Notes from the Dragon Diary 3: Our Yangtze River cruise began inauspiciously from the smog-yellow docks of Chongquing, where I proudly (and stupidly) wrestled my suitcase away from the bamboo man whose sole income is derived from carrying passengers bags from the motorcoach to the ship, some 30 meters down a steeeeeep stairway. It was a battle I shouldn’t have waged…he was far better suited to the work than I. Sheila wisely took the option of having her bag toted.
We’re still thinking about what we saw and felt along the river. To accommodate the rising waters resulting from the Three Gorges Dam, entire towns were demolished after new ones had been built 175 meters higher on the river bank. Whether they wanted to relocate or not, everyone except those in the cemetaries, moved skyward. The older generation resisted the move, but the promise of more space and more amenities in their “new” town comforted them. I would’ve resisted the change, too, I think. The length of the river up to where the dam had been built was hyphenated with soul-less cities with tall unimaginatively designed people pods purposely built to accommodate the relocationees. The word “soul-less” is generous. I’m sure there are festivals, music, dance or other free-time diversions in these cities, but none of it is apparent to the riverboat passengers cruising by. What we saw on the banks of the upper Yangtze was not at all what we expected to see.
Once past the dam, however, the scenery was splendid and the riverbanks, not affected by a river swollen by a new dam, were dotted with picturesque scenes that corresponded more closely to my vision of what rural China must’ve looked like 20+ years ago…color, traditional architecture, variety, and clean air. Still…there were no birds.
Speaking of birds, there were a few strange ones on the cruise with us, but mostly they were really interesting people. The rivercruise boat was okay…suffering a bit, perhaps, from a lack of attention to detail. Food aboard was okay, heavily skewed toward rice and mystery stew offerings, but then…we were in China.
Looking forward to Shanghai…here we come.
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