Intrepid Travelers In China (3 of 6)

On this trip we took three overnight trains. Mostly we were in “soft sleeper”, which is where there are four bunks to a compartment and all the sheets, blankets and pillows are provided. There is a door that can be closed and locked. Hot water is available in a thermos, and there are toilets and washrooms at each end of the car. The western toilet was at one end and a squat toilet at the other. Neither one of them was very clean by the end of the journey!!

Once we were in “hard sleeper”, where there are three bunks per tier, six per compartment, and the compartments are open, also the beds are harder. Overnight trains were interesting because we could look out at the countryside passing by, and all the activities of the people, especially in the towns. They were also fun because we could spend time talking to all the people in our group and everyone always shared snacks, books, cold beer, and observations about the different sights and experiences China affords.

One thing we had been looking forward to was the San Xia Ba Dam and the Yangtze River. The dam project was absolutely huge – there between 30,000 and 40,000 men working on just the dam itself. When the dam is finished and they start filling it in 2003, it will eventually create a lake 550 kms long (about 400 miles), which is forcing the relocation of
over 2 million people! So there is also a lot of construction going on to build new homes and villages for all the displaced people. Archeologists are also working non-stop to locate and move artifacts thousands of years old which will be covered by the reservoir.

We saw models of the whole project. Then we went to a viewing hill where we could see the work in progress. There will be 5 ship locks and even an elevator to lift smaller ships over the dam. It will provide electricity for a large part of the country. It will also obliterate the Three Gorges, areas of sharp cliffs and dramatic scenery which have been a tourist attraction for centuries.

We took a hydrofoil up the Yangtze River through the first gorge, then took a bus through the mountains to the Shennong Stream, where we got on a small flat bottomed wooden boat and we floated down through sheer gorges, rapids, rocky pools, and restful mountain scenery, emerging on the Yangtze about three hours later. There is a six man crew on these boats because it takes two men to steer it, with big oars on each end, and four men to pull it back upstream using long ropes and walking along the river! (They used to do this naked! There’s a tourist attraction!) Then we picked up the hydrofoil again and went through the other two gorges to spend the night in Fengjie, a city over two thousand years old which will be under water once the dam is finished. The next day we took a river boat downstream, seeing the Three Gorges in a more leisurely fashion on this day.

One of the nights we spent in Yichang, near the dam, a group of us went to the local night market for dinner. These were always our favorite meals. In every city there are areas which come alive at night, when small tables and chairs are moved out onto the sidewalk area, steel drums modified to be cooking stoves and woks are brought out, and delicious food is produced and sold for a very low cost to the local people. (Average meal cost about 10-15 yuan including cold beer or soft drinks.)

This is where Becky & Marie, our two ladies who spoke some Chinese really were a help, because they could mostly communicate what we wanted to the local people. But when they weren’t with us, we just pointed at what other people were eating, or at foods that were waiting to be cooked, or we said the phrase that our guide had taught us which meant “your choice”, and we were always delighted with what we got.

This particular evening there were about eight of us eating around an oblong table and a crowd of locals stood around watching us eat and talk. Some of them were very close behind us. Suddenly some of the local people grabbed one of the men behind Colin and lots of reprimanding in Chinese began. It seems he had managed to pick-pocket Colin’s wallet, the local people had seen this, and wouldn’t let him go until he returned the wallet to Colin! Later, when we told Jacqui, our tour leader about this, she said that when crimes are committed against foreigners, the penalty is double that which would be given if the crime was against a Chinese person. With regard to crime, China is one of the safest places on earth to travel.