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We took the bus to the city of YiChang. On the way, the local guide told us that YiChang area is know for three kinds of people: poet, great beauty and Chinese Bigfoot. I don't know why they would claim this since there was only one great poet and one great beauty from this area that are recorded in Chinese history. But I guess that's still better none.
The first place we visited was the Chinese Sturgeon Museum. The Sturgeon's natural habitat was being destroyed by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. Basically, the Sturgeons swim upstream into the Yangtze River to breed, and then the youths swim downstream back into the ocean. We were told that the Sturgeons were very good with directions. With all the streams and rivers that are connected to the Yangtze River, the sturgeons never lose its way and always stay in the Yangtze River.
The construction of the Three Gorges Dam basically blocks the Sturgeons' access to its breeding ground. There were discussions about how to preserve the natural habitat of Sturgeons, but it was decided that it wasn't feasible to make a pathway for the Sturgeons. Instead, Chinese scientists started the project to breed the Sturgeons and release them back into the water.
About the Chinese Sturgeon Museum
Built in 1982, the Chinese Sturgeon Museum is part of the Chinese Sturgeon Institution of China, which is using artificial breeding techniques to try to preserve this endangered species.
The Chinese Sturgeon is an animal strictly protected by the Chinese government. It has a history of 140 million years, and is thought to have lived at the same time as dinosaurs. That is why it is called a "living fossil". The Chinese sturgeon is mainly distributed in the trunk tributaries of the Yangtze River and some coastal rivers. Between the summer and autumn every year, it used to swim to the upper reaches of the Yangtze to spawn then carried its fry back to the lower reaches. It is large in size and imposing and dignified in bearing. The sturgeon can grow up to 4 meters (13ft) in length, weighs up to more than 1000 pound, ranking the biggest of all species of sturgeon in the world and the biggest animal in the Yangtze River.
As the tourists assembled in the bus for departure, our local guide did a quick count and found that one person was missing. Who was missing? The Politician. She eventually found him a couple of minutes later. When the Politician got on the bus, someone said to no one in particular: "The whole bus was waiting for this one person." And the Politician replies, to no one in particular either, "I am always the last one."
On our way to the Three Gorges Dam site, the local guide told us that we were driving on a dedicated highway for the construction of the dam. This particular highway cost PRC RMB$14 billion, and is about 28 KM long. Basically each kilometer is worth a half billion. Talk about big money!
The dam was pretty big. But it was very misty and I could not see the entire construction site clearly. I was told that this dam, once finished, would be the biggest in the world, and supplies 1/10 of the electricity needs of the nation of China. One dam supplies 1/10 of the needs? Pretty impressive.
Some information on the Three Gorges Dam: http://www.eiu.edu/~wahby/china/china_background.html; http://www.coxnews.com/washington/GORGES.HTM.
We stopped by in a hotel for lunch. Marie and Todd wanted to get on the Internet for a few minutes after lunch to check the scores. Unfortunately, the connection there sucked and they were not successful.
After lunch, we visited China's first dam, GeZhouBa. We were fortunate enough to see the ships passing through the ship gates. It took a while. First there were six ships in the gate, then the water level dropped, and then the other gate opened to let the ships through. Nothing exciting but interesting to witness it.
About Gezhouba Dam
The Gezhouba Water Conservancy Project includes the barrage, the power plant, the ship brake, the flood discharge brake, and the fishway, etc. It is currently the largest hydropower station in China. The embankment is 2,561m long and 70m high, which controls a drainage area of 1,000,000km2 with total content of 1.58 billion steres. With 21 dynamos the hydropower station will generate 13.8 billion KWH a year.
During dinner, Mrs. Professor/Rebecca came over to tell us that the Shanghai Triad wanted to collect our group's contact information because they planned to write a complaint letter to the tour operation and asking for partial refund. Their reasoning was that the cruise was supposed to be four days, and we were only getting three. After discussing it amongst us, we decided against it. Later I learned that 7 people from our group signed up with the Shanghai Triad.
There was a farewell performance planned tonight. Marie and Todd didn't come since Marie wasn't feeling well. The farewell performance was not as good or long as the welcoming performance, which was a bit disappointing. But I guess they wanted to give us enough time to pay all of our bills since there were only two people at the reception.
Marie and I went to our massage appointment at 10 pm. It was a bruising massage. The conversation with my 22-year old masseuse was pleasant, but the massage was actually quite painful at times.