By Chris & Rick Millikan
Smiling broadly, Captain and crew welcome 85 of us aboard MSS Yangtze Angel, kicking off a five-day journey upstream from Wuhan, city of revolution to Chung Ching, an industrial city of 8 million and home to panda bears. Exotic delights and magnificent natural beauty await us along the way.
Next morning we’re passing through sweeping agricultural lowlands. From our balcony, we exchange smiles and waves with locals along the banks, watch fishermen try their luck and farmers tend water buffalo in the shallows. That evening, our ship passes through Gezhouba, a series of 5 locks raising us into eastern Xiling Gorge, historically the most hazardous and longest of China’s three renowned gorges. Hours later we disembark and visit Sandouping’s Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric project.
Following Tai Chi stretches on deck each morning, we choose onboard activities, including foot or body massages, acupuncture sessions, traditional medicine seminars and silk embroidery demonstrations. An informative lecture justifies and explains details of the Sandouping dam construction. Following luscious evening buffets, entertainment features delightful folk dancers, singers and acrobats in traditional costumes.
One afternoon, a dozen of us assemble in the lounge to test out medicinal teas. Mistress Mae Lin smiles, “My father was a distinguished herbalist who, having no son, passed his ancient remedies on to me…” Explaining our persistent ailments, she nods knowingly and concocts beautiful herbal remedies for individual indigestion, headaches, muscle tension and heart problems. Sipping soothing, aromatic drinks, we feel revitalized!
Another morning, a sleek launch takes us into the smallest gorge along the Daling River. Little monkeys scamper through greenery covering rock faces and cliffs. In one section, wooden coffins are spotted in high caves. The Ba placed ancestors there to be closer to heaven. As this river canyon narrows, waterfalls and magnificent peaks dazzle us at every turn.
Back aboard ship, we head for Wu Gorge to see its famous rock formations and soaring mountain peaks. That afternoon our ship enters Qutang Gorge, shortest but most dramatic of the three gorges. One huge stone’s shape earns its title: Rhinoceros Looking at the Moon.
Another day at Fengdu, a rumbling bus carries us through morning mists toward Ghost City, where spirits gather after death. On the way, we see stonemasons dismantling the city brick-by-brick and reassembling it on higher ground to escape rising river waters. Our walk follows a cobblestone pathway up Ming Mountain through venerable gardens and past towering temples reflecting 2,000 years of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. The statuary becomes increasingly grotesque and foreboding as we climb higher.
Ghosts traditionally scrutinize visitors like us at three notable places. Nothing-To-Be-Done-Bridge first tests our morals; having ‘good,’ souls, we cross the middle span of three identical arches…without tumbling into the pool below! For luck, we also cross the gold and silver bridges. Eighteen demonic sculptures line Ghost-Torturing-Pass into the courtroom, where Yama, King of Hell, judges us as new spirits. And on the boulder near the 33-foot wood and stone archway into Tianzi Palace, we take turns balancing on one foot for three minutes. Fallen failures are immediately dispatched for torture!
From the palatial courtyard, we gaze upon the largest and oldest temple in Ghost City. Inside, centuries-old artisanship further conjures the wrath gods give to the wicked and rewards bestowed for good behaviours. On our return at day’s end, we thread our way through a gauntlet of dockside vendors and re-board our Angel Ship.
After traveling 800 miles through lowlands, highlands and industrial areas, we disembark at Chung Ching and take a whirlwind city tour. In its large zoo all whimsically feed apples to adorable pandas, nicely capping off this spectacular river cruise!