Ahead of us lies the last leg of our Yangtze River cruise in daylight before we reach Chongqing.
The landscape is becoming increasingly flat and already announces the Sichuan Basin. The uniform trees are the result of reforestation, where one scattered the seeds of the trees out of an airplane. This is also a measure to reduce the risk of flooding.
The ships lying on the embankment for repairs fascinate us, primarily because we do not see cranes or the like. So the ships have to be pulled ashore with human power.
The last buildings on the bank are demolished before the reservoir of the Three Gorges Dam reaches its final height. Of course, also a lot of agricultural land that is still intensively used today will be flooded.
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More InformationA highlight on this section of the river is the Shibaozhai, also called Precious Stone Fortress. It is one of the most beautiful buildings in China. The 56 m high pagoda has twelve floors and is the highest, traditional timber construction in China. The pagoda is constructed without the use of a single nail. It serves as a staircase to the temple.
The temple on the rock plateau dates from the Qing Dynasty, around 1650. At the time we passed the temple, the rock was still freely accessible. Today, it is surrounded by a large concrete wall that prevents the floods of the dammed-up Yangtze River. Here the cruise ships can dock directly. The rock is now an island.
Again and again, we see archaeological excavations on the shore. They are carried out with great haste before the heritage of the past finally sinks into the floods.
We pass Zhong and Fengdu before the darkness falls.
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