This morning we went to the Three Gorges River Dam. I’m not all that big on dams, but this one had the locks and that was interesting. They also had a big shop that sold everything from jewelry and T shirts to snacks of all sorts, including dried fish. It was a very popular item with the Chinese tour groups. There have been many Chinese tour groups on this cruise. We were told the government encourages travel through China for its citizens and they are taking advantage of that. The Chinese we have encountered have been very nice, but very pushy. They don’t get into lines for anything, but all crowd around the desks or counters. I feel justified in just pushing back, although it is contrary to what I feel. They don’t mind at all.
We’ve met a lovely couple from Germany on the cruise. They are on their honeymoon and will be living in China for 6 months. Benno, the husband, works for Bosch and Vanessa, the wife, is taking 6 months off of her job to go through this experience. We exchanged email and Facebook addresses, so I hope we can stay in touch.
We got off the cruise boat in Yichang, a big city that is primarily a hub for getting somewhere else. We did some grocery shopping at a huge supermarket – soup, cookies, crackers and water for the train, then boarded that evening. Same set up as the other train – 4 bunks to a room. Langer said we had to try the train dining room; it was an experience not to be missed. Chris, Fiona and I sat in the dining car with Langer, who ordered all the food for us, as we couldn’t read the menu. A group of scruffy looking men sat at the table across the aisle. They were drinking the local drink, a type of grain liquor, clear and about 70% alcohol. They were pretty drunk and one was quite enamored with Chris. He kept wanting to clink glasses with her. They behaved themselves, probably because Langer was sitting with us, but it was funny.
Photos:
http://public.fotki.com/mjlang4952/river-dam/
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