Gorging on Yangtse River Sights

For three days we have been walking, floating and standing in places that will be under water in about five years, when the SanxiaDam, an unprecedented $20-billion hydroelectric and flood control project on the Yangtse River, begins to fill what will be a 370-mile reservoir, taking the water up 606 feet from its present level.

Everywhere we’ve been and everything we’ve seen during this Regal China Cruises sailing will soon be history. The famous gorges will turn into low rocky banks around a yellow-brown lake that will probably be lined with the high-rise apartment blocks that will help alleviate the country’s housing shortages.

Whole cities and towns are moving downstream, beyond the dam, with more than 1.2 million people displaced. The groves of orange and grapefruit trees growing in neat vertical lines along the banks will be gone, along with some of the richest agricultural land in China.

While the environmental and social implications of the project have alarmed many critics, local guides and tourism officials are cheerfully looking at the short-term gains as more and more tourists flock to the river to cruise through the famous gorges one last time.

Qutang, the shortest and farthest upstream, is also the most dramatic of the three gorges, as the boat squeezes through openings between rock cliffs as narrow as 30 feet. Wuxia Gorge straddles the border between Sichuan and Hubei provinces, while Xiling Gorge, is the lushest of the trio, its edges lined with farms and citrus orchards along the banks.

The cruise, four days downstream or five days upstream, sails between the ugly inland city of Chongqing (formerly Chungking), with its choking industrial smog, and traffic-clogged Wuhan.

It includes a call at Jingsha City, where the local museum houses a mummified “2,000-year-old man” named Mr. Sui, looking none the worse for wear in his sealed plexiglass case of formaldehyde. Buried 2,152 years ago, he was found in 1975 suspended in a fluid of Chinese herbal medicines in the innermost of three watertight wood coffins, along with 500 funerary objects that are also on display.

Shore excursions from the boat were fascinating, ranking right up there with the scenic transit of the three gorges. One morning we ineptly manned the oars in splashy dragon-boat races in Zigui. Another day we rode the rapids of Shennong Stream in a pea-pod-shaped boat maneuvered by sinewy boatmen who wield a steel-tipped bamboo pole to keep us from crashing into the rocks. To reach the starting point, we rode two hours along a dusty dirt road past farms that are still worked as they were in the 16th Century, then picked our way down about 700 precarious stone steps to the boat landing. There was the dubious alternative of riding down in a sedan chair carried by a couple of men who trotted briskly down the steps with the poles on their shoulders.

The three small gorges on Shennong Stream have until 1998 before being inundated with 240 feet of water, our guide Julia says pertly. Our river boat is the Princess Sheena, one of a trio of luxury vessels built in Germany in 1993 and certainly the most comfortable way to cruise the Yangtse, judging from the other vessels we’ve seen along the river. Carrying 258 passengers, the shallow-draft boat rides very smoothly.

All cabins are on the outside with big picture windows. Ten top-deck suites are the grandest, with separate living room, dining table, bedroom, spacious bathroom with tub and even a small kitchen with wet bar and refrigerator. Two categories of 114 double staterooms are considerably smaller, with two beds, built-in wall cabinets, double armoire closet and bath with shower, while 10 singles are scarcely wider than the bed and dresser. All are prettily furnished.

Atop the vessel is a sunbathing and observation area with plastic chairs and tables. On the same deck is the show lounge, where crew members perform a charming evening of song and dance. Private mah-jongg and karaoke rooms can also be rented for an optional fee.

The boats have two dining rooms, a more formal restaurant where Chinese meals are served course by course, and a larger informal restaurant that serves both Western and Chinese buffets for breakfast, lunch and dinner. “Western” buffet choices always included fried rice at lunch and dinner and boiled cauliflower at breakfast.

Because the river was low beyond Jingsha City, all the passengers were transferred to Wuhan by bus to spend the last night of the cruise on the sister ship Princess Jeannie, where we found the food delectable, with much more eye-appeal to Western tastes.

The third boat in the trio is the Princess Elaine. All are virtually identical.

InterPacific Tours International has chartered the Regal China Cruises fleet for March, 1995, for a series of six 14-day land and sea tours, including the Yangtse cruise, Beijing and Shanghai, Xi’an, Guilin and Hong Kong. The price for the cruise, all overland travel and round-trip air fare with Northwest Airlines from the West Coast, is from $2,495 per person double occupancy. An upgrade to one of the suites on the boats is an additional $595 per person. Call InterPacific Tours at (800) 221-3594 for details.

To get a free color brochure, call Regal China Cruises’ New York office at (800) 808-3388.