During the night the ship passed through the locks at the Three Gorges Dam. Dad, Jason and I sat in the rain to witness the first lock. But as midnight turned into almost two, we opted to sleep for the remainder of the locks.
Dad and I had lots of locking experiences from the Mississippi River expedition of 2002, but it was Jason's first.
In the morning, it was time to take a bus over and tour the dam itself. Along the way, we saw many a street worker in this creative headgear.
When we reached the dam, the visibility was great, though the sky remained grey.
Our local guide mentioned that the skies were this clear only about 80 days of the year. It was a great view of the dam and surrounding area.
The dam was interesting, and the Chinese were rightfully proud of it. But I preferred the natural and ancient wonders to the modern big cement plug we now saw.
Back on the river, it seemed like a very short time until the ship was docking in Yichang where we would depart. We got a photo with our friends in the dining room. They were very cool and taught us a lot of useful Mandarin, most of which I wrote in my little book so I would not forget.
Jason, Theresa, Me, Peter and Ben.
We said our goodbyes and debarked the ship. The drive to the airport held exotic vistas and was very beautiful.
In Shanghai, we checked into our hotel and were once again greeted by luxurious Western style accommodations.
Complete with excellent views.
Jason found out about some of the extra amenities of the hotel, including "skeet shooting" in the virtual shooting range in the hotel. All three of us partook of that, and great fun was had by all.
Tomorrow in Shanghai we would be visiting a tall building, driving past the Worlds Fair, and seeing the Bund area. To be honest, I was least looking forward to this part. But since we were having so much fun, there was no pressure to "see" things. which was nice!
More Later
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