Three Gorges Dam

For the first time since we arrived in China we had a full night’s sleep. We were so pleased to sleep until 6 am and feel rested on awakening. Mary and Cindy went to Tai Chi at 7 and I sat out on the sun deck and talked with a couple from Fort Collins, Colorado. Peter is a retired veterinarian and Jane is a former educator. They are both characters and made great conversation. Mark, Cindy,

Three Gorges area of the Yangtze River

Mary and I met up at breakfast then went back to the sun deck. At 9 am one of the guides, “Elliot,” did a talk on the Three Gorges area.  We learned that the hydroelectric generation at the Three Gorges Dam is the largest hydroelectric generating dam in the world.  As we listened to Eliot we prepared to travel through the easternmost of the locks on the Yangtze. Our ship was a tight fit for the first lock, but we were shocked at how quickly water filled the lock chamber to raise the boat the 20+ meters to the upstream side of the dam. Once the lock gates closed it may have taken only 3 minutes to raise the ship to begin exiting the lock.

Pagoda along the Yangtze River

We sat with Peter and Jane as well as a couple from Alexandria, Virginia for lunch. Mary had a pumpkin/coconut soup with a ground beef and sautéed green bean dish. I had chicken cordon Bleu with a garden salad. We all had the crème Brule.

We had only a short amount of time after lunch to prepare for our afternoon visit to the Three Gorges Visitor Center. Of course we had to pick up our shore leave passes as we left the ship to walk to the buses. There was a swarm of street vendors waiting on us to pass through them to get to the buses. They were selling hats, shirts, maps, books and who knows what else. One more persistent lady was following me and pushing me to buy her book on the Three Gorges. I made the mistake of telling her “maybe later.”

Three Gorges Dam Visitor Center

The bus ride to the visitor center was short and uneventful. It was nothing like the wild ride to the school the day before. On arrival at the Three Gorges Visitor Center, we had to pass through security once again before getting back on a bus to the area where we would make our way to the dam viewing area. We noticed that there were a lot of grapefruit trees that were hanging full of fruit. I just didn’t think of China as a location for grapefruit although it is certainly at a very southern latitude.

Typical Chinese toilet

Some of the people on the trip received a surprise when they went to the toilet at the visitor center. In areas where there are few western tourists, the toilets are not porcelain stools but rather just porcelain lined holes in the floor over which one would squat for bodily functions. This was a bit disconcerting for some of our group, but we had seen these when we arrived at the Shanghai airport where there were the traditional hole toilets as well as western stools. In addition, most toilets in China do not come equipped with toilet paper.  It is expected that visitors bring their own paper to the toilet with them. We came to refer to these toilets as the “squatty potties” of China.

Three Gorges Dam Visitor Center

We traveled up a series of escalators to the top of a hill where we could look down on the dam housing the power generating turbines, the ship lock in multiple stages and the ship elevator. The elevator can take a small ship of less than 3000 tons through the locks in only 14 minutes as compared to 4 hours required with the traditional locks. Unfortunately our ship is too large to take the elevator but we will lock through late on Tuesday night while we sleep. The dam system is an intricate set of dams, locks and hydroelectric power plants. The largest dam was only completed in 2009 but has had a major impact on the economy, environment and culture of the area.

Three Gorges Dam

We were told that the electric power produced at the Wu Gorge dam provides about 5% of all of the electricity used in the country. It has also permitted a great deal more shipping to and from cities in the upper Yangtze valley to markets in Wuhan and Shanghai. Over 1.5 million residents of the area had to be relocated because of the flooding of areas behind the dams. The spin that we heard from our Chinese guides is that the residents were well compensated for the loss of their farms and could afford to get a condo in a city and find a manufacturing job or open a small business. There were also major environmental impacts from the dams. They attribute this to the kindness of the government. Not only were wild river ecosystems changed, but the farmlands and alluvial plains were inundated. Anadromous fish like the sturgeon are now unable to negotiate the Yangtze tributaries for spawning. Since the dams are so high, the construction of fish ladder was considered impractical.

Three Gorges Dam

Because of the importance of the dams there was very tight security in the area. A breach in the dam would be a disaster for many millions of Chinese people downstream on the Yangtze. The flooding would drown millions and displace many millions more. In addition, the power loss would be devastating to the national economy. Evidence of the security was seen in the screening that we saw and the military presence. As we were leaving we saw uniformed Chinese soldiers standing guard reminiscent of the guards at Buckingham palace. For a time we thought they were mannequins but were eventually able to see them breathing.

We stayed at the dam viewing area only about an hour then boarded the buses to return back to the dock on the Yangtze to board the Viking Emerald. There was one problem. The street vendors that we eluded were waiting or our buses when we returned. The persistent Chinese lady to whom I said “maybe later” was waiting on me. I was finally able to shake her as we made our way back to board the ship after passing through security once again.

Temple near the Yangtze

We had a little time before the evening events and dinner so we showered and changed then walked about on the sun deck. As repeat Viking guests, Mary and I are members of the Viking Explorer Society and were invited for a cocktail hour before dinner. We had little appetizers of breads, cheeses and. Caviar. The crew joined us in a toast of traditional Norwegian aquavit then we made our way to dining room for the evening meal. Because aquavit is basically a vodka flavored with caraway, we have never had a taste for it but we took a polite sip as the toast.

We have noticed some differences not only in the prior trip on the Rhine but across the time that we have been on the ship. In Europe there were two dining areas on the ship. One was the formal dining room where most passengers took their meals and the informal grill in the bar area. In Europe, there was a dress code for the dining area, especially for the evening meal and guests who were not appropriately dressed were asked to take their meal in the grill. Because there is only one meal area on this ship, everyone comes to the dining area for meals. While most of the passengers arrive dressed for dinner we had a few who showed up in Harley Davidson T-shirts and jeans shorts. We have seen that as the trip has progressed passengers have started dressing a bit better, at least for the evening meal.

Lights on one of the locks on the Yangtze

We were joined by a very nice couple from the DC area for dinner. Bob and Hsing are both retired from the US Department of Defense and spend a great deal of time traveling the world. We found them both very interesting. Hsing is a very opinionated lady from Taiwan. We remarked that she always referred to mainland China as “Red China” and showed some disdain for the government here.

Most of us had the lamb chops with sautéed green beans. Dessert was a choice of mango ice cream, a brownie or chestnut mousse. We all enjoyed our meals then sat out on the sun deck waiting to pass through the locks at Wu Gorge. Since the river is a little low at this time of year we only had to pass through four of the five lift stages to travel up the Yangtze. Once we entered the ship locks we turned in for the night.