1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #409 - Shibaozhai Red Pagoda, Yangtze River, Chongqing

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #409

- Shibaozhai Red Pagoda, Yangtze River, Chongqing

(The Shibaozhai Red Pagoda sits on an island off the mainland at this small town along the Yangtze, which our ship docked at. This wooden pagoda, dating back to 1819, was initially 9-levels high, built to assist people in climbing to the temple at the top of the hill. Another 3 levels of the pagoda were added in 1956. The climb was easier than we thought, with the cool of the morning providing much relief.  The temple has a stone curved bridge which requires one to cross it with 3 steps, to symbolise crossing into the Heavens. The story of the greedy monk below is good food for thought)

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #408 - Three Gorges Dam and Qutang Gorge, Yangtze River

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #408

- Three Gorges Dam and Qutang Gorge, Yangtze River

(Out of the 3 Gorges, this massive Qutang Gorge is the most spectacular. It is the narrowest but highest, rising to over 1200m along some steep cliffsides. The visit to the Three Gorges Dam itself was a bit ordinary though - escalators took us up to the top of the dam site, but much of this world's largest power station site was covered by mist. We didn't get to go through the 5-level dams in our cruise ship because they were under repairs. Otherwise, it would have taken 4-5hours to move from the 1st to the 5th, according to our guide. The real showpiece of this area is undoubtedly this Qutang Gorge - see videos below)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #407 - Bamboo Forest of the Three Gorges, Yichang

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #407

- Bamboo Forest of the Three Gorges, Yichang

(Sleeping overnight in the cruise ship and without moving away from the wharf, we were whisked on a bus for our 1st shore excursion to this Bamboo Forest along another part of the Yangtze river to view the culture and customs of the Tujia ethnic minority people. The tranquil scenery here was reminiscent of the old China that one sees in many paintings, with bamboo forest hugging both sides of this tributary flowing into the Yangtze. The whole place looked like a movie-set for an old classic Chinese drama)

 

 

 

 

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #406 - Century Legend cruise, Three Gorges, Yichang, Hubei

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #406

- Century Legend cruise, Three Gorges, Yichang, Hubei

(As the dark evening took over in the 2hr bus ride to the Yichang wharf after our final city dinner and goodbyes to David, our China guide, we finally get to see the Century Legend cruise that will keep us warm and fed for the next stage of our tour for 4 nights. This cruise ship cabin was surprisingly comfortable - relatively larger in size compared to our Alaska Celebrity Cruise, and with a full balcony to boot. This gave us excellent views as we sailed towards Chongqing, up the mighty Yangtze river - the longest in Asia and third longest in the world, after the Amazon and the Nile rivers. Getting to and from the ship here required hopping onto an old container-like ,1-minute cable-car, which we thought was rather unique)