have.