From Chengdu we travelled to Chongqing, which is the main gateway for people wishing to take a cruise down the Yangtze river. The river winds it way over a few hundred miles all the way to Shanghai, through an area called the Three Gorges, considered one of the most beautiful pieces of scenery in the whole of China. Much of this area will cease to exist in 2009 when the worlds largest dam, on the Yangtze river at Yichang, comes into full operation. With the help of Mr Lee, who we had met in Chengdu, we decided to go native and take a Chinese Tour Boat, rather than the ones laid on for westerners, although we did relent and take a 1st class cabin after advice from some people who had already been on this route. After booking our tickets we had a few hours to kill and headed into the centre of Chongqing for a refresh - in traveller language that means heading to McDonalds for a little of what you know. The amazing thing was when we arrived in there, there were 4 other gringo couples already in there having a burger - we have never seen so many white faces in one place in all our travels in China! We also had the opportunity to have a walk around the city for an hour or so, once we were prepared to drag ourselves away from the air conditioning. Like every other city we have seen so far, Chongqing is being completley rebuilt and as with other instances it seems to have been almost entirely relocated from one side of the river to the other. The buildings that have gone up are high tech and high rise and to be honest the whole scene would not have looked out of place in London or New York. We were eager to get aboard the ship and have a look at our cabin so come early evening we were escorted to the boat and given a limited guided tour. Our cabin was nice, if a little on the small side and they had the smallest beds we have probably ever slept in. However, when we got to take a look at the 2nd and 3rd class cabins we were grateful for small mercies as in the bowels of the boat there were 8 people sharing a cabin the size of our own room without air conditioning and no bathroom - not pleasant. With the sun already setting and the view limited from the deck we decided to take an early night as we had been up so early for our bus trip from Chengdu that morning. We were operating in the mistaken belief that the crew expected their customers to have a comfortable nights sleep on board - not so. Each time we came to a small town the captain would blast the fog horn two or three times, ensuring that neither anyone on the boat or anyone in the town stayed asleep. Worse was to come as at 5am an early trip to a local temple was making its way off the ship - that was the first knock at the door to see if we would like to go on the tour - no!. The second knock came 10 minutes later when they wanted to know if we would like some more hot water in our room, for a cup of tea - no! The third knock came a further ten minutes later to which Carol first replied "go away" very loudly, or words to that effect. As this didn't work and they persisted in trying to get us out of bed Chris eventually stormed to the door with nothing but a towel around him to find a slip of a girl standing outside with a dust pan and brush, asking if she could clean our room - at 5.30 am not bloody likley!. Strangley they did not attempt to clean the room for the rest of the time that we were there! The Yangtze River is the longest in China at 6,300km which also makes it the third longest in the world behind the Nile and Amazon. Our first day on the boat was spent taking in the scenery from the deck and enjoying the breeze as we swept along the water ever further towards the three gorges - the one site that we had really come to see. With so much time to enjoy just being outside in the fresh air we were relieved that there had been a break in the weather and the temperature had once again risen to the mid 30's, though within a sky of hazy sunshine. The following day was the main one for activities as we arrived at the three gorges early in the morning. With some trepidation there was a hesitant knock at the door at around 5am, to inform us that the boat was approaching the first of the three gorges and we should head out on deck to see it. The morning mist was still circling over the water as we made our way outside and it made for a very eery feeling as we came through the large escarpments that made up the sides of the gorge. Towering above us and covered in lush greenery the gorge was beautiful but perhaps a little difficult to appreciate so early in the morning with only dim light around. We passed through the gorge without any events and made our way to a small town where we all got off the ship and made our way to a series of smaller boats for a trip along the Lesser Three Gorges, considered by many to be equally as beautiful and perhaps more dramatic than their big brothers. The nice thing about the smaller gorges is that you get much closer to the rock face as you sail along small tributaries of the main Yangtze river. Up close you can see small animals scurrying away into the undergrowth and a miriad of colourful birds hovering in the air to catch their breakfast. Later in the day we sailed through the further two gorges, before reaching Yichang, the final stop on our three day trip. The gorges were beautiful but we felt that we had seen some much more impressive sites in the outback of Australia in the gorges of Katherine. Whilst we were approaching the edge of the town, which was to be our disembarkation point, it was not the last site that we would see. The Three Gorges Dam project has been ongoing for a number of years. It is designed to be the largest Dam in the world. Stage one of its implementation was to divert the flow of the great Yangtze in order that they could build the dam on a dry bed. As a result, all traffic along the river now has to make its way through a series of 5 locks, whether they are heading up or downstream. We hadn't appreciated this fact and had headed to bed earlier in the evening. It was when Carol looked outside the window at around 11pm to see what all the commotion was about and was faced with a sheer wall face one foot from the window, that we realised that we must be in the first lock. We headed on deck for a better view and watched the process of the enormous grey steel gates opening and closing on their hydraulic arms. Each lock took in 6 large cruise or cargo boats and with each no more than two feet from the towering walls of the lock or the boat beside it. We reckon it took some skillful navigation to avoid a collision. With each gate we descended at least 30m - it was fascinating to see the water mark of the lock rise up above our heads as the sluice gate in front of us let the water stream into the next lock. In all we dropped 135m, though once the river is fully dammed and in complete operation, that will increase to a drop of 175m. The whole thing was very impressive. Things started to make a lot more sense now as we were able to put into perspective some water level markers that we had seen all along the river. So many of the houses and buildings that lie along the side of the river will completly lost to the flood waters when the river is flooded in 4 years. Much of the three gorges area themselves will also be forever lost as the river rises. We headed back to bed for our last night aboard the boat before heading into Yichang for a few days. The boat was to dock at around 5am (obviously the crew's favourite time of day) and in preparation for the obligatory fog horn and knock on the door we went to sleep. The sunshine was streaming through the curtains the following morning rousing Carol from her deep slumber. She looked at her watch to find it was 7 am. A quick peek around the door revealed that we were the only other people on the boat and they were in the process of cleaning the cabins out for the next arrivals. The only day that we wanted them to wake us up at the crack of dawn and they didn't bother!! We think they were a little to stared to come and knock on the door anymore. Anyway, the whole trip has been an adventure and we are pleased that we have seen this natural wonder of China. After a little recuperation in Yichang that night we headed back to the dam, this time by road. Once completed in 2009, the dam will be the largest in the world, with the Yangtze river backing up by around 350 miles and will flood an area the size of Singapore. Once we reached the dam, we were able to visit the visitors centre which shows the completed project in a large scale model and tour the external site of the dam. There will be a total of 26 turbines, each capable of generating 700 megawatts of electricity. In total, this will generate electricity equivalent to 18 nuclear power stations and will supply about 20% of China's overall electricity requirements. The dam itself is about two-thirds complete, with the dam wall rising up to a heaight of 185m and spanning an length of around 2,300m. The estimated cost when completed will be a staggering US$70 billion. The price is also high in other ways. Two million people will ose their homes when the area is flooded. Compensation is between US$2,000 and $4,000. Over 8,000 archeological sites will be underwater and countless wildlife will be lost. The price in human life could also be staggering. Two dam's collapsed in 1975 in nearby Hunan provience, resulting in the deaths of 230,000 people in nearby cities. It was hushed up and kept as a state secret for 20 years. Should the same thing happen to this dam, four million people in the city of Yichang would be dead within an hour. The dam does make an impressive sight though and we wonder how the landscape will alter once the sluice gates are closed in 2009, causing the whole area to flood. We are glad to have seen this part of the world before it quite literally disappears.