Messing About in Boats

In my first ever English class in China I let each of the students ask me a question (in their very best English), and one of the things they all wanted to know was: What is the best thing about China? What do I like about China - why I came, what I came to see and experience. I told them the people are surely the most interesting thing about this massive country. They wouldn't believe me, acted as if I was lying, kept asking me again and again. I'm still not sure what the "right" answer was, maybe "the temples"??

So, in our trip up the Yangtse River - which we have found out really means "alligator" river, while the Chinese actually call it "Chang Jiang" - 'because it is so long' ... we really wanted to see the people who live in/on/around/next to/by the river.

We were a little surprised that we saw no one swimming in the river, not a single naked urchin - although one of the other passengers said they saw a couple of small boys. Would that be because of the alligators - of which we saw not a one.

We saw lots and lots of bridges, magnificent and amazing structures thrown across all sorts of divides. This one spans the river at Yichang, where we stopped to look at the temple.

This magnificent red structure is one of the many we cruised under.

This one is ready for the river when it rises. And obviously the owner of the piece of land next to the bridge decided to raise the land rather than lose it.

When you look along the gullies and through the bridges, there are more bridges.

Some just span valleys that are too steep to traverse otherwise.

I felt quite excited when I saw this one, because I have always wondered how on earth they build the bridges - a bit like the spider that used to spin its web right across our back yard.

But of course all of the bridge builders are simply making it possible to avoid the river and the alligators. We did see some people living on the river itself.

The harbours of the cities are full of all sorts of little boats zooming around. And when the big cruise ships loaded with wealthy tourists dock, the little people race to line the pathway and the pontoons with goods to sell. Some of them have learnt the phrase "maybe later" and probably have no idea what it means because they call it out to the tourists as they hurry past to board their tour bus.

There are a lot of different types of local ferries, picking up people from the water's edge.

There are speedy ways to travel, like the frequent hydrofoils.

The cruise ships come in many varied sizes and shapes - we even saw one that was like a huge dragon - and they seem to huddle together for protection.

In the smaller gorges we saw a lot of these little high-speed boats, they look like they might be jet boats.

And then there are the family sized boats, pulling in their fishing nets.

The river was remarkably clean, considering the amount of use it gets. And, of course, its kept clean the way cities and streets are - people picking up rubbish.

Its a magnificent river, and the three gorges project is a phenomenal undertaking. Of course most Chinese people have never been to see it, could never afford a cruise like we went on.