July 6, 2012

On our trip down the river we stopped at at a couple of small towns where passengers could disembark for a short excursion to a local tourist spot. I opted out of the excursions, but got photos of the places from the boat.

I think the most interesting part of this trip is seeing a number of new modern buildings built alongside the river. According to our guide, many of these cities have been constructed from the ground up in the past ten years because of the impending completion of the Three Gorges Dam, which would eventually leave the homes of over a million people under water. The dam was completed in 2008, and many people whose homes were destroyed now live in these new developments.

As far as the scenery goes, the mountains are very beautiful, but having been born in Montana, raised in Utah, and spent time in the spectacular South American Andes, it takes a lot for mountains to impress me. I enjoyed seeing them, but they didn’t wow me.