It has been really AGES, since I updated my China blog and Ms Esther has started reading the blogs! I think I better had my posts done this few days or else there will be the Butterfly Effect (which is what I learnt from TCM, meaning it will accumulate and get worse).

So, weekends are here again! This time, we went to 3 Gorges, which is at Yichang. The bus ride that we were having is getting longer and longer. Just this trip to 3 Gorges, it is as long as 5 hours. Seriously, I think that going to anywhere in Singapore is really fast. Imagine sitting on the bus for 5 straight hours with only like 15 minutes break in between. This time we set off on a Friday as we need around 1 day to reach the 3 Gorges, 1 day to tour and 1 day for the returning journey. Definitely, the pro is that we will have one more extra day of fun; the con would be that we need to rush for our syllabus before that.

Anyway, it was raining when we were making our way to there. To add on, semester 1 results was out on that day when we were making our way there. The whole atmosphere just makes you reflect on the results that you have achieved for the semester. Well, I could say that I have not done badly and I have done my best for this semester. Maybe for Microbiology, which is the disappointing one, I am not really satisfied with it. Oh well, move on and think about the next semester.

We arrived at Yansha Hotel in the afternoon for our lunch. I would agree that this is so far the best lunch I had here in China as the taste is really close to the ones that we can get in Chinese restaurants in Singapore. Everyone definitely ate to their contents on that day as we can see from the before and after. For me, that was also the first time that I had 3 bowls of rice here, being a very picky eater.

After that, we continued to make our way to the 3 Gorges. As we were entering the compounds of it, we passed by the security check of the place and we were told that that was done to prevent anyone from bringing any explosive materials into the vicinity or even blowing up the compound. This is definitely understandable as the 3 Gorges is something that the China had spent billions of dollars in building it. To add on, it controls the water flow of the rivers and it prevents flooding of certain areas during certain seasons. So, if any damage was to be done to the dam, it would be disastrous and it could affect a lot of people.

Also, we were told to pass the tour guide our student pass so that we can enjoy concession rate for the entrance fee. I find that this is a very good and feasible idea as firstly, it would attract more students to go there and the organization is able to earn more money. However, on top of that, the students will be able to learn more about the project of the 3 Gorges to expand their general knowledge. I find that this can be applied to other attractions of China too. For example, The Yellow Crane Tower that we went for last week. The place has historical events and I find that by offering concession prices, it would attract more people like us the students to go there. Another example would be the Hubei Province Museum. That is definitely a place where there are a lot of ornaments with historical values. I believe that this would really allow students to learn a lot of things. Comparing it to Singapore, I see that almost or 95% of our tourist attractions do not even have concession prices for them. Which in this case, I have to agree that, with normal adult prices, I wouldn’t even want to go to the Ancient Civilisation Museum situated in Raffles City no matter how interesting the exhibitions are.

Just as I thought that on Lu Lin Mountain Resort Trip the translation of the Chinese to English was bad enough, what I saw this time when we were about to board the internal bus service was worse. I think I can do a better translation for them. 1. No weapons or imitated weapons. 2. No flammable items. 3. No toxic substances. 4. No radioactive substances. 5. No fire source.

The checkpoint is almost like what they have at the airport. Imagine how strict the check is to prevent any accidents from happening. Then, we received our tickets for boarding the bus, which I was intrigued by it.

It is actually a ticket cum postcard! I find that this is very environmentally friendly. Usually, when tourists finished their trip at an attraction, they will just dispose their tickets into the bin (or in China it might not be). However, by making it into a ticket cum postcard, the person can send the ticket as a postcard back to their country when they finished the tour. In this way, it can help to conserve the environment as there will be lesser waste produced from tourism. In addition, this idea also allows the family of the person to know that he is enjoying himself over there.

Then, we saw this “staircase” for the ships which are going upstream or downstream. We were told that we will see this when we take the cruise later.

So, our first destination is to see the whole layout of the 3 Gorges Project in the project room and the whole thing is really majestic just from the looks of the model.

So we were told by our tour guide about the different parts of the 3 gorges and their uses in controlling the water level as well as for economic purposes such as the entrance of ships. So here we have the “staircase” which we saw before that. This is used for the bigger ships. It is known as the “staircase” because the ships will go up and down the steps by controlling the level of the water.

This is what they known as the “elevator”. It is used by the small ships and they could be elevated straight to the height that they need to go unlike the bigger ships.

