Riverboat

One of the more memorable experiences I had was the boat ride down the river. We were on a riverboat for Chinese tourists. It was one of the more unique experiences I had on the trip. Our group was the only non-Chinese group on the boat. We spent two nights floating down the Yangtze River. We went over Three Gorges Dam. Unfortunately I missed it because I was sleeping at the time. But before that we made several stops along the way.

The first morning on the boat we got up early and boarded a smaller boat and headed down the river. Unfortunately, the only downside of being on a river tour for Chinese tourists is that most of the time I was confused about where I was. The area was incredibly beautiful.

After about an hour we docked and the entire tour boat split into groups of about 20 to board small wooden boats called peapod boats.

Four men manually paddled us down the river while a guide named Amanda told us about the area. I learned that many of the people who had lived along the river were displaced by flooding since their villages were completely submerged. However, some small minority groups who live high in the mountains were able to stay and now make a living by giving peapod boat rides.

That same day, we saw the White Emperor’s City. It was high up on a mountain. I climbed over 300 steps to get there.

There were a lot of vendors on the way back from the temple. Every few feet there was some kind of food stand. Because we were on the river, there was a lot of fish, but there were also other things, like fruit and meat.