(pic01) Looking a harbor of Chongqing in a morning mist from Yangtze Great Bridge. When crossing this bridge at the previous night, the light had been beautifully improved to both shores.
(pic02) We cruised on the Pinghu,5,191T which is a large-scale foreigners ship and has 160 passenger capacity. I heard that it was not possible to run in the dry season of winter because the bottom of a ship would arrive at the riverbed. It was a four star class as a hotel.
(pic03-05) It sailed finally from a harbor of Chongqing(morning heaven gate). It was 45 minutes later for the schedule. The difference of the color of the river is understood well in the confluence point with Jialing River. Of course the Yantze is brown and all of the branch river flows into this are clear.
(pic06-07) Comparatively gentle scenery led to both shores on the first day.
(pic08) This was a stock coal place in the inlet shore. There had crowded with the people who use shovel and shouldered a rope basket before.
(pic09) Fuling, the famous port where pickles product departure was look like to finished the move on the hill, and had seen a beautiful shore protection paves.
(pic10) The coming and going tour boat had various shape. This was Sightseeing ship Three Kingdoms maybe?
(pic11-22) This is a demon town at Fengdu. Temples and shrines dedicated to the gods of the underworld.
(pic23) This side was old Fengdu which will go under water before long at the time and the opposite bank is the new Fengdu. Local guide said his company entered the seventh floor of a new building but there were no elevators. After this, when supper is served, the foreigner guest (from France and Germany, etc.) had stand up suddenly and come close to windows noisily. I wonder what's happened. It just passed each other with the dragon ship.
(pic24-25) We arrived at Fengjie prefecture early morning. When the day breaks on the entrance of Qutang Gorge, the white emperor castle Baidi Cheng was the presence (on a slightly elevated mountain in left bank).
(pic26-35) The famous Baidi Cheng in poetry of poet Li Bai in Tang Dynasty is the last castle of the hero of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The clay figures are the hero in the hour of death leaves the will for the elder statesmen. However, the stairs of 800 steps were tight though I did not count.
(pic36-37) Here was the museum of the articles excavated from the Yangtze coast, too. Arms in three country age and ancient coffin had been exhibited.

(pic38-41) The ship advanced to Qutang Gorge at length when returning from the white emperor castle. Was it a rush hour that a big and small tour boat passes one after another? Because the white emperor castle became a solitary island when the dam was completed, the bridge was made between the next mountains.
(pic42-47) The width of the river was about 100m in narrow point though Qutang Gorge was short with 8km in length. The mountain in a steep both shores has approached. The character of "Wind Box Gorge" was seen in the precipice, and the old plank road was carved.The signboard written 175m standing in the hill indicated that the water level of the dam would reach there, finally. The position of them has gone up on the hill while we descending the river.
(pic48-51) The second gorge was Wu Gorge.The mountain in both shores were steep more and more, and the ship descends like sewing under 12 Peak in Wu Gorge such as Goddes Peak. Were the boats that sometimes came and went fishing boats?
(pic52-56) Were the moves finished? There was already not a people in the house in the low ground that will go under water with the second stage construction would end. The signal stand was set up in the place where was one-way traffic because of the width of a river narrowed. You can see fishermen who shakes a scoop net here and there but a fish seems not to enter easily though big scoop net is stricken. I heard that there was a person washed for gold with this net, too.
(pic57-62) A lot of tour boats dropped anchor in the Pato offing. We transferred from the ferry to the shallop here, and turned on Shennong Stream.The captain and five oarsmen row a boat with the paddle and the pole because the width of a river was narrow and depth was shallow. The four oarsmen draw the boat with ropes knitted with bamboo when it coming to the shoal. The temperature fell as soon as we have entered the valley because durations of sunshine were short. I heard in the mountain of 3000m class of upstream live the golden monkeys.
(pic63-64) Up on sheer cliff beyond, a part of the ancient coffins could be seen from holes. The big suspension bridges were still incomplete here though they were built for the move.
(pic65-66) The second day started growing dark. I like the time when the sky, river, everything can be seen gets dyed to pink.
(pic67-68) When the 12th moon rose up to Three Gorges, the ship approached the entrance of the Xiling Gorge before long. The 21st was the harvest moon. The ship passing over the birthplace of the famous poet in moonlight and anchored before midnight.
(pic69-70) It's a dawn of Three Gorges Dam. The ship had already come off the Three Gorges almost when I wake up next morning, and it moored beside the dam site which is under construction.
(pic71-73) The amount of total power generation of this dam is 18.2 millionkw and to cover 1/9 of the electric power demands of Chinese whole land, I hear. As for the size of dam gate, the rampart in Xi'an or Great Wall are misted.
(pic74-75) Do you see the waterway in the mountain the other side the bridge? Ships will go up in this Panamanian waterway after next year. Finally, the ship of 10,000-ton class seems to climb the shiplock in five stages and ascend to Chongqing.
(pic76) We said good-by to the Pinghu and the voyage at the Port on Yichang, just upstream of Gezhouba Dam.

         (Sep.17-19th,'02)