Definitely, this is the dam. If in the model it is already so big, imagine it in the actual size!

Then we went on to tour around the park and I found more funny signboards.

I think to those Caucasians, who visited this place; they would be laughing hysterically at this. This brings me back to the point that it is important that we master our languages well enough or else we will just be a laughingstock to others when we open our mouth or when we write.

When we were walking down the hill afterwards to take the next bus from there, our attention was caught by this.

It might look like a stone but in actual fact, it is a speaker giving description on the venue. It just blends well into the environment doesn’t it? Then when we reached the bus stop, I saw another signboard again. Shouldn’t it at least be Queue for bus?

Then we went on to the next spot and we saw the dam. The wall is really high and I was thinking and imagining the water came gushing down when the gate was opened. The whole place would really be flooded. I also spotted some boatmen clearing up the water. I believe that this is something good as it keeps the environment clean. Maybe it is because that this is a tourist attraction as well, that is why they are placing more emphasis on the cleanliness here.

We went on to tour the rest of the park and the next thing we knew, it was dinner and we were going to board the cruise!

As excited as all of us were, the boarding time of the cruise was delayed due to the docking of the cruise and such. So everyone was waiting at the ticketing area. Then, as time passes, more and more Chinese started to come in. I managed to spot that they were locals who signed up for their country tour. I think that this is somewhat common to what Singapore has, which is organized by the Resident Committee, going to some farms and factories of Singapore in a 1 Day Tour. However, I find that this is more interesting in China as there are really places that you might not even visit in your life time even you are a Chinese living in China. It is kind of rare for a Singaporean to not visit major parts of Singapore in their whole life. Now I feel that, maybe television and internet might not be so important in China after all as I find that, there can be a lot of places to be explored and their scenery are really artistic or in Chinese we say “诗琴画意”.

Finally the cruise came and just as we think that we Singaporeans are “kiasu” enough, I think that the Chinese won us in it.

The whole scene was just like what I see in Singapore when I was at Chinatown during Chinese New Year. Pushing and squeezing to get pass the gentry as soon as possible. I felt that if there are children around there and this happened, if they fell down, they will just get killed by a stampede. So in the end, we waited for most of the locals to get pass the gentry before we went in with a more orderly way.

After walking down a long flight of stairs in dark, crossing platforms and walking down the path with head bended down (for me and there are some spider webs) we reached our cruise! The cruise was a little disappointing as it was not as big as I thought it would be and it was not as clean I thought it would be. On the other hand, the lighting and the hall was quite nice if I were to grade it using the China scale. We were also lucky enough to all have a room as there are some locals who don’t have a room and they need to sleep in the hall. At first I was thinking that it will be a bad idea to sleep in the hall however, when we went to our room, I changed my mind instantly.

The first thing that welcomed me was the weird smell that the room had and the worst news to hear from Tony when he opened his room door was that, he saw 3 rats! Definitely I shrieked and I had goose bumps. I was still rejoicing a few moments ago that Dr Tan actually gave us the room on the 1st floor but the thing is that first floor rooms have rats hidden in them. Now, you should understand why I claimed that sleeping in the hall is better? In addition, my room is just right beside the engine room which is like so noisy.

When I opened the toilet, my jaw just dropped in horror. The amount of space inside is just so little such that I don’t even know how I was going to move in there. To make things worse, the ceiling of the toilet was kind of low which makes it even more difficult for me to go into the toilet.

Just as everyone was complaining about the space and all, the next news came and it just add on to the mental burden that we had. The water on ship was not clean. When they stopper the sink and they allowed the shower head to run, they actually see that the water is pale yellow! That is not in only one room as all of us also tested it. When I heard this, all I knew is that, I don’t think that I will be showering for the next 2 days with this kind of water.

So altogether, we had rats, dirty water, and weird smell in a room. How bad can things get?

After that, I went to Edah’s room to take a look as her room was a different one from the rest. Her room was a little nicer with a bigger bed and she had a “living room”. We went up to the deck and it was really cooling on the top and the air is so much fresher.

After enjoying the air on the deck, we went to sleep. Apparently, I woke up with a very bad seasick the next morning even though I don’t have any seasick upon boarding the boat. The feeling was really very bad as the nausea feeling make can cause you not being able to walk straight and the whole world seemed spinning.

