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5/15/06 Dear Family,
Friends, Fellow Students, and Professors: Email Update
for May 1 & 15, 2006 Because the Three Gorges Dam is quickly nearing completion of the
construction phase of the dam, the water level in the Mom, Thomas, Juice and I flew into We boarded a boat that had around 350-400 people on it, of which 12
(including us 4) were foreigners. Our
trip down the river started at The Three Gorges themselves were magnificent, and it is easy to see how
they stirred the emotions of countless Chinese poets and painters. Many of the mountain faces were made up of
very steep, sometimes sheer slopes and they were also covered in lush vegetation. In addition many of the mountains lining the
gorges were topped with fanciful rock outcroppings which seemed to beckon to me
and my camera. I was also fascinated
with watching the countryside role by because it seemed as if every possible
open space was devoted to agriculture.
Not only were the banks of the river used for food production, but what
seemed to me like impossibly steep slopes were also put into agricultural use
using the terracing method. While we passed through many heavily farmed areas, we also floated by
quite a few villages and cities, as well as numerous industrial areas. The first night we went past an area that was
completely lit up but the persistent fog kept me from getting a good view of
what kind of industrial activity was taking place. However, I could hear the coming and going of
barges as well as the rumbling of machinery.
In addition, upon entering the area I detected a strong chemical smell,
which ended up making my throat dry and even slightly stung my eyes. I only wish that we could have passed by the
area during the day time in order to get a better look at what was going on. A majority of the barges we saw on the river were carrying coal. However we regularly passed covered barges as
well as barges loaded with containers making it hard for us to determine the
contents. Interestingly enough sometimes
on the cliffs lining the river banks we could make out cement walled holding
areas for coal, which had long metal chutes attached to them to transfer coal,
using the force of gravity, down to waiting barges. We passed by many cities straddling both banks of river. One thing that continuously surprised me when
passing through these cities was the near lack of bridges connecting the two
halves of the cities. When our boat
docked at ports I was able to see that most of the river crossings were done by
ferries. Another thing I noticed was
that in anticipation of the continual rise of the water level, all of the banks
are being lined with concrete.
Additionally we passed by many cities that had already had their lower
sections demolished or moved up to higher ground. After stopping at a few temples and cities on the way, we finally reached
the Three Gorges Dam on the third day of our trip. We disembarked at Maoping, directly upstream
from the dam, and took a waiting bus to the dam visiting area. Though the distance from where we docked to
the dam was not far, it took us an hour to reach the visiting area because the
road was in terrible condition due to constant construction on the dam, and we
frequently had to wait for large trucks, loaded down with equipment and
machinery, to pass us by. In addition the
bus had to stop at several security points for our tour guide to get off and
show her official tour guide license.
The Three Gorges Dam was absolutely impressive. It is so massive and overwhelming in size
that it is hard to fathom the scale of the whole project at once. The bus took us by the two, five stage locks
and then up to a viewing area just below the face of the dam. After getting to walk around below the dam
for a few minutes we were herded back onto the busses and then taken to a
visiting center with a vista. At the
vista point we could look directly down at the locks as well as out across the
top of the dam. Finally we were taken to
a site just opposite the top of the dam where we could look down on the
upstream side of it and the construction still going on there. There were numerous cranes still in place
working on the dam, and I could see welding going on everywhere. I was quite surprised however, to see workers
using poles to carry large boulders with which they were lining the banks of
the reservoir butting up against the dam.
It was quite an amazing experience, though if I get the chance to go
back I hope I can go independently or with a tour that will allow me more than
five to ten minutes at each of the visiting sites around the dam. Obviously that short amount of time is just
not enough to get a real sense of the enormity of the Three Gorges Dam project. Until the next email update,
take care, and thanks for reading, Darrol Butler My new address: Yangzte River Trip Photos |