Home of 三峡大坝 (Three Gorges), the largest dam and hydroelectric project in the world, 宜昌 (Yichang) was a must-see on my list of places to go in China. While the weather was less than cooperative, I did meet some local students which made the experience enjoyable!
宜昌（湖北）[1-3 May 2008]
May 1 traveling holiday
Yichang policeman
Want to buy a top?
Yichang
Steel?
Three Gorges
Three Gorges
MZ & Wuhan gang
Three Gorges transmisson
DSC01860.JPG
Three Gorges model
Three Gorges
Good idea
The locks
Coal boats in the locks
Savonius turbine
Upside of the dam
Smiling in the rain
Big tractor
Dump truck
Performing stage
Giant turbine
Three Wuhan friends
Gezhou dam
Locks
Ships
Steel
4 May / 08:27 (Guilin) - Waking up slowly in an air-conditioned Internet cafe in the northern Guangxi town of Guilin, recovering from a 16 hour sleeper bus ride from Yichang, Hubei. Glad to be finally finished with all the typical Chinese modes of transportation, including a sleeper train and sleeper bus. Will definitely be taking a plane back to Beijing as these "sleeper" vehicles actually provide a lot less sleep than one wants or even needs. That being said, both times have been great for working on Chinese - the sleeper train because I was playing cards and talking with a bunch of Yichang men who had just been on a seven-day tour in Beijing, and the sleeper bus because I watched three+ Chinese / dubbed in Chinese movies and could at least work on listening skills.
On 1 May, I headed out of Beijing along with the throngs of holiday travelers at 14:00, bunked in the top bed of a K-type sleeper train. Worked on Chinese homework for a bit before striking up a conversation with the other passengers. Learned much about Yichang and the policing situation (the guy with whom I talked the most was a local policeman), and then we spent a good few hours playing hearts (hongxin1 da4zheng). Stayed up late conversing about impressions of China and the US, and then we arrived in Yichang at 10:30 the next morning.
Walking off the train into the warm humidity of Yichang, I saw a tourist information office and stepped in. Thought about taking their tour, but then decided to first look at train tickets. Nothing good was available, so I bought a standing-room only ticket as a backup and then started heading towards my reason for coming to Yichang - Three Gorges Dam. After hopping off of one bus and onto the second (and managing to find and buy a quicker sleeper bus ticket to Guilin on the way), I found myself sitting in front of some students from a technical university in Wuhan. We struck up a conversation, and then we ended up touring Three Gorges together (after trying to sneak a view from the other side of the river). Fog was pretty heavy, but it was still easy to get a sense of the size of the dam - 185 m high, and the **largest dam in the world** (emphasized by the tour guide). Rain started while touring but cleared up as we were leaving, just in time to catch a cab back to Yichang city.
The cabbie dropped us outside the city at around 20:00, so we hopped another cab to find a hotel. It being a holiday season, we went through about three or four places before finally settling on a reasonable place with two twin beds and a queen. We went in search of food and drinks, trying some frogs for dinner. Came back exhausted and crashed as the new found friends were watching Chinese TV. Morning was pretty simple - shower, food (bean skin rice, steamed buns), and a returning of the standing-room only train ticket. Went and toured the Gezhou dam and shiplocks, then went and sat by the smelly Chang Jiang before heading off on my own to grab some lunch and some food.
Missed the lunch because the bus wanted to go early, so I was stuck eating some fruits and crackers. Watched bunches of Chinese movies as we drove the hinterlands of Hunan (including on a dirt road over a mountain that was apparently faster than anything else around). Made it down in one piece, though a bit stinky... and now its pouring rain here in Guilin, while I am waiting for Yang Mo to meet me and go with me down to Yangshuo... ah, the start of another not-so-great adventure!