China recap: Yangtze river cruise

We took a cruise from Chongqing to Yichang for a few days.  It was mostly Chinese people, but we met a couple people from Hamburg, Germany that we are actually seeing during the trip when I'm scheduling this to post! 

Anyway, I'll break the photos from the cruise into 4 categories:  stops along the way (mostly temples), the three gorges, the Three Gorges dam, and random views.

 

Stops along the way:

 

By far, the coolest stop was Shibaozhai Pagoda in Zhongxian County.  When the three gorges dam was decided upon and it was recognized that the Yangtze River level would be rising to 175 meters, there was particular concern about this pagoda.  As you can see from this "before" shot, it was surrounded by a city:

 

 

Well, they built a little wall around the pagoda and then raised the water in the Yangtze, creating a small island for the pagoda.  So now, this is it: 

 

 

 

Walking to the pagoda island:

 

On the pagoda island: 

 

 

 

 

View from the top of the pedestrian bridge leading to the island pagoda: 

 

 

Other stops along the cruise, primarily temples (well, probably some photos from Shibaozhai, since I don't remember much about the inside, other than the one shot I put above): 

 

 

An example of a minority costume: 

 

 

Kind of disturbing: 

 

 

Some of the pics above and certainly these two are from the Palace of the Netherly Emperor.  First built during the Jin Dynasty, and renovated in the Tang Dynasty, so over 1600 years old.  In the front is a statue of the netherly emperor, and then along the sides are advisers, judges and marshals (in this picture).  The temple depicts gruesome torture in 18 levels of hell.  So disturbing.  One of the women on the cruise was pregnant and everyone told her not to go because of the bad spirits, so she stayed behind for this excursion: 

 

Very disturbing... (this was in the "hell" temple): 

 

 

Of course, the highlight of the cruise was the Three Gorges themselves.  Before they raised the level of the Yangtze, these were even more spectacular.  One of them we even had to take a small boat through. 

 

The Three Gorges:

 

 

Small boats going into one of the gorges: 

 

 

 

 

 

These two photos are of a rock formation that are said to resemble a lady's finger (???, hmm...): 

 

 

 

 

Toward the end of the cruise, we got to the Three Gorges Dam: 

 

 

 

Random views from along the cruise:

 

 

 

Our river guide, "Bob": 

 

 

 

Stadium in Wuhan, all lit up but empty.  We assumed showing off for ships like ours: 

 

 

This marker used to be way up in the mountains: 

 

 

 

These are hanging coffins: 

 

 

 

And finally, here are a few shots from Yichang, where the cruise ended.  It was overall a pretty unremarkable city: