Day 13 - Coming back Home (Dormitory)

The lift looked like a cable car, only bigger.
rice cake (traditional)
my tour-for-the-dam ticket
my sampan ticket (:

...

Woots~

We went off the boat before the clock strikes 9 (i think).Haha. We climbed the long staircase instead of paying 2Rmb for the big-lift that could carry the whole occupants (okay most) of the cruise ship. 

We went on our way home the same as we went before (I think). I cant confirm with you as I have the tendency to doze on and off in transportation, right, Dad? haha.

Main point is we reached home (our dorm) safe and sound, had our dinner and took our rests... (:

Highlights:

I CANT BELIEVE I ACTUALLY MISSED THIS ROOM OF OURS WHEN THE CRUISE BEDS ARE MUCH THICKER THAN OUR MATTRESS BED LARH! 

...almost like home.

Day 12 - Three Gorges Tour Part 2

Our Cruise boat 

(we're In the smaller ship)

look at our background; the staircase~ whoo 

(damn long, can?)

Roommates.

It was hot and sunny but the wind is cold and chilly.

Hot and cold.

Vivian (my groupmate) and I.

Xh looking thoughtful?
Benedict missing home? Or missing Icy?

(actually he felt asleep with his position like that) Haha. 

Lucky never fall.

let me play among the "mountains"

Transferring from a smaller ship to a sampan
Civilisation on high-land
the old-fashioned way when the water is not deep enough to row

PULL! 

our small boat local tour guide.

She sang some of the local songs, it's so nice that I fell asleep.

The boat is rocking and her voice was super nice can?

the construction in the background captured is on purpose

They are going to build a bridge right there. Fascinated, I am.

Civilisation on high land again
Yellow flowers~

Reflection

Later on in the afternoons:
Tried to capture the sunlight

The supposedly Goddess of Mercy

captured

a souvenior from the mountains? 

cool,huh?

cave~

"frog" mountain 

Potential photographer in action...

Angel figure?

Trying to capture far-offs shot

The view when we alight for more sightseeing

Hello again..

Waked up a little late for the ship's breakfast. Supposed to wake up at 6am for 7am breakfast but both Hash and I woke up to almost 7am and discovered breakfast will only be served at 7.30am

funnyyy~ LOL

Almost half an hour after breakfast, (we had porridge and mee Hoon and pau:) we were assembled to go change to a smaller ship to cruise along a river that could lead us to the "SAMPAN" ride at the SHEN NONG STREAM!

(okay Im not very sure if the name is correct, though)

Along the way, groups and individuals (including yours truly) took a lot of photos (I will try to post up everything I have) Some of the photos are grabbed from my OIP mates, so enjoy them okay? 

((:

 

Later on in the afternoon just about after the 2 (or 3pm) lunch, announcements were made to informed us about "Scenic Views"

Honestly, after the heavy lunch and the adventure we had in the morning, the four of us (JO1s) were quite reluctant to leave the comfort of the ship's bed. Reason: sleepy and lazy. LOL!

We dragged our lazy bums up though. Lucky, we did, if not we would only lose out on the rare and breathtaking sceneries. (Refer to the pictures above) I apologise firsthand that I fail to capture all of the glorious scenes that we were able to see. I have 2 eyes and only 1 camera lens therefore everything I captured on camera will only be like half of what Ive seen. heheh, makes sense right? =)

Honestly, I just find it really hard to capture everything that my eyes did with the lens. I guess those are just the memories that make it more special for us, who have seen it. Dont jealous okay? It could be yours in the future...

The Jo1s slacked around in the cabin I shared w Hash. We talked about our days in Polys so far, the friends we made and shared our expectations of the trips. Xh, hash and I was quite close once, somehow we drifted... Unexpectedly, we're together in this trip. It's nice to just sit and chat and just let the world go by sometimes (or in our case, sail by). captured moments.

We went sightseeing about 6.30pm later on. Mostly to see the 'town' area and also for a night tour. 3 things I remember distinctively about the night tour was THE LONG, steep, dark staircase, the night scenery with stars,fog and the sea, and the temple where the believers are suppose to pay to pray. like wth? hahah

Highlights for the day: 

1) Everyone was practically queueing up for Dinner.

2) Listening to conversations till I fell asleep.

Heh.

all in all... the cruise ....

...its not that bad, afterall.

Day 11 - Three Gorges Tour Part 1

MDE photo. There's some MIA-ing because they are helping us to take the pictures. By the way, this picture is grabbed from XY's blog.

Going AWAY to cruise! YAY!!!

and we walk and we walk in the cold, cold, intermission of spring and winter drizzling days~

Sat on the right side of the bus and closer to the window seat. I told you it's cold. Point proven (:

Slept and wake up to a much clearer (but still cold) sky.

