Day 17 - Adventure to The Three Gorges [Part 2] Posted by SuperJuniorF , Monday, March 22, 2010 at 10:59 PM, in

Today was the most interesting day since I came to Wuhan. I had to wake up at 6.30am in the morning to have breakfast at the dining hall. Waking up this early to have breakfast bring's back memories during the time when I was still schooling Singapore Sports School. When I went for an overseas competition, the team must always wake up at a certain time to have breakfast. However the difference now is that breakfast is not served in a buffet-setting. Dishes are already cooked and served on the table as I enter the dining hall. What I learned was that in China, before people at the table can start to eat, every free seat at the table has to be filled up. This is definitely a way for me to get out of my comfort zone and eat with people that I am not close to or even with strangers. How interesting! However I think that if this method is to be implemented in Singapore, I am sure there will be one person who will write a letter to any newspaper company about the method and that it should be stopped because it is out of their comfort zone. Personally I think it would really help Singaporeans to be less conservative and be more outgoing like the Europeans! ^_^


As I finished breakfast and head to the lobby, everyone was already waiting to alight the cruise to head for the first main destination, The Baidi Temple. It was so early in the morning that the sun was still rising as I took a shuttle bus to the destination. The Baidi Temple, also known as the White Emporer City, is actually a mini city scattered with temples and gates on top of Baidi Hill.

To get to the top of Baidi Hill, I had to cross a long bridge which extends over the Yangtze River. Before crossing over the river, I went through a prayer routine that Buddhist normally go through. It was an expeience going through aother religion's ritual routine. Now I actually know how some of my Buddhist friends in Singapore pray! ^_^

After the routine, I started my journey to the top of the hill which took about only 15 minutes! After crossing the long bridge, I saw a few people carrying sedans. It actually cost about 40RMB for a ride to the Baidi Temple. It was amazing how strong and balanced the sedan-carriers were being able to climb and carry people up the steps of the steep hill. Anyway, as I step into the temple, the first think I saw was a dragon statue. It looks exactly like the cartoon character from Mulan!

Any way back to the serious stuff, The Baidi City was said to be built by an official turned soldier named Gongsun Shu as his headquarters during the end of the Western Han Dynasty. The legend is that in 25 A.D Gongsun Shu saw white vapour in the shape of a dragon rising from a nearby well, and taking this as an auspicious omen, he declared himself as the 'White Emperor' and renamed the town 'White Emperor City' and the hill Baidi Hll. Later in 36 A.D he raised a war with Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Easten Han Dynasty, then a member of the Han imperial family, in order to annex each other. In this turbulent period, the city entirely survived the warfare. The local people were so grateful that they built a temple to commemorate him. During the Ming Dynasty, the statue of Gongsun Shu was replaced by a new one for Liu Bei and later with another three for Guan Yu, Zhang Feiand Zhuge Liang respectively.

Another story of the city is about the Three Kingdoms. During the Three Kingdoms period, Liu Bei, the King of Shu, retreated from a disastrous war against general Lu Xun of Wu Kingdom, and died in the city in distress. On his deathbed, Liu entrusted state affairs and his son, Liu Chan, to Prime Minister Zhuge Liang. The front hall contains large modern statues which depict the scene in the story.


If you are curious how Liu Bie, Lu Xun and Zhuge Liang roughly looks like, here are the photos I got from the internet. It is from a game called Dynasty Warriors that I used to play!

Liu Bei, King of Shu Kingdom

Lu Xun, General of Wu Kingdom

Zhuge Liang, Prime Minister of Shu Kingdom

Baidi city is also known as th City of Poems. In ancient times, attracted by its fame, many scholars and poets visited Baidi city and left a lot of literal relecs. In the city, there are over 70 peoms, carvings, and cultural relics.

After the trip to the Baidi Temple, we headed back to the cruise. While on the cruie, I witness 2 amazing things. Presenting the Hydrofoil Boat and The Three Gorges! ^_^



A hydrofoil boat

The Three Gorges

About 2 hours after passing The Three Gorges, we had to alight the cruise again and transfer to a ferry that will take us to the Boat Tracker Cultural Site of Shen Nong Xi Stream! Upon reaching the Boat Tracker Cultural Site of Shennong Xi, we had to transfer again to a local longboat (sampan). Along the Shen Nong Xi Stream, I saw many magnificent views that you can never see when you take a boat along the Singapore river! I saw a bridge in between 2 hills, small erosions, a huge cave, towering rock formations which I have no idea how it ended up that way and I even saw a coffin in a crack of a cliff! Other than that, our wooden boats were supposed to be pulled by the naked Tujia boatmen. However due to some constructions at the river, the boat rowers themselves had to demonstrate how the boat was pulled. I was told that the reason the Tujia boatmen pulled the boat naked was due to abbreviation from the clothings that they wear. ^_^

Rowing the Boat

The Coffin

So after the Boat Tracker Cultural Site of Shennong Xi Stream, the last highlight of the day was going into the Three Gorges Dam. We waited for about 2 hours before the cruise was able to go into the dam. So after the doors of the dam closed, my eyes closed few minutes later. ^_^

Reflection

After today's trip, I realised that ever since I was small, I was already exposed to chinese culture. One of the exposure was the animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation called Mulan. The film was based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan which cnters on young woman who disguises herself as a man to take the place of her elderly fathe in the army. The film features landmarks such as the Forbidden City. The next thing that exposed me to the chinese culture was the game Dynasty Warriors. The game is a hack and slash video set in Ancient China, during a period called the Three Kingdoms which is around 200 AD. Basically the three kingdoms are Wu, Shu or Wei. That is the reason when I heard the names Liu Bei, Lu Xun and Zhuge Liang, I was shocked because I did not know that the characters were actually real people in the past! It is amazing getting to know these interesting facts. ^_^

Looking at the beautiful sceneries was also something refreshing because the only sceneries I see in Singapore are buildings, buildings and more buildings! The cruise was also something new to me because I had never slept on a ship before and it was fun! Having experiencing lying down on my bed and see the scenery moving was great! Breathing the air from outside of the windows of te cruise was much fresher than the air in Singapore! Overall, it was an unforgettable experience. I bet if the cruise was a huge as the titanic, it would have been the 3 days and 2 nights of my life. ^_^