Day 5
It was good to finally get moving on the river yesterday afternoon and we immediately started making our way down the remainder of the Xiling Gorge. We woke up to find we were docked at Badong, only 500,000 residents, so just a small township! The “town” is built on both sides of the river, joined up by an impressive bridge.
To the left of the picture there is a tributary of the Yangzte called the Shennong Stream, and our tour today saw us transferring to a smaller boat to explore it. The orange coloured building to the left of the bridge is the Holy Family Charity Primary School sponsored and only kept operating through funding by the cruise company!
This is the other side of town.
Our guide on the cruise Lee, was fabulous. She kept the commentary going all the way.
The Shennong Stream is also home to the Hanging Coffins, ancient coffins that contain the remains of the descendants of the minority Tujia people. No explanation was given on how they got them up there!
The stream wound its way through several little gorges including the Mianzhu Gorge, Parrot Gorge and Longcangdong Gorge.
Flatter land dotted with little cottages appeared every now and then.
Just as quickly civilisation disappeared and thick jungle came right down to the waters edge.
Then suddenly around the next corner was this amazing bridge. In the middle of nowhere!
I thought I’d sneak down to the lower deck where most of the Chinese tourists had stayed, to see what was happening. A karaoke session was in full swing, interspersed with lots of talking.
We found out later they were actually trying to flog a brand of tea! Which would be funny except our gorgeous guide Lee was doing exactly the same to us on the top deck!
A couple of people in our group warned that Australian Customs would be the eventual beneficiary of the tea, so we resisted.
Once back on the Yangtze 2, we lost no time getting on the move again continuing up through the remaining two Gorges. Hubert the Cruise Director, gave us a lecture about what we’d see.
From Badong we would travel through Wu Gorge, supposed to be the most beautiful and finally the stunning Qutang Gorge.
At one stage in the afternoon, the passageway between the gorge sides were so narrow it was one way only. Once relying on signal posts, it is now all automated, complete with riverside video screen.
From this isolated mountainous area, once again, we’d round a bend to be confronted with massive cities.
Our entertainment onboard tonight was loosly called a ‘talent show’. Along with the crew and our fellow passengers, the Aussies and Kiwis participated. The Aussies chose our song, ‘Waltzing Matilda’, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the 6 Kiwis would have no idea what it was about! The crew were by far the best!
Taking a last walk up on deck for the night, the bridge we were passing under was all lit up and looked quite spectacular. A great day!
Kanga And Wombats Adventures 