it's Wuhan

Monday, September 21, 2009

Day 18, 19 & 20 in Wuhan

I’m back from 3 gorges. The trip started on Friday till this afternoon. This trip was great and it made me further understand the culture in China.
On Friday, we woke at as early as 5.45am to prepare our journey. Firstly, we sat a long ride bus for about 6 hours and we stopped at YiChang to have our lunch. Yichang is a place that have yet to develop, pretty “wulu”. Lunch was great at YanSha DaJiuDian and our table totally swept everything off the dishes. How i wish every meal was like that.
We then continued our journey and we visited the 3 gorges exhibition halls, and it was rather interesting knowing how the dam is being build and function. After all the visiting we had our dinner. Dinner was just ordinary.

When the night fall, it was time to board up the cruise. We waited for a hour at the jetty, and the whole place was chaotic. It was so difficult to walk to the entrance, and even going to the counter to get the tickets and so on.

After the squeezing and long walk to our cruise, we finally settled down. The rooms were rather small, and it was very stuffy as the windows were very small, and the wind just glide thru the cruise instead of going into our room. After we gotten our cards to enter the roof terrace, we headed up to enjoy the views. However, it was totally dark with no lights, that was definitely scary! Headed back to our room and ended our day.

On Saturday morning, we woke up at 6am and had our breakfast on the cruise. It was the same type of food that we usually have. Salted vegetables, buns, egg, congee and soy milk. By the time we finished our breakfast, we was at ChongQing.

Our first stop for the day was 白帝城. It resembles just like the time when i went to BeiJing. The structure was ancient, and they also have the mini Great Wall of China.

To reach some of the exhibition halls, we will have to climb 200-300 steps. Yes again, i guess this is gonna be a good training for WuDang San next week.

Next destination was 神农溪, where TuJia Culture grows. TuJia culture was interesting especially the part on the suspended coffin. Despite the long heritage, the suspended coffin still exist, and through the rides on the boat, i managed to see 3 of the coffins. They were all located at the holes in between the caves. This is really Interesting!

We then had a ride on the small boats at the Shen Nong Xi stream. This small boats were'nt the ordinary ones. All this boats are actually operated manually by the TuJia people. With a boat of 17 people, 7 boatmen will row the boat. It was very tough especially when they are elderly. That scene was a heart wrenching moment. The ride was about an hour and then we headed back to cruise, and the drizzle came.

Rested all the way till about 11pm, and everyone came awake. Our cruise is bypassing the 3 gorgous dam. There were a total of 5 gates. From each gantry, it reduces as much as 20m in depth of water, YES 20 METRES! Each gantry took about 20 mins to reduce the water level, before it proceed to another. By the time it finished crossing all the gantries, it was already 3+am. 3 gorges dam are the saviour of many villages, preventing floods and droods.

Day3- Morning breakfast was at 6.30am, and we had the same thing for breakfast. Nap time after breakfast as we headed back to the jetty where we came from.

By the time our cruise reached the jetty, it was about 10am. We headed back to our buses which would send us back to school. It was raining cats and dogs, and i swear we had a hard time boarding up the buses, as they were very far.

As soon as we settle on the bus, everyone fell asleep throughout the bus ride. & we finished our weekend tour at around noon. This trip was an eye-opener experience.
Drastic change in Temperature- Is 18 degree currently! Is freezing cold!!!
Quote of the day- One may go a long way after one is tired.

Reflection- At the Sheng Nong Xi Stream, it was definitely a heart wrenching moment. 7 boatmen would have to row the boat for hour and get down the boat to pull the whole boat at the turning point. The boat men were aged from 30 years old to 50 years old, and it happens that most of them were in their late 40s. They exerted so much force that i was able to see their vains on their neck! After working so hard, they only earned 25 RMB, which is close to SGD $5. i just can't stop my tears rolling down seeing them working so hard. I have yet to experience the worst yet and i am calling for help. What about them?

lovefrom gloria at 11:41 PM