PART ONE was published yesterday.

WUHOU AND THE TRIP HOME.

Upon our return to WuShan from the upper gorge, we were informed that there was another tour to make. After a short break for supper, we were ushered onto another boat destined to take us to an Island containing the WuHou Temple. This trip was quite interesting for several reasons.

Two scenes from Wuhou Temple. Top photo is of a wax representation of some ancient court.

The boat that eventually ferried us to the Island (about 10 minutes away), suffered an accident, some slight damage, and an injured passenger. It was quite beautifully equipped and obviously designed as a pleasure cruiser, and had an upstairs lounge and dancing area. The regular seating was at water level. As it backed out of its park, it hit a pylon, and there was a loud 'bang' and the ship shuddered. Naturally everyone jumped. It is uncertain what caused the following event, but something on the pylon hit one of the windows.  The people in the immediate vicinity fled their seats, and as the ship continued reversing, the window buckled and smashed, sending shards of glass everywhere.

4 scenes from the courtyard. Bottom left is the entrance to the museum and artifact sales area.

One man received a cut to his arm, and while not bleeding profusely, nevertheless was bleeding. A young boy was covered in glass, and although unhurt, had to be deftly 'de-glassed'.

With the boat now stopped, the real pandemonium erupted, as every man and his dog jumped in to abuse the staff, in a manner considered 'normal' by foreigners who live in China, but which would otherwise be thought of as wild, erratic, abusive and dangerous.

It looked like a volatile situation, but when one has been privy to such sights in China, one tends to become rather blase about them. Finally, the man was given some money, and shipped out to be taken for a medical examination. The boat (less one window) then continued on it's way.

Top left: One of the large statues in the courtyard. Bottom left is of a coffin and bones. The other two are of shrine displays.

It was completely dark by the time we arrived at the Island, which meant that we would have difficulty taking any decent photographs, but I did manage to get a few that turned out reasonable once they were enhanced.

Upon arrival we were given an opportunity to walk to the Temple or take a chair lift (for a fee of course), and we with our group accepted the latter offer. I'm sure it would have been a spectacular sight in the daytime, but at night all one could see was blackness that was intermittently interrupted by the occasional house light.  The stars however were spectacular.

Bottom left is of the now defunct hotel. Bottom right is of a pagoda lit up like a Christmas tree. Top Right is of Chen Yang with one of my ex-wives. Top left is of a statue and garden.

Tourist information at Wuhou and Chen Yang with the original Yoda from Star Wars.

The WuHou complex was quite impressive, although to be truthful, I haven't a clue what it was all about. I asked Chen Yang to ask our guide, but the best I could get was that the place had been built hundreds of years ago and no one had ever lived there or used it. I'm positive that this could not have been so, but after asking numerous questions, I was none the wiser.

Bottom photo was taken not far from YiChang.

The only thing of which I am certain, is that at sometime in the reasonably recent past, there was built there a colonial type building that had been used as a hotel, but was now empty.

Otherwise, between the architecture, gravestones, human bones, artifacts, museum and chairlift, it was indeed a beautiful place to visit.

One did of course have to 'run the gauntlet' of vendors selling everything from soft drinks to genuine plastic antiques.

I found myself quite thirsty during this trip and longed for something to drink, but everyone was charging outrageous prices. It was actually cheaper to buy beer than coke.

By the time I got desperate for a drink, I was also irate enough to haggle over prices. As I walked away from the last vendor who refuse to lower the price of the coke, her little boy suddenly called out to me, and offered me a one yuan discount. I immediately spun around and agreed.  Mother was not impressed, but I sorta guess he told her that something was more valuable than nothing. She finally agreed. Bless his cotton socks.

By the time we made it back to our cruise ship, I was thoroughly exhausted and suffering a headache. The only thing I can complain of however, is that it would have been a better tour in the day time. I'm sure those rich foreigners get to see it in the daytime. We however were just second class Chinese citizens.

These shots taken in the middle stretch of the River and show a different water colour, plus two different types of lifestyle.

Not long after we returned to the ship, it set off for home.

