Children fish for money on the Daning |
1/24/03 - 1:25pm
Woke up early this morning (6:30) to catch the first of the Three Gorges. Nothing too spectacular. Hella windy though. We arrived at Wushan for the Lesser Gorges sampan excursion. I was debating whether to skip the sampan trip and explore the city instead. As someone pointed out, the Lesser Gorges will be gone in a year or two, so this will be my only chance to visit them. Armed with that excuse, I decided on the boats, and instantly began to regret it on the bus ride through the outskirts of town to the Daning River. Several missed photo ops of course, and another crumbling city that looked all too inviting.
The Lesser Gorges journey was unremarkable, with three exceptions. First, we saw a man fall in the river. Second were the children who followed us along the river bank, wading out with long poles that had nets on the end... made to catch money from tourists. They'd snag some cash, then run upstream and wade out again to get more. The final highlight of the trip was our navigator. Old, grizzled and blind in one eye, but friendly... He obliged us with a few songs while we were floating down the river.
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