The Three Gorges Dam is located in Yichang, China and is the largest hydroelectric power station in the world. It stretches almost 2.5 kilometers across the Yangtze River. Construction was completed in 2006 with final generators in place in 2012. There is a five lock canal system that raises and lowers ships over 500 feet between the upstream and downstream sides of the dam. It takes 3.5 hours to transit the canal system. They are building a ship lift that will raise or lower a ship in 30 minutes. The flooding caused by the dam displaced 1.4 million people and covered many cultural and archaeological sites. Cost was 39 billion dollars of which 45% went to relocation and 55% to construction.
We transited the dam starting at 11:00 PM. Approaching the first lock. You will notice that unlike the Panama Canal there are no mules, no people along side, no hustle & bustle. All is quiet and calm.
Two smaller ships in front of us. They will go in side by side. We are to big to allow another ship along side while in the lock.
There are two lock systems side by side; one for upstream and one for down. We are going downstream. This is a ship exiting the upstream lock.
Two lead ships in the lock as we start in. Note the relationship of the height of the ship to the shoreline.
Lock gate closing behind us. Again note the height showing above water.
Finished with the first lock. You can see how far the ships descended. Almost 60 feet.
The lock gate behind us after decent.
The lead ships look like they are touching but they aren’t.
Heading into the next lock with a good view of the lock gate. It took 30 minutes per lock. I stayed awake for the first two.
Panorama of the shoreline along side the lock on our side. No body around.
The ships propel on their own power. They are held in place during the decent/accent by lines attached to sliding cleats built into the lock wall. This picture was taken the next day of another ship while we toured the dam as I couldn’t see this from our balcony during the transit. But you could certainly hear the creaking of the slides as we descended.
A model of the dam complex. The lock system in the right and the dam on the left.
Some views on Yichang as we drove to the dam. The obligatory market as we headed for our buses.
These are roof mounted solar water heaters. We have seen them all over the world.
Driving past an empty lock on the way to the dam.
Passing by a full lock.
Minnie Mouse made it to the dam gift shop
Observation point for the dam complex. The top is highest point in the area. You can see it is a bit crowded.
In other words don’t go up if there is a thunderstorm.
Views from observation point. Last two locks downstream on the right; left first two upstream.
Upstream entrance on left, lock control tower in the middle.
So you are asking, “Where the heck is the dam!!?” This is a declared military facility so no visitors go inside on on top of the dam, only on the approved tourist walk ways and viewing points. Here is what you can see. It was so foggy we could only see about the first 1/4 mile of it. On the left is the planned ship lift.
Better look at the ship lift. It is mechanical.
Heading back to the ship I came across this lady doing her laundry.
This lady had a mobile shop.
Now the rest of the story about our return to the Amsterdam which was in doubt for a while.
Sunday, October 19th, ship docks and we depart at 1:00PM with our guide & driver. Local restaurant lunch and to the airport about 3:00PM.
Airport looks foggy but our flight still shows on time for a 8:50PM departure. Earlier flight at 3:40 is boarded already. Guide leaves.
5:30 we see people we know from the 3:40 flight. They had been sequestered in a small room after security check and flight was cancelled.
6:30 our flight is cancelled. Airline offers hotel. meals and try to get us out the next day on late afternoon flight that we already know is fully booked with new people. That is Monday, our safety day and even if we get that flight we’ll miss the ship.
I find a very nice and helpful Guide who takes pity on us and agrees to help. Noreen goes to get more local money while the Guide and I work on alternate plans. Noreen comes back; currency exchange will not take our credit cards, traveler checks or cash, too wrinkled and dirty. Now not only don’t we have a way to get back to the ship; we also don’t have enough money.
7:30 Noreen gives me the “I’ve had enough fun” look. Guide is working on smart phone checking on trains, planes and cars to get to Shanghai. Several places aren’t on net and she has her husband calling by landline from their house to check.
10:00ish We have a plan…or at least part of one. I asked her to get us to “America” in the form of a Hilton, Radisson, or Sheridan. Didn’t have any of those in Yichang but there is a Crown Plaza, best hotel in town. So off we go to the train station. Our Guide’s driver is doing her a big favor by working so late. At the train station we buy a ticket for the 7 AM bullet train to Wuhan City. It is the provincial capital and has a large airport. Perhaps we can get a flight from there.
11:30ish we get to Crown Plaza. They take our credit card for check-in but no cash advance or travelers checks. They do take some of our new cash that Noreen had traded with a fellow stranded traveler and we get 1200 yuan. Driver immediately gets 400. So with what we have already we’re left with about 1000 yuan. We still have at least three taxi/car rides, the plane tickets and the Guide who has been with us all evening. Things are looking tense. Just to top things off we aren’t sure what time the ship sails and our emergency numbers to call the ship don’t work. We give the guide all the dollars we can spare and get business card to send more when we get……….well, someplace.
Midnight in the room, very nice and I have INTERNET! Fifteen minutes later I have two plane tickets from Wuhan City to Shanghai on an 12:20 China Southern flight paid for by credit card to Cheap Tickets.com. It will get us into Shanghai at 2:00 PM. The airport is an hour from the cruise terminal; will the ship be there??
6:00AM Monday October 20th, Amsterdam sails for Hong Kong today. We a cab from the hotel to the train station; 30 yuan down. We haven’t eaten since 2PM yesterday so we allocate 50 yuan from some little cakes, which we eat sitting in the train station while trying to figure out how we’ll know where to go and when. We have assigned seats in First class, the only two seats left on the train.
7:00 We’re on the train. The only pictures I took during this whole adventure. It was really a very nice trip and we arrived on time at 9:15.
Conductor
On Board Hostess
194 km/h
Our car
9:30AM grab a driver and car from train station to airport, down another 200 yuan. We have 558 yuan left.
10:30 at the airport, check in. We have some time until flight. Decide to allocate 58 yuan to food. Noreen couldn’t afford any wine which is part of her pre-flight checklist. Things are getting tense. She had a beer and I had some kind of strawberry drink. We shared a bowl of egg drop soup with tomato, which wasn’t bad.
11:50 we boarded and sat back and relaxed. Well, kinda; Noreen was sure we were going to miss the ship. My though was once we were in Shanghai we were fine. We would have access to funds and could get a plane to Hong Kong to rejoin the ship no problem. Noreen proceeded to give me an overview of what she thought of me dragging her off to the backwoods of China.
2:00PM landed in Shanghai 30 minutes early!! Then proceed to sit on a taxiway for 30 minutes. Off the plane and get our bag. We found a car and driver. They wanted 750 yuan to the cruise terminal. We only had 500, they agreed……then took our credit card.
2:30ish We’re off, Noreen asks the driver to please drive quickly, in a rather dynamic voice. I think she scared the poor guy half to death. One hour forecast travel time, we made it in 33 minutes. Took a while to find the correct entrance to the cruise terminal. Looks like passengers and crew from the Amsterdam walking around.
We turn the corner dragging our bags and there is the Amsterdam! We walked up the gangway at 3:30, one hour before all aboard. And we still have 500 yuan about $72.
I’m writing this on Sunday, October 26th. Tomorrow we leave the ship again in Vietnam for a trip to Angkor Wat in Cambodia and rejoin in Singapore. Noreen is just shaking her head and getting ready for another adventure.
We hope you enjoyed our trip down the Yangtze River. Send us you thoughts and comments. Next off-ship adventure is to Angkor Wat on October 27th. Wish us luck.
