September Journal

Today was a huge commuting day! We met early in the lobby, left our backpacks and took overnight bags in preparation for our trek to Fengjie on the Yangtze River. Then we boarded a bus out front of the hotel to go to the boat dock, where we got on a hydrofoil boat.

I don't think I've ever been on a hydrofoil boat before, but it seems to be a super-fast boat that's sort of jet-propelled on top of the water. I'm sure there's something more detailed that could be offered here, but let's just say that it's super-fast. Jon and I sat in two seats up front, which was unfortunate because this was directly below the air-conditioner which leaked gallons of water onto the seats once the boat started moving. So we had to move.

Since the hydrofoil ride was about 3 hours, a movie was put on the televisions in each part of the boat. There were subtitles, so we got to enjoy the ridiculous Chinese comedy that was played. Suffice it to say that it was incredibly sophomoric humor, but all the Chinese people around us were very entertained. It was some story about 4 Buddhist monks - 2 old, and 2 very little boys - who were going about their daily lives when (in the last half of the movie) some evil person tries to destroy their peaceful existence. The first half of the movie played out this peaceful existence which consisted of farting, snoring, and lusting at various women. It was over the top, but it did use a bunch of the special effects we saw in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", which we gather are very common in movies here. Sort of like blowing-up cars are to us in American movies.

Anyway, the movie cut off before it was over which was SO disappointing because I was really curious if the woman in the bad superhero uniform and the chubby monk would end up together in the end.

After we got off the hydrofoil, we climbed onto a ferry which took us across the river to another dock and where we got onto a bus to take us to Shennong Stream. The bus was about a one-hour drive on the sides of some mountains and on the edges of roads with deep drops. When we got to Shennong Stream, the bus dropped us off and we had to climb down stairs (down 400 meters) to get to the stream. Believe it or not, this is such a long, steep climb that we could hire 2 men to carry us each down on a chair if we wanted to for 20 Yuan ($2.50). Laurel opted for the chair-ride.

At the bottom of the stream, we climbed onto some long wooden boats to settle into the beautiful 2.5 hour ride down Shennong Stream. This was especially interesting because the stream itself is very shallow, full of little rapids, and crosses through some narrow gorges. So our boat was very flat and our "captain and crew" navigated the stream by pushing poles on the bottom of it and on the walls of the cliffs around us. Shennong Stream is fed from mountain run-offs, feeds directly into the Yangtze, and is almost crystal-clear cold water. A few of us stuck our feet over the boat and into the water for a little while, but it was too cold and we were slowing the boat down so we pulled them back in.

The stream takes two and a half hours to float down, but the captain and crew must go upstream to get back to the starting point again. Because the current is so strong, they do this by attaching ropes to the boat and pulling it upstream. In other words, they walk on the banks of the stream tugging the boat upstream. This takes 5-6 men about 6 hours to accomplish, and they have specially-made "river shoes" to do this as they must sometimes stand in the stream when there is no bank. They used to do the trip completely naked because it was easier on them and their clothes, but the increased tourism on the stream has forced them to do this with clothes on. Not many clothes though - we saw one crew member wearing only his undies.

On the way downstream, we all had our lunches (PB&J for Jon and me) and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery. We passed through the Yingwu Gorge (the Parrot Gorge) which was absolutely beautiful.

After two and a half hours, the stream suddenly got deeper and a ferry boat was docked around the corner. The captain and crew pulled over and we climbed out and got onto the ferry. Jon swears it was the same ferry we road across the river on earlier, because it had a few telltale signs on the paint and chairs. I have no idea how it got where it was, but I'm all turned around anyway so who knows. We were on the ferry boat for about 30 minutes, and we passed another gorge on the way. This second gorge was called the Longchuan Gorge and was even bigger than the first gorge we passed through.

The ferry dropped us off on a dock on the Yangtze River where we caught a bus to take us to another hydrofoil boat. This time, Jon and I didn't sit below the air conditioner, and we didn't have a good view of the ridiculous movie on the television. But we didn't mind because Jon is finishing up Mario Puzo's The Godfather and I am still reading Jane Austen's Emma. (My book, by the way, was printed by a publisher in New Delhi and is FULL of misspellings and misprints. It takes all my energy to figure out if Jane Austen meant for the words to be spelled this way or if it's a mistake of the publisher. More often then not I decide it's the latter).

All along the Yangtze, we can see signs that say "135m" or "175m". This marks where the water will come to during different phases of the dam project. Next year, the water will rise to 135 meters and the water will reach 175 meters by 2009. It's so bizarre to look around and to see the various towns and houses that will soon be underwater.

After 2 hours, we arrived at Fengjie. We hopped off the boat onto another boat, and then walked to land via a string of boats and docks tied together. Then we had to walk up about 150 stairs to get to the town. For those of you playing along at home, this is what our commute consisted of today:

Mode of Travel	Time
Bus from Yichang to river	10 minutes
Hydrofoil to Shennong Stream area	3 hours
Ferry boat across the Yangtze River	10 minutes
Bus to Shennong Stream	1 hour
Walk down 1000 stairs to stream	20 minutes
Wooden boat down Shennong Stream	2.5 hours
Ferry Boat down the rest of the Shennong Stream	30 minutes
Bus to hydrofoil port	20 minutes
Hydrofoil to Fengjie	2 hours
150 stairs from river to town	10 minutes

Fengjie is a little town which will be partially under water next year when the water rises via the dam. The town has little alleyways and archways which lead to various stone steps to the river, and reminds us of Varanasi in India. There is apparently another road here but it's already underwater. It's a very quaint town and the locals often stopped and stared at us as if to say "Why in the world would you come here?!?!"

The hotel is pretty sad looking, because naturally no maintenance is done to it since the town will be flooded next year. But it's cool to be here just for tonight. We feel like we have insight into a little world that no one will ever see again after next year.

We had dinner at a restaurant near our hotel, and left just as they were setting up the karaoke gear. Jon and I walked around town to look at the night market. The people are so nice here, and those that recover quickly enough from the shock of seeing westerners say "Neehow" (Hello) to us. A small amount of people know English, but many people know western music because of Karaoke and the internet. At one point, we passed a group of teenage boys who were in the process of singing the chorus to a Ricki Martin song. Very funny!

Michelle, Ken, Mel, Jon and I went to a dance club attached to our hotel because we heard it was a fun thing to do. (Kath, our Tibet leader, also told us we had to go because it was a lot of fun and the club plays western music). When we walked in, they were playing some Chinese music and the kids on the dance floor were doing some sort of line dance that only involved simple steps with their feet - no hand movements at all. Of course, "the westerners" caused a bit of a stir but we settled into a corner table with a pitcher of beer and people-watched. We decided that - if and when we get out there to dance - we would have to dance with our arms too and will probably scare everybody.

Then the music suddenly changed to slow music and the dance floor cleared like the plague. This went on for about 30 minutes and we were surprised because the club closed at 11:00 and it was already 10:30. So we fought off the urge to leave and go to bed, and instead waited it out. Then the music got a little more upbeat but still no one got onto the dance floor. A nice man came over and - in Chinese - tried to get us to dance, but we weren't encouraged. Then we decided "What the Hell" and Michelle, Ken and I got up and braved the lonely dance floor to dance to Chinese techno music we'd never heard before. Everyone sat and stared at us - the crazy westerners dancing insanely on the dance floor. But we had a great time! And just like that, we decided we'd made enough of a spectacle of ourselves and left.