Back from the Three Gorges cruise~~~

Hey guys! I’m back from the Three Gorges trip! We took a cruise! We had to take a five hour bus ride again and I didn’t even sleep well on the trip there. But the view after we changed to another bus was really great. We changed the bus in Yi Chang city and since it was at night, we got to enjoy the nightlights of the city buildings.

The thing I found ironic was that Yi Chang is the city that produces the most electricity since it is where the Three Gorges dam is located at, but the price of the electricity there in Yi Chang is higher than the rest of the other cities, and even then the city is the brightest city we’ve been to so far, even though we only went to like Wu Chang and Yi Chang so… LOL

Once we got onto the cruise, we just settled down and went to bed. The room was alright, but the bathroom wasn’t. It was really small. Tiny. In order to close the door, I had to maneuver and do some twisting and turning. Good thing none of you can see me. Lol

The next day we went to a scenic spot called 白帝城 Bai Di Cheng or the City of the White Emperor(I think!). It was really touristy, but the story of the temple is pretty interesting. But the thing that struck me the most was the mass of people selling the same items all over the place. When we exited the temple and was on our way back to the meeting point, we saw a lot of people selling wooden combs and toys. It was a little scary because there was a lady who kept following me and pushing me while I was walking down the steps, trying to sell her items. I kept rejecting her, and saying no, but she followed me for a good while before giving up. And then a little boy kept following Asaph after he took photo of him(the little boy). 

On the bus, the tour guide explained why there are so many people selling the same items. It was a little off putting, but then I guess they had no choice their homes have been submerged by the river(I think because of the building of the dam) so they have to do this in order to earn some income. I feel a little guilty, but there are just so many of them. Then after that we went back to the cruise. 

At first, before we left the cruise for Bai Di Cheng, they told us to be back on the cruise by 6 in the evening. But by 6.45, we still haven’t left the dock yet. I’m sure we were also late for the assigned time, but the one that really delayed us was the other local tourists(I swear I’m not pointing fingers). I thought we would be the last to get on board since I’ve observed that the locals are always very quick in these kind of stuff, but I was quite surprised when the last to board(more than half an hour later). In the end the dinner was like at 7 plus. And the worst thing was, our lunch that afternoon was also delayed. From the assigned timing at noon to around 1 p.m. Sigh. But at least we got to watch the sunset while waiting for dinner! In Singapore, the sun takes about fifteen minutes to half an hour to set but here, it sets within five minutes. The sun is literally setting right in front of my eye. I can see it moving! Wow! An eye opener, seriously! But the next day morning, when we tried to catch the sunrise, we didn’t make it. Even though we woke pretty early, and breakfast was at 6, we still missed it. Dang. But the view in the morning is still very very nice. The fog covered many things, and I think it made the whole gorge look a little mysterious. The bunch of us brought our bowl of porridge up onto the deck to eat while waiting for the sun to rise(though we didn’t know the sun had already risen by then) and also some hard boiled eggs. It was a really cool experience, and I would remember that morning as the morning we sat around waiting for the sun to rise even though it had already risen. Lol

After that we went off the cruise and onto a smaller boat in the shape of a dragon. No, it isn’t a traditional dragon boat but let’s just call it that.

i am the only sane person here in this photo. i'm sure you agree. XP

we look a little more normal now. pardon my squashed face. lol!

But the view while on the river is really gorgeous(pun intended), no but I’m not kidding. I’ve only seen the view of mountains in the shadows of the other mountains in paintings, but this time I got to see it with my own eyes. The trip today, the last day on the cruise, was the best. The view of the gorge, the rock faces, the river, the cool breeze. Wow. Just wow. I’m glad I had the opportunity to experience it. What was even better was that we got to take the dragon boat to the scenic spot. The way there was really cold and loud, cause we were sitting right at the last row of seats and where the engine was. Despite that, the view is still incredible!

Once we reached the scenic spot, we got down from the boat, and onto lego blocks! Lol not really, but it’s something like inflatable lego blocks that we can walk on! It floats on the water, and is pretty steady even though it does bob a little on the small waves the river has. I really had fun there, and it would be my favourite out of all the trips we’ve had so far.

Even though there are human interventions, the gorge is mostly untouched and still retains its beauty. The lego blocks leads into a smaller inlet of the river and then leads upwards. Yes, there is a staircase leading up to a trail, on the cliff face itself. Got a little fright while climbing up, but once on top, the view made me forget anything. We could look out into the distance and see the other cliff faces even if the river winds a little, but man, I wished we could’ve stayed a little longer up there. On top, I even said hi to some strangers on the lego blocks below. Frankly, I thought they were our students so I said hi, but then I realized they weren’t, but oh well.

we took this on. the. trail. itself. you can see the rocky face behind us. :D

There were some obstacles along the trail, like tree roots and trunks that were sticking out into the trail, and worse, some rocks sticking out into the trail. But the good news is, I didn’t hit any of them. Yay! Haha! We didn’t really do much there other than enjoying the scenery(for me) and taking some weird pictures, but I still think that this trip out to the cliff face trail is the best excursion out of all the places we’ve been to.

And then we headed back to the cruise and finally disembarked at 11 in the morning. We took a bus out back into the city, where we had our lunch, before taking the five hour bus journey back to Wu Han. Even though I didn’t slept much(I went to bed after 1 a.m. in the morning and woke at almost 6 a.m.) and I only napped a little when we were waiting to dock and disembark the cruise, I still didn’t sleep on the bus(not that I would’ve slept well anyways). Wow. So that means I was awake for the entire trip doing nothing. Lol >.<

What a relief when we finally got back here in the apartment. I missed the bathroom. Now I don’t have to perform body gags everytime I want to go to the loo. And the street food. The pan fried dumplings, the wraps, the crepes, and the banana pancake. Yummy!

Need to sleep soon, since I want to wake up earlier to write out some of my notes, so bye for now. Goodnight and peace out~~~ ^ ^