Monday, September 17, 2007

Sep 17 – Three Gorges

In the morning we got into what is left of the three gorges. They are still impressive but it would have been so much better before the dam and when the water was 100’s of feet lower.

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The sun started to come out and it made for some interesting effects.

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An interesting hydrofoil working its way up the river.

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In the afternoon we all disembarked and got on these smaller boats for a tour up a side river called the “Little Three Gorges”.

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The bands of dead vegetation at the river side show how much the water level changes through the year as they adjust the flow through the dam. See how tiny the boat looks below.

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One of the “hanging coffins” high up on the cliff face.

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This rock looked like an elephants head.

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Another relocated town high up on a hill.

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When the river got too shallow for these boat we got off and then onto large canoes to continue on.

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They paddled for a while.

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Then it got even more embarrassing. They got out and started hauling us up river with ropes. We felt very stupid sitting there in our life jackets underneath our sun shade.

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The guy in charge.

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The guide and guy at the rudder even sang on the way back.

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Onwards, back on the main river.

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Our first view of the dam.

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We didn’t have to wait very long before it was out turn to go through the locks.

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Lock full

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Lock down.

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It took us until well after dark to get through all 6 locks before we were out the other side.

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Finally tied up for the night.

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