Me, I just passed out from sheer exhaustion, and awoke in the morning to a glorious day of travelling along a stretch of the river that we had not seen on our way up (either we went back a different way or covered it at night).

During the middle of the day we stopped somewhere for a couple of hours while some guests took the opportunity to go white water rafting - for a fee. As Chen Yang was not interested in it, and I am a Chicken that needs a lot of encouraging to do such things, we declined the gracious offer (and fee).

Top photo is of the place where we stopped to pick up the white water rafters. Bottom is of a shrine or temple on a mountain top far away. What a hike it must have been and actually still is.

A hour or so later we set off again, minus the white water rafters, whom we apparently had to pick up later in the day further down river.

By early afternoon on the third day, our ship was ready to start the process of descending through the locks at the Dam.

The first set contains 5 locks, which is followed a little further down stream by the last one which is located right by the city of YiChang.

As we had originally passed through them during our first night, everyone was eager to watch and experience the process.

It was quite amazing to see just how many ships actually fit into a lock.

Each lock is divided into two sections which can be jointly or separately lowered according the volume of traffic. The process was time consuming.

The water level of the river went from 45 metres on the lower side to 145 metres on the upper side, and each progression raises or lowers a ship by about 20 metres.

It is really something to watch a ship 'sink' below the water line on the lock wall, especially considering the size of each ship.

Scenes from the Three Gorges.

in the middle stretch we came across this sight. There was actually a wedding in progress with lots of drums and horn playing.

Three views of what it is like inside the lock.

Lumped together alongside all the other ships which had jockeyed for positions, there was plenty of opportunity to observe other travelers, many of whom found the sight of a foreigner quite appealing (must have to do with my good looks).

Foreigner photo Sessions. Top; A little girl from Wuhan. Bottom; two foreigners - one from Taiwan - Guess which one.

The confinement in the lock, either by reason of boredom or lack of view, became the catalyst that lead many of the young people to take the opportunity to talk to the foreigner.

I spent a good bit of time talking in Chinese and English with a very young man, eager to improve his English.

His parents worried that he was bothering me, but in fact, he actually taught me a few things.

I was also constantly followed by three children in identical clothing, and was glad to see them make the effort to speak English.

Many people also used this time to catch up on much needed rest.

Clearing the fifth lock, we headed for YiChang, and stopping only long enough on the way to clear the last lock.

Below are some views taken at the first lock that is encountered upon leaving YiChang. Above or to the right are some photos of foreigners.

These shots are taken at the first lock one encounters upon leaving YiChang.

Located just around the corner from each other, three scenes at YiChang. One taken from the River and the other looking out to the river.

Once we cleared that last lock, we travelled the equivalent of a few blocks down the street, turned left, and travelled a kilometre or two to the dock.

On the homeward trip, the city lies to the left of the river, and from the heights of the lock, one sees the city from a particular perspective.

Once you clear the lock and clear the junction with the main part of the river, you get a reasonably good idea of both how big the city is and what it really looks like.

From that vantage point, I was able to determine what things I wanted to visit in the city for the purpose of taking further photographs.

The river bank was lined with a number of interesting buildings, including the big Red Church, a Temple, and the old city gateway.

All of which had caught my interest.

Less than 30 minutes after leaving the last lock, we were on dry land being greeted by Chen Yang's Aunty.

She didn't speak a word of English, but took us up the road to a Hotel, where she booked us in for the night and then took us to dinner.

Chen Yang and I had decided to stay overnight and head back to Wuhan the next day, but I really didn't feel up to more travelling so soon, and convinced him to stay 2 nights in YiChang.

This gave us more opportunity to see the city. It also ostensibly gave him opportunity to find the friends he was supposed to meet, but of the three of them, only one had a phone that was not disconnected, and he wasn't answering.

Two interior photos of our cabin aboard the cruiser.

That was no help.

Having swapped our ship board cabin for one more solidly grounded, we used it as a base for the next day and a half as we explored the city.

For lunch the following day, we decided to eat at the MacDonalds store that we had spotted when we first arrived in YiChang.

