A trip down the Yangtze

We spent the last few days on a small chinese cruise ship (don't get any illusions about luxury though!) sailing down the Three Gorges to the new hydro-electric damn on the Yangtze. Here are some photos from the trip.

Steven helping the driver fix his bus before we set off for the port:







Sinead and Steven become minor celebrities on board as one of only 4 westerners. There was an official photographer on board that people bought a package of 10 photographs (of them infront of various parts of the river) from. Some people insisted on having us in the photos with them! This poor girl doesn't look entirely happy about her mother wanting a photo of her with the celebs:











We disembarked onto smaller wooden boats at one point to sail down the Little Three Gorges which was beautiful:



The water level of the river backed up behind the damn for 550 kilometres has already risen by 145 metres, displacing whole cities of people. A massive 1.3 million people have been re-located as a result of the project.

The damn will be finished in 2009, which is when the water level will rise another 30 metres to 175 metres. All along the river are markers indicating what will soon be underwater, such as this family's small farm:







The amount of construction in this area is incredible. Here is a new bridge being built to replace one that will soon be submerged. It is gigantic, and one of many massive building projects.



We are off to Guilin today which is meant to be stunning, so I can't wait.