More "Old" posts

Peter's posted a couple of new posts, which we've put into the chronological sequence below. Though the boat has internet access it's wireless (i.e. cell phone) and the signal isn't great because we've been floating between massive mountains. We'll try to post photos from Chengdu or Lhasa...

Before we boarded the boat we spent a morning at the Three Gorges Dam Project. It’s a MASSIVE engineering project – the largest hydroelectric river dam in the world. Unlike Boston’s Big Dig, which is notorious for its time and cost overruns and corruption, they finished the main structural work nine months ahead of schedule. The dam wall is 2 km long and 185m above the river’s water level. While the wall itself is complete, they are currently building ship locks etc. so we saw a lot of impressive looking machinery and construction work. I impressed Peter by knowing about coffer dams, though on a much smaller scale from farm dams!

The filling dam will displace a lot of people, some of whom are already being moved. All along the river there were signs with red marks showing the level to which the water will rise. It was sad to see farms and houses beneath the signs, though of course the official propaganda is that everyone is thrilled to be moving from the places they've lived for generations to new accommodation. The Three Gorges are still very impressive, even though the water has already risen a hundred meters or more. They must have been enormously forboding when the river was narrower and far deeper in the gorges.