Day 11,12,13 in Hubei

Day 11

Yes this time it’s not the usual Days in Wuhan =) but now its in Hubei. So very the unusual, we woke up early in the morning 6.30am to catch the bus to our destination =) Well dragging our feet to the bus early in the morning. We set off at 7.15am sharp =) The bus trip was boring and there isn’t anything nice nor alluring that will attract one to look at. So yeap! Slept for almost half the journey and woke up at random times to catch the views of mountains and farms which we will never get to see in Singapore. The bus ride lasted for about 5hrs++ and you can imagine the agony and suffering one will go thru cramped up in a feet lengths spacing. Well but still, tiredness kicked in and slept thru. During the 1st 3hrs+ of the bus ride, we came to a break stop to relieve ourself. The view was WOW! Seriously. The Yellow flowers that was planted all over the place simply brightens and beautify the area with a touch of loveless and peace.
Seriously beautiful right? You will only have to agree deeply with me on this point. Further on, for about an hour’s time, we reached a nice and sort of posh restaurant in Yi Chang for lunch. Posh to it may seems, the inner self itself still determines the goodness of it.

Nothing satisfying about this restaurant but lots of complains. Firstly, seating arrangements were screwed up as every one of us (CBE), including MDE, EE and ECE is being spitted up due to their lousy arrangement of seating. They took approx. 15-30mins to get everyone settled down and had us squeezing with one another by simply adding more seats to a limited table of max. 10seaters. so we ended up with 11-13 pax per table. Secondly, the fact that most of the dishes to be served was already served on the table, food was cold. We had a total of about 8-9dishes excluding 1plate of fruits (Orange). Food was terrible, totally lousy, and as usual, oily, salty, awful tasting. So i didn’t eat much except for the orange. Poor me.

After lunch, we set off in the same bus ride again for about 1-2hours, bringing us to our destination which is the 3gorges dam ( 長江三峽大壩 ). While travelling, we passed by the magnificent dam and past through 5tunnel in which the longest one which is the muyucao tunnel which stretches at a distant of 3,610m long. After the tunnel, we passed through a mountain which is called Maogong Mountain. It’s coming about is because people spotted that there is a person-liked figure lying on top of the mountain and the person is Mao Zedong, so they called it Maogong mountain.

Upon reaching, we each were given an entrance ticket.
The ticket will allow us to board their very own tour bus that will bring us to 3 main destinations at the 3gorges dam. Which is, viewing gallery and construction planning centre, the platform where one can be nearest to the Dam and the memorial building park of the dam respectively.

After visiting these 3 places, we moved on to the bus that took us a long distant to take us to the cruise ride. But before we can board the cruise, we need to have our dinner first. And uh-no! dinner is at the same place where we had the lousy food and service during lunch. So not to mention further about the food quality and service, it was already close to 6.30pm and the supposed time we’re suppose to board the cruise was 6.00pm. So yea the cruise ride was delayed by an hour because of time.

We boarded our locally acclaimed 4-star cruise, “ 银月亮” ( translated to English is Silver moon ) at7.00pm+ and were given our rooms respectively of 2pax per room. The cruise at 1st sight was not at all appealing, what more inside it. As expected, the inside was not at all good but the main lobby hall did impress me a little for like a few seconds and that’s all. No basic amenities or recreation in the cruise at all and the most they have is a small provision shop that sells daily needs. The cruise provides tooth brush but not towels. Well perfectly alright that no towel was provided as there wasn’t any hot water from the bathe at all. So we asked the lady in charged and her reasoning was that the boat was not constantly on the move therefore hot water was not available. Another thing was no toilet paper provided to us. Ok well it doesn’t matter at all because the room’s toilet flushing system was practically screwed up as at times, it does not even flush and even if it does, no toilet paper is allowed to be thrown into the toilet bowl as it will cause it to chock. Ok apart from all that, the room does not even have a heater. So sleeping was considered a high difficulty level as the room and even the quilt is cold. And yes a Television. Super high and excited to see one as during the previous 10 over days, we do not have television in our dorm at all. Well bed was rather comfortable and all. Not much complain about it.

As the cruise steers along the river, it came to a halt and yes we reached one of the water gate or what so ever you want to call it where the cruise has to wait for its turn to cross over.

Basically this is how it works. First the water gate will open its entrance and ships are allowed in and after which the entrance gate will close to prevent any other ship or water to enter. After that water will fill up the enclosed area to a certain level of height of safety and then the exit gate will open for the ships to cruise its way out.

