On Sunday we had a trip off the boat up into one of the little Three Gorges which was just a big tourist thing which we felt was cheap and nasty - they gave us all a key ring and then came back asking for payment - even the Chinese tourists handed them back and refused to pay for them. The river was apparently a highlight with the high currents before the dam went in but it really was a big disappointment as a lot of the scenery is not anything more fantastic than the scenery we have seen down in Fiordland, NZ. While on the cruise a majority of the Chinese tourists spent their time playing cards, and a lot for money.
Monday morning we had to be up and off the boat at 7am for a trip up another gorge in a dragon boat and then did a pontoon and board walk along the edge of a vertical cliff. A couple of hours later after travelling further up the river on the main boat we all left and were allocated buses which took us to the "Three Gorges Dam" where we spent three hours being bussed around various parts of the project. It really was the highlight and the only thing really worth doing on the trip. The river was raised 175 metres and millions of people had to be rehoused and whole cities were drowned, sky scrapers and all. It backs up the Yangzi river for 550km. It is a government effort to channel economic growth from the coastal provinces into the backward western regions. The Chinese never deviate from a plan and it was Mao Zedong's dream to build this dam and was started in December 1994 and took 10 years to build with it being completely filled this year. It generates 26 turbines which deliver 700 KW of power each. It looks like it would probably empty Lake Taupo every week with the amount of water that goes through it and they still spill millions of cusecs during flood times.
From the dam we stayed on the same buses which then took us to Yichang an hour and a quarters drive away and then we transferred to another bus which took us the 270km to Wuhan, arriving just before 9pm and in time to catch the 10pm sleeper train - Dave and I to Shanghai and Joy and Jim to Hangzhou - they got off a couple of hours before us just after 6.30am Tuesday morning and we arrived in Shanghai at about 8.45am. We had booked into a hostel and were given good directions to get here, so just had to take the metro and then had a five minute walk to the hostel.
Once checked in and with an internet connection I was able to check if Dave's credit cards had been used and then make a Skype phone call to the credit card companies to block his credit cards. Fortunately they had not been used. After we had had lunch we had a nice walk around the area and later had an early dinner and then took two trains on the Metro down to the Bund - the financial centre of Shanghai which borders the Huangpu River. The lights and colonial buildings were fabulous and before Mao's time Shanghai was the third largest financial centre in the world. In 1949 the Communists took over and the city was stripped of its grandeur but a revival of the city started in 1990.
Yesterday morning we were up and away at 7.30am and took the Metro down to Expo. Had no wait for tickets, 155CNY ($NZ32) but then had to wait in a long queue for the gates to open, which did not happen until 9.30am. We were inside Expo within 5 minutes after a security check (which also happens every time you enter a train station). We headed straight for the NZ Pavilion where we got VIP treatment and entered in through a back door instead of waiting in a long queue. We were disappointed in it as we felt it did not display what NZ has to offer, showed a few paddocks of sheep and greenery, various Auckland scenes and a 25ft pohutakawa tree which came out of the Weta workshop. No kiwis or tuataras, sea/lakes scenery. Also visited Indonesia, Cambodia, Brunei, Malaysia, San Marino, Moldova, USA, and Australia. We had a half hour wait to get into the Indonesian Pavilion, 50 minutes for Malaysia, 1 ¼ hrs for the USA. We had VIP treatment to get into the Australian Pavilion as we were told to say we were kiwis and referred by staff at the NZ Pavilion, otherwise we would have been waiting 2 hrs to get into it. Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia were really good. The Malaysian Pavilion was next to NZ's and as we came out late in the afternoon a NZ Maori cultural group was performing outside the NZ Pavilion. They did the haka as well as singing and they got a good ovation when they sang a Chinese song. At the end of it the staff let me in and I spoke with one of the performers and had my photo taken with him. We felt proud to be kiwis and it brought tears to my eyes as well as made me feel homesick. The guy told me he had been here two months and really wants to go home. By 6.30pm we had had it, so had some dinner at one of the food places there and then caught the Metro back to our hostel, arriving back at about 8.30pm absolutely worn out. We reckon there probably was close on 500,000 people there yesterday - have certainly never seen so many people.
We opted for a quiet day today, with a trip to the main train station to buy tickets for our onward journey tomorrow. We have seen more than enough temples so don't need to visit anymore. We are having a short train trip tomorrow to Suzhou which history dates back to the 6th century BC when the first canals were built and is part of the Grand Canal which was built 1000 years later. It is also well known for its silk and has a wonderful silk museum. We are staying 2 nights there but may stay a third, depending on what train ticket we can get tomorrow to head off to Beijing on Monday. Tried to buy the ticket today but was told to come back tomorrow so will get it before we head off.