Cruising the Yangtze

After a long bus ride, Arti boarded the Anna cruise ship on the Yangtze in the evening. The next morning, the Anna left dock and headed upriver. There were lots of coal ships and other cargo boats headed up and down the river.


A few hours later, the ship reached the Three Gorges Dam, and Arti got a chance to visit the top! He was surprised that it was made of concrete and not out of trees.


Then the Anna spent a few hours traveling through four gates of the ship lock.


There were really big doors in the ship lock! About half a dozen ships could fit into each segment of a lock at the same time.


Above the dam, the water level has risen significantly, although it was not as high as the maximum possible allowed by the dam. Last winter, the water was brought to the maximum for a test, so the vegetation about 20 meters above the current water level had all been stripped off.


On the second day of the cruise, Arti got to switch to a smaller ship to sail through the lesser gorges. Some rhesus monkeys climbed along the banks of the lesser gorges.


Then he switched to a sampan to go even further up the small gorges.


After three days, the Anna docked at Chongqing, and Arti debarked to head to the airport for Tibet.