We boarded the Viking Century Sun in Chongqing (city with the largest population in China with 32 million people) after a quick tour of the the temple square that marks the center of this hilly city surrounded by mountains. (There is a new Three Gorges Dam Museum in Chongqing - photo below - that houses many treasures that would have been submersed by the flooding created by the dam.) We reached our ship via funicular and settled into our stateroom with a view of the Chongqing Opera House and unpacked for our five day cruise along the Yangtze River to Wuhan.
Our first port of call was Shibaozhai, and the affects of the flooding due to the Three Gorges Dam were immediately visible. A retaining wall has been constructed around the base of the 350 year old Shibaozhai Pagoda. It once sat at the the top of a high mountain and is now near river level. Our trek to the pagoda entailed a fifteen minute walk up a steep hill, through a souvenir vendor lined street, over a pedestrian suspension bridge, followed by a climb to the top of the 16 story pagoda. Okay, so that doesn't sound too difficult but add 100-degree temperatures with a matching humidity and reaching the pinnacle resulted in a sweat-filled celebration!
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