Travel Notes·Yichang | Three Gorges Dam

Yichang

I went to Yichang to see the Three Gorges Dam.

There is a cruise line from Chongqing to Yichang. It is a several-day trip along the Yangtze River. You can visit the scenic spots during the day, eat and drink on the cruise ship in the evening, and visit the Three Gorges. I was very excited, but the fare was too expensive... I took the high-speed rail.

I signed up for two one-day tours in Yichang, the first one was Gezhouba Dam and the Three Gorges Dam.

The focus of Gezhouba is to experience the boat passing through the dam, and the rising tide lifts the boat.

This is a lock shot from a boat. Below are three consecutive surges of water after entering the gate.

After the water level in the lock rises and becomes equal to the water level upstream, the ship can sail through the dam.

I heard that there used to be experience programs at the Three Gorges Dam, but they were probably stopped because of a waste of resources. Now you can only experience it in Gezhouba. The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River is a five-level ship lock. For a layman like me, it is probably equivalent to five Gezhouba dams.

Riverside scenery of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River.

This is the Three Gorges Dam.

From a visitor's perspective, it's a bit disappointing.

Another angle.

Because there is no water released, there is no momentum. Big is big...

When the Three Gorges Dam is not releasing water, it is not a very good tourist attraction. But with such an awesome water conservancy project, a visit here is worthwhile, especially since I went to Dujiangyan before in Chengdu. They are all very awesome water conservancy projects, one ancient and one modern.

The second day trip is Qingjiang Baili Gallery.

The key point is to take a boat trip to Qingjiang River, which also has the scenery of Gaoxia and Pinghu. It can be regarded as a small Three Gorges.

Nanjing

I made an appointment with a friend in Hangzhou over the weekend and had a little extra time to go to Nanjing. I have been to Nanjing before, mainly because I wanted to eat duck blood vermicelli and xiaolongbao.

A park along the Qinhuai River.

Jiangnan Gongyuan Cheat Sheet.

Hangzhou

I didn’t do much shopping in Hangzhou this time, mainly to meet friends. I’ve been to Hangzhou several times before.

This time I took a friend’s car to visit Yanggongdi and nearby areas.

West Lake is very beautiful.

These two pictures are of the Summer Palace in Beijing. There is an area in the Summer Palace that is modeled after the West Lake and the West Embankment. There is no sense of inconsistency when the pictures are put together.

However, in November, the autumn atmosphere in the Summer Palace is already very strong.

This is my first long-distance trip, lasting about a month, and I didn’t have much planning before going out. First, I went to several coastal cities such as Qingdao, Zhoushan, and Xiamen, and then to several cities such as Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Hangzhou to meet friends, with some small itineraries in between. Because there is no planning, the efficiency is very low. The efficiency in terms of time and money is very low.

For example, when I went to Jiuzhaigou, before leaving, I was reminded by a friend that I noticed that the temperature in Jiuzhaigou was much lower than that in Chengdu, so I bought some cold-proof clothes at the last minute.

For example, when you go to a city, you only plan your itinerary for the next day in the evening, and you may even plan your itinerary before you go out. Therefore, during your itinerary in the city, you only visit one or two scenic spots a day, which is a very low time utilization rate. You spend a lot of time staying in the hotel. Yes, it's a waste.

As for money, generally speaking, when going to a province, you should visit all the nearby cities, so that transportation expenses are saved. Transportation is quite expensive for people like me.

And if you don’t do a guide, you will lack knowledge of a city. Looking back afterwards, I felt that even though I went there, I didn’t have a deep impression. It is still necessary to distinguish between traveling and vacation. When traveling, you need to make a guide. Only after doing the guide will you be impressed. When you are on vacation, just be casual. It is good to be a fool and rely on others for everything.

I accumulated a lot of experience during this trip, but then the epidemic came... The next trip will be postponed to the autumn of 2020.