Cruising down the Yangtze

It's autumn on the Yangtze River. The leaves on the trees and bushes are turning a vivid red and yellow and by winter, the hillsides will be ablaze with red. A barge loaded with sand(?) chugs slowly down the now peaceful river.

On the way, we stop for a visit to the Fengdu ghost city. Its location on top of a hill is breathtaking but the ghosts were missing. I think they were visiting Haw Paw Villa.


An example of the amusing Chinglish found at Fengdu and elsewhere in China. The guide explained that the Chinese rely on Google for translation from Chinese to English. With interesting results, I must add.

Another cruise ship, much like ours, passing by. In the back, the steep hills of the gorge tower above the emerald green waters of the river.

Many villages and towns were "drowned" when the Three Gorges Dam was built. This is one of the new towns, rebuilt higher along the coast of the river.

A view of the Three Gorges Dam. It was a foggy day. The Dam is an amazing piece of engineering and everyone has their view about its impact on the region.

The ship locks where boats and ships enter and drop almost 100 metres to pass the dam into the next stretch of the river.


The world's fastest train. We travelled on it from Wuhan to Guangzhou. The highest speed reached was 345 kilometres per hour.

In the outskirts of Wuhan, we saw three dogs, stripped of their skins, hanging from a rack along the roadside, ready for the cooking pot. That took away our appetites but not for long. We had a dish of beef cooked in chilli and served drowned in chilli oil. Although it was fiery red, it was not hot and was the most delicious dish we had on the trip.

In Guangzhou, we stayed on Shamien island. This area has a distinctly European influence with wide leafy boulevards and little traffic. Beautiful life-like statues dotted the lovely parks there. Brides and models were out in full force that weekend.

Young people had their fun with the sculptures too. I had a great holiday. Three days and nights on the river with no Internet, intermittent TV reception, a pleasant cool nip in the air, and a ship full of Chinese tourists- well, maybe fewer Chinese tourists would be ideal but we had some interesting cultural exchanges over dinner and wine.