Yangtze River - Three Gorges, China ( Sunday, August 26th, 2018)

Today was one of those days that truly reminded us of why we love to travel, not because of the sights we saw, or the things we learned, but because of the feelings we felt.  Because of how we were amazed, humbled, saddened and excited all at the same time.  

Today our cruise took us through the three gorges portion of the river.  This is an area of the river that is getting closer to the dam, and because of how narrow the gorges are, this used to be an extremely treacherous section of the river, flooding almost yearly with huge rapids and completely untamed waters. 

This also used to be one of the more remote areas of China, but still having a huge population because of the river.  All of the people that lived in this area were indigenous people, living solely off the land without electricity or running water (well, they had the very dangerous river if that counts).  It was one of the very poor areas of China. 

When they built the Three Gorges Dam about 15 years ago, life completely changed for all of the people of this area.  The only homes that they had ever known (sometimes homes that were hundreds of years old) would soon be covered by water.  They had no idea what it would mean to them to have to move to higher ground.  The river valley at least provided them with fertile soil so that they could do some farming, but moving to higher ground would put an end to that as well.  

The government did rebuild homes for everyone that was displaced by the building of the dam, so most of the people in this area ended up with a bigger home than they had before the dam, and the government guaranteed them electricity and running water in their new homes.  So that was one positive thing that came out of the dam.

The next part of our Yangtze trip took us through the narrow gorges.

 

Most of it was very rural, but there were a few cities scattered among the hills as well.  Most of these cities are relocation cities where they are now housing people who were displaced by the building of the dam.  All of the high rises are new since the dam was built.

An old pagoda.

In the after noon, we pulled into port for our tributary excursion.  Here we took smaller boats up one of the tributaries to the Yangtze to visit some of the local people that live in this area.

 Aboard these smaller boats, we had a local guide from this area.  She told us about life along the river and how the dam changed the lives of all of the people in this area. She said that when the dam was originally built it was devastating to the people of this region, but as time went on, they learned to work with the flooded valleys instead of against them.  They have now welcomed tourism, which provides them with a lot more money than they ever had before.

Goats wandering along the shore.  These goats belong to the village of this valley.

I zoomed way in on this next picture.  High up on one of the mountain sides is a cave with a hanging coffin inside.

 When we got to the end of the tributary, we all got off on floating docks where we enjoyed a singing and dancing show put on by the local people.

Then we headed back out.

 As we made our way back to the ship, or guide showed us a book containing the story of this area and the building of the dam.  It was a beautiful book, and the proceeds from the book would help the people of this area.  Of course, we had to get one. 

Our guide was amazing.  She does not live in this valley, but in a valley a few miles away.  She was born and raised in this area.  She walks about a mile from her home each day to where she catches a boat.  She then rides another hour to get to this valley so that she can go to work.  Steve and I guessed her age at about 20, but then she told us that she is 35 and has a 14 year old son.  Wow, can you believe how young she looks?

 This little building is located high up on one of the mountains.  It is the elementary school, which is used by kids from several valleys in this area.  Once kids finish elementary school, they have to leave the valley to continue because there is no middle or high school in this area.

As we were disembarking our small tour boat, we looked to the side and saw the "work ferry".  This is the boat that picks workers up in the morning and delivers them home in the evening, back to their respective valleys where they will then walk back to get home.

Each time we would get back on our ship after an excursion, they would meet us with nice warm towels to freshen up.

Today was an amazing day taking in the sights of the three gorges, but the real reward came from understanding the lives of the people that live in this area and how they were affected by the dam.  It is a very interesting story that we will not soon forget.