Went to the toilet by the side of this canteen (could not grab the scene of the toilet fast enough though)

many pretty yellow flowers planted.

Mr Wong sitting down after singing us "1 Little 2 Little 3 Little Indian...~"

Cool, huh?
Pond~
Mystical place (heheh)


falling behind. Next destination~
I WAS near an historical event mark!

(olympics logo, can see?)

The dam, man, the dam, the dam.

what does those chinese characters mean, you asked?

I'm sorry I can't recall at the moment.

(I think its a memorial garden)
the card and I'm just outside here:

Three gorges Project Model. 

(it's big)

Random. I like how the picture turned out though (:

Was trying to get the bus' ceiling, notice it is unlike other buses.

One of the nicest dish I've come across in China: Spicy potato. the other nice ranking dish is the one with black fungus. YUM! Lip-smacking good, beb~

Exploring the cruise boat (:

Before seeing the 'Lift' at the first level, I saw this just before we enter the 'Lift' chamber. The image reminded me of Churning Emotions.

(Thanks to Wei Guang! If it wasnt for him, the above is the clearest I could get out of my camera, which sadly do not have night-vision. =)

Before

After being lifted up

Just entering the chamber (before)
After being lifted up afew metres higher

the tired+satisfied looks.

just look at how red our eyes were... haha

Hello!

The first day of cruise was spent in a five-hour bus ride, two toilet stops (i only went for the latter), going around in a city called Yichang where the Yangtze River runs through. 

I google-d the word "Yichang" and this website came up:

"The Yangtze River runs through the city of Yichang, creating many natural reserves along its path. This valuable resource has made Yichang a valuable territory, and for this reason it became a place contested by all strategists. Yichang was a famous battlefield throughout the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280). It is also the birth place of many historical celebrities, such as Qu Yuan and Wang Zhaojun."- http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/hubei/yichang/

That really highlights Xiao Lin Laoshi's History lessons.

Some of us experienced the typical, public, street toilet in China. I didnt went down though. Yea, wasted right? Can't show readers as well. Next time, ok? Anyways, the toilet here cant be flushed with toilet papers thrown in them. Therefore for those better ones, they have lockable doors and a wastebin with your toiletbowl/toilet to throw in.  Hurhur, guys, you think your wastebin sucks? take a look in the waste bin for the girls especially when the previous occupants had their monthly visit.

hurhur.

There were two tour guides that lead the way. Although they (okay one of them) explained some stuff during our journey to the designated location, most of the times, I could not get what he is talking about at all. Hash and I, had to refer to Xh, Wei Guang and Mr Wong for translation. Alittle troublesome, I just hope they were'nt get fedup with all that hassle.

I get to go under a very long covered tunnel and I think I actually felt asleep during that period mainly because its dark and lights are switched on to form a rather comfortable atmosphere and also partly because we had to wake up around 5 am to catch the 7 am bus that morning and did not have enough sleep because of how we spent the night the day before (Zzz..).

There were so many straight out-of-the painting pictures that I am impossibly awed. How can a place be beautiful and dirty at the same time? There it was though. wow, huh?

There are so many pictures that I wanted to take. Not surprising that others wanted them as well. We ended up delaying the cruise boat for an hour. Tsk. One of the things Dad had never liked about going on with big groups: waiting for others and/or letting others waste their time waiting for. I agree thats one of the cons but if we look at the bright side, if we hadnt gone with it, we may take a much longer place to discover these specific places. 

Not much photos of the dam mainly because my camera could not zoom as well. Haha. (:

I'll tell you something though:

1) The dam is BIG

2) The dam has hydroelectric pump thingy that allows adjustments of the water-level thats coming in

3) We EXPERIENCED THE LIFT-EPISODE! Remember my drawing from the previous post? Yes! We took the boat at Station 1 of my paint-software drawing! Some of us stayed up long enough to experienced twice! Total level are five of them, each 30 metres high (10 storey high, i think) and all five of them are like staircase steps so in total all five steps are about 150 m high! Fascinating.

4) Its just a super-amazing feeling to stand in the cold-chamber with friends. Staying up late with the moon and the wind whipping and howling at your ears as the boat cut its way through the water after succeeding going up the water-elevator.

i wrote random things while waiting for boat to get its turn to go inside the lift chamber (as we missed the timeslot because of our one-hr delay)... 

One of those random things~

8:10pm : Waiting around, I sat on my big, cold blanket.

Even the boat has pros (foooood) and cons (no heater). 

Its all in the experience though. 'Nights (:

it's like 'wow'.