BTW- I should mention the rest of the TBI Tours group... all four of them. They're retired United Airlines employees that travel together every so often. I can only hope that I have consistent traveling companions some day... once my friends manage to acquire a taste for adventure.

Just passed some markers on the shoreline, spaced vertically every 5 meters... undoubtedly indicating the level the water will rise once the dam project is complete.

Fog was a constant presence on the river

1:56pm
The fog continues to permeate the river valley. Signs of civilization are constant. Signs of life are not. Buildings, new and old, dot the shoreline. In this haze, they all appear old and run down. The only sign of life or habitation is the occasional swatch of bright color... laundry hanging in a window, or a family washing their clothes in the muddy river. Construction continues higher up on the banks of the Yangtze, in anticipation of the flooding. Barges loaded with gravel, coal and construction materials float by. Dump trucks line the shore, awaiting this cargo, or maybe food supplies. At one site, workers sluggishly load a truck while being watched by a superior. This character towers above them, standing imperiously on the cab of the truck. I couldn't be sure if he was trying to look powerful by maintaining his lofty perch, or just trying to avoid getting his suit dirty.

So many ghostly buildings passed, so many small rows of vegetables and small families... I wish we could stop the boat at any of these small communities, rather than in a larger city like Fengdu.

There's an Australian couple on the boat that sits at our table at meals. Nice folks. They run a company that specializes in puzzles and games, which leads them all over the world meeting collectors and searching for new products. They had business in Hong Kong and will be on the lookout for goods in Shanghai, but the trip is mostly a vacation.

It appears we've arrived in Fengdu. I won't be going to the top of the mountain, as recommended. It's too foggy, so there won't be much of a view. Fengdu is known as the "Ghost City." I'm pretty certain that the only apparitions here are your friends whom you can barely see two feet in front of you through the fog.