Yangzi River and the Three Gorges

One of the things I wanted to experience in China was a cruise along the Yangzi River, the third largest river in the world. Along the river, there are 3 incredibly beautiful Gorges: Qutang, Wu and Xiling. Over three days and three nights, you sail through these and enjoy the view, together with other stops for shorter trips.

Sounds nice, doesn't it? Not the way we did it!

We wanted to do this in an authentic manner so we got tickets on a chinese boat. Bad move. I will not go on and on here about how bad this was. All I will say is that I cried, didn't shower for 3 days, and was covered in bug bites by the time we finally left the boat. Instead, I will share the pictures of the best part: the scenery!The three Gorges are beautiful, but more impressive were the Little Three Gorges. We got off our "cruise boat" and went onto a smaller boat to be able to sail through this smaller area, and it was an amazing few hours. The water in this part is much cleaner, and looks green. You get really close to the gorges, and get to see its lushness!

We boarded an even smaller boat to go through the Little Little Three Gorges (no, the names of these sights are not original). Our chinese guide sang throughout the sail, people clapped along, and even though Mike and I had no clue what was being said, we laughed with everyone else and had a great time.

Once we got off the boat (thank God!), we visited the Three Gorges Dam, a controversial project the Chinese government has undertaken to build the largest dam in the world. A million people will be displaced because of the rising of the Yangzi river as the dam is finished, and there are also questions about its safety. Even unfinished, it is quite impressive due to its size.