I'm not sure if it is because travelling around the world makes you more conscious of landmarks or not, but Chinese people are constantly amazed that foreigners find their bearings so easily.

They expect us to be lost.

Chen Yang had known in which general direction the MacDonald's lay, but had had no idea how to find it.

This I did with ease.

After lunch, I told him that I wanted to go down to the river near the last Lock, and take some photographs of those buildings I had seen from the ship.

He was quite dubious, as he had no idea how to get there. Telling him that I did indeed know, I set off with him in tow.

Every 100 metres he would say; "Are you sure you are not lost?" A little while later, we arrived at the river, just a little further up than I had planned. He was astounded.

Views of YiChang looking to and from the Yangtse River

An intresting archway in front of a bank and a disused church not far away. Both within walking distance of the cruiser dock..

Because it was a hot sunny day, he walked in the shade of one side of the street, and I walked along the esplanade.

This ultimately resulted in our 'parting of ways'. He had not seen me descend the riverbank when I went down to take photographs of the temple.

Birds of a feather flock together. The ones in the bottom photo are wearing more than the ones in the top photo. Taken from the broadwalk at YiChang. The birds by the way are eagles.

As I continued to walked the riverbank, I was able to observe many other interesting sights, including these two naked kids.

I actually saw three sets of naked kids, the oldest of which were about twenty years old.

When I re-emerged from the riverbank, I found myself not facing the street, but within in a park.

By the time I got to the roadway, it was to spot Chen Yang boarding a bus.

He had thought that he had lost me, and had hoped that I also had caught a bus travelling along the riverside in the direction of our hotel.

For my part, knowing exactly where both I and the hotel were, I continued exploring. I did not return to the hotel for perhaps two hours.

One of the things I discovered whilst walking along the esplanade, was that these two little boys 'au naturel', were not the only ones so costumed on this bright hot riverside day.

Further down there were three late teenage boys sitting on the riverbank playing cards, two of which were naked. One had thrown a towel across his lap, the other just sat on the hot cement. He, I noted, had a complete uniform body tan.

Further down there were some lesser aged boys (12-14 year olds) also running around naked. Nobody batted an eyelid, not even the policeman who walked by, stopping briefly to see what it was that they were playing with in the water. That's China for you. (2007 Update: There are no current laws in China to prohibit swimming naked!)

The river bank at YiChang is pretty much given over to public use, with one particular park running for quite a number of blocks, and within which, facilities are provided for a wide variety of purposes.

That evening under the bridge for instance, the square was given over to public dancing. Imagine line dancing with a Chinese twist and you have it. On the hotel side of the Bridge, there is a very formal type of 'show' park, reminiscent of those at TianJin.

On our final day, we took off mid morning to the bus station where we took a bus to Wuhan. There Chen Yang and I deliberately parted our ways. He headed off to the University, and I checked into the QinChuan Hotel where I stayed for 6 days, before heading back to Hong Hu.

I could write more about my stay in WuHan and how a Student came to stay with me for Two days, but, I've written enough about WuHan. It would be boring.

So there you have it, the final installment of my Summer Holidays. I hope you have enjoyed both the story and the photographs.

Additional scenic river photographs can be found at Kingscalendar.com

ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS:

Various craft on the lower reaches of the River. Look at the water colour.

This hills are alive with old and new buildings and settlements

Scenes from the middle section of the River.

Top: A street near the bus station in YiChang. Bottom, an ordinary scene in JingZhou.

Top: Entering JingZhou. Bottom: The freeway exit into JingZhou

R.P.Bendedek

Email: rpbendedek@hotmail.com

Note: This file was amended August 2007.
_______________________________________________________
R.P.BenDedek is the pseudonym of the Author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' (www.kingscalendar.com), and he is a guest columnist at Magic City Morning Star News. An Australian, he currently teaches Conversational English in China. Other Stories can be found at:  http://www.kingscalendar.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?action=viewnews&id=128

"The King's Calendar" is a chronological study of the historical books of the Bible (Kings and Chronicles), Josephus, Seder Olam Rabbah, and the Damascus Document of The Dead Sea Scrolls.