20th September 2018 Through the 3 Gorges dam project

20th September 2018 saw us packed, checked out and at breakfast before 7am. Very efficiently done, after which we got on the bus and drove to the 3 gorges dam project Tourist Centre in Yichang city. It is the most magnificent hydro-electric project in the world, two ship lifts and two lochs one to upstream towards Chongqing and other downstream to Shanghai. Construction started in 1993 and ended in 2009 with an investment of 203.9million Yuan, around 408 million Rand, generating 18.2 million kilowatts. This is 3% of Chinas energy requirement. Most of other electricity requirements comes from coal. The dam helps control the flooding of the Yangtze River valley which until now was always unpredictable.

The army build the dam and still controls it and as a resource of extreme National value, the security is tight but fair. All the ships use the ship lifts 35minutes traverse or the locks 2 to 3 hour traverse for FREE. Only people that pay are the cruise passengers. Local people on ferries, boats, fishermen, cargo ships are all excluded from fees. What a way to promote economic growth.

We walked around the decks of the facility and it is truly a magnificent engineering feat. The fact that visitors are allowed, truly shows how far China has come in opening up her country to outsiders. The bus took us to the 9th pier in Yichang and our guide Fay and driver took us to the train station once again to board a timeous train to Shanghai. Eight hour trip through village after village that are either farming with plots of rice or vegetables and have smaller houses and/or massive cities with multiple condominium with building in progress. Every city has a massive amount of construction, we haven’t quite figured out why, perhaps they are building new, so people can move from the older rather run down buildings. Based on the economic activity and the earning potential of the man in the street, this is a distinct possibility. Other option is that the population growth is extreme.

Arrived in Shanghai and promptly collected by our guide who together with our driver, took us to our KingTown hotel in the west side of the city. Great hotel with every facility you can think of.