a month ago today in china - september 11

The fifth of a series of 12 or so intended installments of pictures, detailed adventure - continues here. [Only a FEW captions on noteworthy pictures in this one - most are relatively self explanatory]

You might notice that I'm a bit behind on these entries - they're time consuming. So, what'll I do? I'll compensate by fabricating the posting time to match the "title" of each entry. Ha!

Day 5
Three Gorges & Three Gorges Dam
For the next 150 miles, you travel the most scenic stretch of the Yangtze as it forces its way through a spectacular series of limestone ridges known as the Three Gorges. Cruise through the morning and enjoy lunch as you sail along Xiling Gorge, the longest of the Three Gorges. Then you tour the Three Gorges Dam where you learn all about this immense engineering masterpiece—first conceived by Sun Yat-Sen in 1919—and how it will affect the Chinese people and the Yangtze. Return to your ship and sail through the 5-stage locks of the Three Gorges Dam. Cruise through the night.

Today was a pretty leisurely day . . . cruised and relaxed, taking in all of the sights, and had a short excursion to the Three Gorges Dam. Cuz, we're dam tourists. :) (Oh, and the dam isn't a god-dam, I found out.)

Heading to the site . . .

When we got back to the shop from our shore excursion, we went to the ship Doctor. Sharon had been complaining of a sore throat since day 1 of our trip (Shanghai); it had been getting worse, and she was concerned about getting sick. Our tour guide served as a translator; the doctor had prescribed Sharon some cold and flu pills . . . and a bottle of Chinese herbs. The herbs were to be taken 3 times a day--at a whopping twenty (20) pellets each time. After opening, we saw why - they were tiny.

Would you believe . . . the day after she took the first full dosage . . . she was healed?

I, too, had suffered a sore throat for 1 day during our trip, and took the same said medication, and cured me by the next day as well. We fondly named this miracle medicine 'Ancient Chinese Secret' and smuggled it back into the US.

The only thing left to do today is to pass through the lock of a dam downstream of the Three Gorges Dam, called the Gězhōubà dam. (We'd pass through the Three Gorges Dam in the "wee" hours tonight.)