The boat sailed into two of the Three Gorges (Qutang and Wu). We will do the final gorge, Xiling, tomorrow. They were spectacular, but at times the combination of mist and air pollution made it very difficult for the auto focus on the cameras to work.
Our ship excursion was a visit to the Long Men Gorge. We transferred to a small ferry, and later, briefly to a sampan. It was very hot on the boat and all the Westerners were stuck on the top of the ferry under a simple metal roof, which afforded little protection from the sun. In fact, the effective temperature was higher under the metal roof than away from it. I got sick from the heat and it wasn’t until I went downstairs that I felt any better.
Long Men Gorge has cleaner water and is more rural than the Yangtze River, although it still had garbage floating by occasionally. Nevertheless, we had a glimpse of China as it was.
There were an ancient river people that used the many caves in the soft limestone cliffs to bury their dead. Most of the caves have been emptied a long time ago and some of the artifacts are in the Three Gorges Museum back in Chongqing. I wish I knew more about these people, but very little information was given, except to point out a coffin placed in a cliff.
There were also monkeys and goats on the cliffs. It is amazing that they didn’t fall since the cliffs are almost straight up and down.
