Qutang: First of the Gorges

Wed, 22 Jul 2015 21:51:02 +0200

A boat trip through the tree gorges of the Yangtze river is thought to be a unique experience and a "must do" for any visitor of China. After having done the trip I must say, that I don't truly understand this. While my cruise was very pleasent, this was mostly due to the very nice and luxurious boat I was travelling on, and less due to the landscape, which was nice but not really spectacular. The main reason for this is, that the three gorges dam, which was finished a few years ago and lead to a rise of the water level of up to 110m. Here, at the entrance of the first gorge, 200km away from the dam, the water level still is 80m higer than it used to be! One can imagine that the gorge looked a lot more impressive with an additional depth of 80m...