Luckily, we went down the cruise after breakfast to Baidicheng to tour around. Even though I was on land, I was still trying to overcome the nausea especially when I was going up the stairs. I almost fell back as I was going up. As we were heading towards the spot to take the bus to our destination, we were welcomed by the locals who were so warm and friendly that they kept promoting to us the local gifts that they had. I think that this is one of the most common ways of business which is to camp outside of a place where a crowd will go by and then it will be much easier to get business.

When we reached Baidicheng, I saw that there is a sedan service offered by the locals to carry those tourists who doesn’t have the stamina to climb up the hill. I find that this kind of service has almost the same feeling like the trishaw service offered in Singapore, maybe due to the fact is that it is done by manpower. The difference is only that trishaw at least made use of mechanism which is the bicycle part while in this it is really brute force. From what I see, the guys were all very buff and toned which made me think that they must have been in this business for quite a long time.

This is the place where the historical event happened. When we saw Zhao Yun, most of us who played Dynasty Warrior, which is a video game, were stumped. He looked totally different from how he looked in the video game who is a suave, young warrior!

As we were going down Baidicheng at the long stairways down, I saw this man carrying a beam with heavy loads. This is kind of common in China as most of the places do not have lifts and they really have to depend on their own to climb up the place. Sometimes, I just have to admit that these people are really very pitiful. The reason is that just to earn money; they really have to slog their life for it just like this man, or it could even be an old man.

With this, we ended our tour and we went back for a early lunch before we had free time while waiting for the cruise to reach Shen Nong Jia. Where there are even more scenic places and interesting things to view.

One of the more interesting one that we managed to see was the Hanging Coffin. It was rumoured that when it was discovered, they found that it was kind of impossible for the people to transport the coffin up to somewhere so high. Up till now, it still remains as a mystery how the coffin was transported up. When I heard that, even though there is a chill down my spine but at the same time, it was a really interesting to know.

The most interesting part for that day came which is the Shennongxi Stream. It looks like as if everyone is going for a Dragonboat Competition with the life jacket on. Apparently, it seemed that the life jacket is not so clean after all as it as a very "mouldy" smell and all of us put on it reluctantly. Or else, the boatman will not start rowing the boat due to safety reasons. However, I could understand why this is so important as there are some parts of the stream where the water could be very deep. So, it is not a joking matter no matter how reluctant we are...

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream~

Pharm-ers smile! I managed to take this photo as I was on the other boat with the MDE students as there were not enough space.

The water at one part of the stream was actually so shallow that we can see the nice pebbles and stones below the boat. I find that this is almost impossible to find in Singapore as the stones are really unique and beautiful. Besides, Singapore surely do not allow people to remove them from the source also. The boatmen are all really nice as they know that we cannot go down to the water so, they were the ones who picked the pebbles for us and they really pick those unique ones to give us. To add on, I find that their straw shoes looked so much more stylish-er than the ones we wore at Lu Lin.

Then, the boatmen went down the boat to start pulling the boat as the water is too shallow already. In actual fact, the they should be pulling the sampan with their body naked. The reason is that the water that is absorbed by the clothes will make them heavier and it will make it more difficult for them to pull the sampan. In addition due to modernisation and tourism as well, they need to wear clothes and only allowed to remove their top. This can be a boon and a bane of tourism from what I learnt in the past also. The tradition of certain race or tribe could be lost as they need to make sure that they are properly attired and they need to "act" to make sure that it is suitable for tourist to see.

However, the good thing that tourism can bring is that, it will bring upgrades to the infrastructure of the area which will benefit the locals as well. Despite the above benefit that it brings, the construction of the infrastructure might destroy the landscape and the natural scenary as well.

What we heard from the tour guide is that, in the future there will be no more of these boatmen to pull the boats anymore as they will be replaced by motor boats. The reason is also because of modernisation where the boatmen they need to send their kids to school which they will not follow in their foot steps. With this, it actually destroys the tradition of the Shennongxi Stream as people came here is to experiece the pulling of the sampan by the boatmen themselves. However, with motor boats, I believe that the experience will not be as genuine as the one that we experienced.

Look at how fast the water is running! I really pity the boatmen as they must really be very strong in order to go against the stream. I really take my hats off to them. After we went against the stream, we headed back to the ship and we managed to hear the mountain songs from the boatman. It is really nice and it really conveys their feelings.

With this, we ended the activities and headed back to our ship for dinner and free time again after that. This time round, I bought mineral water to wipe myself at least.

The next morning, we alighted from the ship and finally, Hostel Sweet Hostel. Now, I am starting to feel that, hostel is more and more like home...