since i was where i was, i decided to visit the Three Gorges Dam which was the biggest project ever then. 长江三峡大坝，the hydroelectric dam built to generate power and to control flooding. since chongqing is almost the beginning of the yangtze river, that is where most of the cruise ships/boats begins. i kinda signed up for a mini tour where i paid for the boat ride that will take me along the yangtze river, passes by many historic sites (where some will be flooded once the dam is completed) and the ride ends at Wuhan 武汉. then i would take a train back to chongqing.
(courtesy of wikipedia)
thinking about the trip made me excited because i love to travel and i realised i love to travel alone as well. since rich wouldnt be able to go with me, i went alone! woooo!
this entry on chongqing will be the last of the five. for i would have completed my mini china posting.
the boat left chongqing at night.
had a few stops along the way to see historic sites. alas, as the information had been long forgotten, i cannot remember the names of the places anymore. anyway, one of the stops is this.
another site.
i remembered being awake really early, about 6plus am. they told us to wake up early for we were approaching the nice spots. the guide on the boat explained about where we were and what we were suppose to be looking at.
at a certain point, we hopped onto a muchmuch smaller raft, to see the smaller portion of the river.
ah, this is the main boat.
my cabin. i think the trip took about 2 nites, 3 days? anyway, i was lucky. 4 to share a cabin but only 3 of us. the other two persons were a nice old lady and her nice old brother. at first i thought they were a couple... haha. they were really sweet and took care of me. i think they were from beijing.
in the mid of the night, we reached the dam. got off the boat for a mini tour and some photo taking. this is the dam. then it wasn't completed yet of course.
then we got back on the boat and proceeded to clear the dam. it was a really cool process. all the boats/ships go into this little dock (not that little of course) with a huge door infront. then the door behind closes. then they let out the water bit by bit. then the door infront opens and we sail through. i think the whole process took about an hour.
in the morning, we docked at wuhan and i took a bus to the city to catch a train back.
since i had time before the train departed for chongqing, i went exploring! oh wait, what better way to explore then by bus! i dumped my backpack at some luggage counter (crossing my fingers hoping to get it back later). went to the bus station nearby and just hopped onto one bus. didnt know where it was going. anyway, the bus cruised through some parts of the city and neared some beach/port area. i alighted.
this is a monument to wuhan's people for overcoming the flooding of yangtze river in 1954, with mr. mao zedong's inscription.
after wandering around for a while, i took the same bus service back because i reckon (and i hoped) that the bus will return to the train station. along the way, i did an impromtu exit because i saw shopping! hahah. this is a pedestrain mall. i think i walked for sometime, bought lunch and took same bus back to train station.
hopped onto the train that would take me back to chongqing, it was an overnight train, took 15hours!!! left Hankou 汉口 which is in wuhan at about 7pm and arrives at chongqing at about 10am. sleeeep! see my lunch i bought? KFC.
being cheapo, i bought the bunk bed train tickets for 6/space. heh.
i love to travel by train by the way. the whole experience was just wonderful. the train ride... people bring cards to play on the train, being typical chongqing/sichuan people, they were just loud. hot water flask to eat their cup noodles. renting a portable vcd/dvd player from the train to watch a movie. and the best part, at about 10pm, the conductor came by to remind everyone lights out! then it was sleeping time. i was afraid of losing my bag while i sleep, so i think i used it as a pillow. haha.
this is the end of my chongqing trip. as of 2008, i have not managed to return to say hello to people there yet. i think i want to go back there again. i miss the authentic mala steamboat, the freedom of staying on my own, freezing my ass in the deep winter, going to their pubs (one of them have telephones on each table so you can call the person and tell him/her 'i like you'), buying street food (my favourite being, yong tau foo style where you pick the stuff you want and they rojak it and of course, it is spicy)........ lots lots lots.
and i took off for sg.
sunrise.
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