So our cruise crossed one of the water gate at around 12midnight and the process took a total of 30-40mins to cross 1 gate.

So after witnessing how it works and snapped some photo of it, we went back to our dorm to rest. So we decide to skip the main water gate which consist of 5 stages and will take about 3-4hours to cross. The crossing of these 5 main stages took place at approx. 2,3am and crossed the 5 stages early in the morning 6.00am.

Day12

Breakfast was scheduled to be 6.30am in the morning but it was delayed by an hour to 7.30am. Not to say that breakfast provided there was fantastic but was considered kind of lavish to start for a morning. We were given Porridge, Fried Kway Tiao, Mian Xian, Man Tou, Zhen Gao and some accompanying dishes like vegetable with overpowering spices taste and hard boiled egg to go along with the porridge. The soy bean that was provided for us was too diluted. The rest was so-so only. Not much complains about it. After breakfast, we went back to our room to take a rest and get ready to alight the cruise to transfer to a smaller boat to continue our sightseeing on the 3gorges. During the local boat ride along shennong xi, we saw mountains and settlements in that area and it was highlighted to us the “suspended coffin” which was placed in caves/gap of the mountains. It was really an incredible sight and interesting fact that how people that are 2000+ years back place the coffin at such high altitude of the mountain and in such a secured position. Until now, on one knew how they did it but only assumptions were made to how it was done. The purpose of suspending coffin at such high altitude was for a purpose. Which is the higher the coffin is hung; the greater the filial piety is expressed and future descendant will be able to enjoy prosperity and fortune. After the 4hours ride in the boat, we alighted and transfer to another boat which can only carry a maximum of 17people which is smaller and powered by human beings. Those people that rowed the boats are locals reside at that area. They are known as the Tu Jia Zu. The boat that we took was to show us how people in the past travel across the valley. The boat ride took us about
2hours to travel on lower sea bed of the valley and for us to experience “Qian Fu la Qian.” It basically pulling of the boat in low waters. The on board tour guide sang some local songs and stuff. Returned back to our tour boat for our return course but I was too tired so I slept throughout the ride as it return from where we come from. Another dreadful 3hours plus ride back to our main cruise.

We reach our cruise at around 2.00pm+ and lunch was served on board at 2.30pm. Food wasn’t to my liking at all as I do not at all find it nice. Food on deck was majority found to be lousy and not delicious. The presentation of food wasn’t at all attractive and it looks dead. Taste wise was overpowering with some specific spices with different dishes. Oily and salty was the norms so not to mention about it. So once again, I had only had a little for lunch.

The cruise continues its course along the valley. We pass by 2 of the 3 gorges which is the Qutang Gorge and Xiling Gorge. This stretches at 8km and 66km respectively. Xiling Gorge is the longest and more magnificant of the 3 gorge due to its formation and magnificance. It’s beyond beauty for words to describe. You have to see it for yourself to know it.

After about 2-3hours, we reach the waters of Chong Qing to our next visitation site which is the Bai Di Miao (temple of the white emperor). This is also our last stop for the tour. This temple has a history of approx. 1,950years. The flights of steps up to the temple are a total of 200+ steps up before reaching the temple. The front hall shows the statue of Liu Bei in his deathbed, entrusting his son to the care of Zhuge Liang in presence of some of the officials. The temple contains some relics such as The Phoenix Tablet, Bamboo leaf poem tablet of which are of fine works by famous poets and people. These tablets are dated back around 1300years. Another wing of the temple holds a suspended coffin from the Ba Culture that dated back to the Han Dynasty.

After the last visitation, we headed back to the cruise for dinner at 9.00pm+. Didn’t bother to mention about the food anymore but of same lousy standard as the usual ones provided.

So on the last night, we sort of stayed up at the deck to see stars and talk. Couldn’t stand the wind and went back to dorm to sleep.

Day13

Woke up at 6.30am, the time for breakfast and yes once again delayed to 7.00am. Had breakfast, the usual stuff and interestingly the soy bean was tastier than the one we had on the 1st day. After the breakfast, we packed up and prepared to alight the cruise and say goodbye to our 3gorges tour.

The bus ride took us 4-5hours to reach WUST and it stopped by a local speciality shop of Hubei and yes brought some snacks back home for family. =) Terrible bus ride. The trip is giving me a phobia about taking long hours worth of bus ride.

Had Dinner at back alley and tried their fried rice recommended by Journey which is a local student union member of WUST.

Went back to wash up and rest. =)

Just put up some pictures.

For more you can refer to the given link .
http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p231/aberfocation/3%20gorges/