We had breakfast in the VIP Dining Room. We had upgraded our meals to the 6th floor dining room because four hundred people eat in the main dining room and only about thirty eat in the VIP Dining Room. The view is beautiful there too.
After we had eaten, we went on one of three extra tours that we had purchased: Tribe of the Three Gorges. As we walked along a trail above a stream, we would come upon costumed people playing instruments or just looking beautiful. We even watched a play at one point. The mainly Chinese audience found it very funny. I think it had something to do with a wedding night, and the groom was a volunteer from the audience.
Scene on Tribe of the Three Gorges Tour
After that, we enjoyed seeing some beautiful waterfalls. People are obsessed with taking selfies with their iPhones. A lot of people came over to us and took pictures of themselves with us. It was funny watching them get their jollies this way! We then walked to a ferry which took us to our ship. I was the last one to board, accompanied by an entourage of five young male crew members. It was time for lunch, so we enjoyed leisurely eating as we cruised along.
Waterfall
This afternoon everyone on two ships went on a well-organized shore excursion to the Three Gorges Project. Buses were waiting as we disembarked to take us to the dam. This adventure was very well-organized. When we got off the buses at the dam, there were three levels of escalators to take us to the top of the viewing area. Our guide gave us a lot of information about the project in excellent English. She said the pluses outweighed the minuses of the project. Even though they had to relocate so many people, it was less than those who died in the severe floods that have happened every ten years for the last 2,000 years. The dams provide a huge amount of power. Also, the higher water level has not destroyed the beauty of the gorges, because we can still see the beautiful mountains.
Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River
The captain’s welcoming party was just before dinner. Goblets of wine and orange juice were beautifully arranged on a table in the lobby. There were also a few snacks. Paul said their wine made Trader Joe’s 2-buck Chuck taste like an excellent California wine 🙂 We decided to go to dinner.
We had just finished dinner when I looked out of the back door and noticed that we were starting to go through the first lock in the gorge project. We all went outside and watched the whole process for three of the five locks. Larry discovered that a crew member was throwing a looped cable over a floating tie down on the side wall to keep the ship in position. When the water level was high, he removed the cable. Then we moved forward on to the next lock. At 10:25 we were out of the locks, taking 3 hours and 15 minutes to pass through them.
17,966 steps/7.65 miles